Box Score KANSAS CITY – No. 1-seed Kansas rolled to an 87-63 victory over No. 9-seeded West Virginia in the second game of today's quarterfinal round of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.
 
The Jayhawks (26-6) jumped on West Virginia from the outset, scoring 13 of the game's first 15 points and building a 17-point lead when official Doug Sirmons assessed a technical foul on West Virginia's Taz Sherman for arguing a no-call when Jalen Wilson blocked his jump shot – one of eight first-half misses for the senior guard.
 
Sirmons assessed another technical on West Virginia coach Bob Huggins for leaving his side of the court and then threw him out of the game for whatever Huggins said to him afterward. 
 
"I'm standing up for my guys, and I've never not stood up for my guys," Huggins said afterward. "So, it is what it is."
 
All of this happened with 9:58 still remaining in the first half, which necessitated associate head coach Larry Harrison taking over the team for the remainder of the game.
 
Kansas was awarded six free throws for the three technicals, Wilson making five, giving the Jayhawks a commanding 24-4 lead and removing any doubt about how this one was going to turn out.
 
"Bob wasn't on the bench for most of this, and nobody wants that," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "I know it was disappointing for them, and we got a big break there, although it's a break nobody wanted.
 
"I'm sure one day we will probably talk about it, but now is not the right time," Self added.
 
West Virginia made only five of its 31 first-half field goal attempts, and nearly all of their shots were either difficult fadeaways or heavily contested by Kansas defenders. Eight of the Mountaineers' 19 first-half points came at the free throw line. 
 
The Jayhawks' halftime lead was 22 points.
 
West Virginia scored the first five points of the second half and played even with the Jayhawks for about the first 10 minutes before some long misses led to breakaway Jayhawk baskets. 
 
KU's biggest lead was 28 points with 2:08 left.
 
Kansas guard Ochai Agbaji scored 18 points before his afternoon ended midway through the second half with Kansas comfortably ahead. He made 7 of his 15 field goal attempts and all three free throws.
 
Wilson contributed 15, Christian Braun 11 and Mitch Lightfoot 10 for the Jayhawks, who shot 52% for the game and outrebounded the Mountaineers 48 to 27. KU had a 48 to 22 advantage in paint scoring.
 
Senior guard Malik Curry came off the bench to lead West Virginia with 19 points. Sherman added 10 for the Mountaineers.
 
Huggins was last ejected from a basketball game on Jan. 30, 2019 during a 93-68 loss at Iowa State. It's believed to be only the seventh time he's been thrown out of a game since his Cincinnati days. Two times he was tossed in the first half of Bearcat games played at Tulane in 1996 and at UAB in 1995.
 
He said he spent the rest of the game watching in the locker room on a small flat-screen TV.
 
"They need to get bigger TVs in there," he joked. "The TVs are awfully small, and I really had a hard time really getting a true picture of what was going on."
 
West Virginia's record now stands at 16-17 and Huggins said after the game he is hopeful of continuing the season in one of the other postseason tournaments. If not, this will only be the third losing record in his 15-year tenure at WVU and just the fifth of his 40-year coaching career dating back to his first season at Walsh College in 1980-81.
 
KU will face TCU in one of the two semifinal games on Friday night. The Horned Frogs rallied from 20 points down in the first half to upset fourth-seeded Texas earlier today.