The Jayhawks (28-4), who won their 12th consecutive regular-season crown, led 45- 30 at halftime before pushing their advantage past 20 for much of the second half. They coasted the rest of their way to a semifinal matchup Friday night with No. 22 Baylor.
No. 22 Baylor 75, No. 23 Texas 61
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Taurean Prince had 24 points and 13 rebounds, Rico Gathers added 13 points and Baylor’s baffling zone defense shut down Texas in a victory in the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals.
The fifth-seeded Bears (22- 10) opened a 15-point lead in the first half, then used coach Scott Drew’s trademark defense to keep the fourth-seeded Longhorns (20-12) from coming back.
Connor Lammert had 15 points, Kerwin Roach had 13 and Shaquille Cleare had 12 for the Longhorns, but the bigger story was who got shut down: All-Big 12 guard Isaiah Taylor scored just eight, all in the second half.
No. 6 Oklahoma 79, No. 21 Iowa State 76
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Buddy Hield scored 39 points, Ryan Spangler made a series of critical plays down the stretch and Oklahoma beat Iowa State in the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals.
Spangler finished with 10 points and 12 rebounds, and Isaiah Cousins also had 10 points for the third-seeded Sooners (24-6).
Georges Niang matched a career-high with 31 points for the sixth-seeded Cyclones (21-11), who trailed by 14 midway through the second half before making it a game. But after squandering several chances to get within a possession, it wasn’t until Deonte Burton’s 3- pointer at the buzzer that they finally did.
No. 7 North Carolina 88, Pittsburgh 71
WASHINGTON (AP) — North Carolina got off to a fast start at the ACC Tournament as the regular-season champion routed Pittsburgh to take the first step toward its first conference title since 2008.
Four players scored in double figures as the Tar Heels (26-6) shot 58.9 percent from the floor and pulled away from Pittsburgh (20- 11).
Notre Dame 84, No. 19 Duke 79
WASHINGTON (AP) — Looking exhausted down the stretch, Duke gave away a 16-point, second-half lead against Notre Dame and lost in overtime in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals.
V.J. Beachem scored 19 points, including a couple of key 3s late in the second half, for fourth-seeded Notre Dame (21-10), which also beat Duke a year ago en route to winning the league tourney and earlier this season at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Grayson Allen led defending national champion Duke (23-10) with 27 points, but there wasn’t much help.
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