On Saturday, Kansas took a two-game lead in the loss column in the Big 12 race with a dominant effort against Baylor. Two days later, No. 20 Texas won a game back for those Big 12 teams chasing the No. 8 Jayhawks with a 79-76 victory by going on a 7-0 run in the final minute in front of a frenzied crowd in Austin, Texas.
The loss will drop the Jayhawks from a No. 1 seed by CBS Sports Bracketology Expert Jerry Palm in his projected bracket for now. Purdue is expected to replace Kansas as the fourth No. 1 seed, however the Boilermakers face a tough test Tuesday when they play host to Illinois.
"Kansas dropped a tight game at Texas and as a result, will drop from the top line of the bracket," Palm said. "The Jayhawks will be replaced by Purdue. The Boilermakers are in action Tuesday night hosting Illinois in a rematch of the double OT thriller in Champaign a couple of weeks ago."
Kansas took a four-point lead with 1:04 left when Ochai Agbaji stuck back a Jalen Wilson miss. But Texas center Tre Mitchell banked in a 3-pointer with 54.6 seconds remaining to cut the lead to one. When a Kansas lob attempt from Agbaji to McCormack went awry, Texas took the lead back on a mid-range jumper from Timmy Allen with 21 seconds left, then added to its margin with two clutch free throws from Marcus Carr.
Kansas out-shot the Longhorns from the field 58% to 42%, but the Jayhawks turned the ball over 15 times, which Texas churned into 24 points.
Ten of those turnovers came in the first half and led to 17 Texas points. When added to an explosive burst inside from Mitchell, Texas put together a 20-6 run to take a 31-24 lead. And while Kansas battled back to tie the game at 35 shortly before halftime, Texas scored five points in the final 20 seconds, including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Marcus Carr, to take a 40-35 halftime lead.
Kansas (19-4, 8-2 Big 12) entered the game as the CBS Sports bracketologist Jerry Palm's third No. 1 seed, behind Auburn and Gonzaga and ahead of Arizona. After losing, the Jayhawks moved off Palm's one-seed line, with Arizona moving up a spot and Purdue becoming the fourth No. 1 seed.
The Jayhawks completed a brutal five-game stretch against ranked teams — Texas Tech, Kentucky, at Iowa State, Baylor and at Texas — with a 3-2 mark. Kansas next hosts Oklahoma on Saturday.
Texas (18-6, 7-4) has now won five of six games, with the lone loss coming at Texas Tech, and the Longhorns could be trending closer to the Texas team that was a popular preseason top 10 pick. Texas travels to Baylor Saturday.
