KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Darryn Peterson scored 24 points in a season-high 37 minutes and No. 14 Kansas beat TCU 78-73 in the last quarterfinal of the Big 12 tournament Thursday night at T-Mobile Center.
The Jayhawks will face No. 5 Houston, which defeated BYU 73-66 in the quarterfinals, in the second semifinal Friday night.
Peterson struggled from the floor, missing 12 of his 17 shots, including a breakaway two-handed dunk with the Jayhawks leading 68-63 with just over four minutes left. But he made up for it from the line, going 13 for 16.
Flory Bidunga added 13 points and 10 rebounds for Kansas (23-9), while Bryson Tiller and Elmarko Jackson also had 13 points.
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David Punch scored 24 points for TCU (22-11). Liutauras Lelevicius had 14 and Jayden Pierre added 11.
The Jayhawks are 13-7 this season with Peterson in the lineup. They were 10-2 without him.
Bidunga was in foul trouble most of the night. He picked up two fouls in the first half, and picked up his fourth with 6:29 left in the game.
Kansas opened the second half with an 8-0 run after trailing by three. TCU answered with runs of 8-1 and 13-2 to retake the lead.
The score was tied at 61-all when Trey White hit a 3-pointer from the corner with 5:34 left. The Jayhawks never trailed again, but neither team led by more than six points until Tiller threw down a dunk to make the score 70-63 with 3:22 left.
The first half was filled with spurts. TCU grabbed its largest lead at 23-16 thanks to an 8-0 run, but Kansas responded with a 12-0 surge to regain the lead. The teams traded the lead back and forth before the Horned Frogs took a 34-31 lead into the locker room.
Up next
The No. 3-seeded Jayhawks face the second-seeded Cougars.
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