It was a battle featuring nine ties and seven lead changes, but the Jayhawks earned a return trip to the Final Four and earned the team’s 1,800th victory with a three-point defeat of the Wildcats.
KU (29-7) was led by Kirk Hinrich, who followed his two-point effort against Duke with a 28-point, six-rebound game against Arizona (28-4). Hinrich hit 6-of-17 three-point attempts and also blocked a three-point attempt by Jason Gardner in the final five seconds.
The Wildcats had the momentum going into halftime, but the Jayhawks opened the second half with an 18-7 run and led 56-42 with 14 minutes left. Arizona then went on a 16-0 run, taking a two-point lead with 10:32 remaining.
The teams went back and forth for the following six minutes until KU took the lead for good.
Nick Collison broke a personal 23-minute stretch without a field goal with the game-winning layup with 1:23 left. He finished with eight points and eight boards.
Jeff Graves added 13 points and 15 rebounds for KU, and Keith Langford scored 13 points and grabbed five boards.
Michael Lee added eight points, Aaron Miles scored six points before fouling out, and Bryant Nash had a dunk.
Jason Gardner led Arizona with 23 points, Luke Walton added 18 points and 10 boards, and Rick Anderson and Hassan Adams each had 11 points.
Channing Frye had six points, Salim Stoudamire — who sat on the bench for much of the second half — had four points and Andre Iguodala had two points.
KU made 29 of 65 field-goal attempts, hit 8 of 26 three-point attempts and 12 of 18 shots from the foul line. Arizona hit 23 of 56 shots from the field, 10 of 22 shots from three-point range and 19 of 23 free-throw attempts.
The Jayhawks outrebounded the Wildcats, 38-35.
This was the second straight year KU defeated the Pacific 10 Conference champion in the Elite 8. The Jayhawks defeated the Oregon Ducks last season.
HALFTIME REPORT
The Elite 8 match-up between the Jayhawks and the Wildcats is beginning to look a lot like their regular season game.
Kansas led by 16 points, 38-22, with 4:27 left in the first half, but Arizona finished the half on a 13-0 run and trails by just three points.
The Jayhawks scored 20 points off 13 Arizona turnovers, but the Wildcats cut down their mistakes late in the first half during their run.
In the two teams’ game in January in Lawrence, KU led by 20 points in the first half before Arizona took the momentum going into halftime and outscored the Jayhawks, 52-22, in the second half.
Kirk Hinrich led the charge early, scoring 15 points and hitting a trio of three-pointers. Jeff Graves has six points and four rebounds for KU, and Michael Lee and Keith Langford each have six points.
Nick Collison has three points and five boards, and Aaron Miles has hit a jumper.
Rick Anderson leads Arizona with eight points, Jason Gardner has seven points, and Luke Walton has six points and four boards.
Andre Iguodala has two points and five rebounds, Salim Stoudamire has four points, and Channing Frye has four points. Hassan Adams had points for the Wildcats.
Kansas hit 42.9 percent (15-of-35) shots from the field, 5-of-14 from beyond the three-point line and 3 of 5 shots from the foul line. Arizona shot 44.8 percent (13-of-29) from the floor, 4-of-9 from three-point range and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe. The Wildcats have outrebounded the Jayhawks, 20-17.
Arizona has outrebounded KU, 20-17.
