Beyond Arkansas, which was one of Kansas’ exhibition opponents prior to the 2024-25 season, the West Region of the 2025 NCAA Tournament features a pair of teams that KU encountered in the regular season and could quite reasonably run into again.
If the Jayhawks can make it past first-round foe Arkansas and their prospective second-round opponent — in all likelihood No. 2 St. John’s, which is taking on No. 15 Omaha — their Sweet 16 matchup in San Francisco would likely feature either Missouri or Texas Tech.
KU did not fare well against either team in their regular-season matchups.
Texas Tech is the No. 3 seed in the West Region and opens its run against No. 14 UNCW (also an opponent of KU’s not that long ago, which the Jayhawks beat at Allen Fieldhouse in November).
The Red Raiders accounted for one of the Jayhawks’ trio of home losses at Allen Fieldhouse this season when they left Lawrence with a 78-73 victory on March 1, spoiling the venue’s 70th anniversary with a 3-point bombardment that featured 15-for-43 shooting from deep.
The Jayhawks used one of the best games of senior forward KJ Adams’ career — 21 points, 13 rebounds — to fight back from a 14-point second-half deficit, also aided by foul trouble for Tech’s eventual Big 12 Player of the Year JT Toppin.
Eventually, KU came back to tie on multiple occasions, including after going down seven points with just under six minutes to go. But Tech’s Darrion Williams, who returned from injury in time for the game after having hit 12 of 12 shots in his lone matchup against KU the prior year, made a go-ahead 3 to break a 73-73 tie with a minute and a half remaining. Then Hunter Dickinson missed a pair of late opportunities inside, and Zeke Mayo settled for a wild potential game-tying shot from deep with the shot clock turned off, as KU did not make a field goal for the final 2:49.
Texas Tech forward Darrion Williams (5) pulls an offensive rebound from Kansas forward KJ Adams Jr. (24) during the second half on Saturday, March 1, 2025 at Allen Fieldhouse. At right is Texas Tech forward JT Toppin (15). Photo by Nick Krug
Texas Tech went on to rout Colorado and Arizona State to conclude the regular season before escaping Baylor on the final possession in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament, then losing to Arizona — which had just beaten KU — in the semifinals.
At Missouri on Dec. 8, the Jayhawks also needed to engineer a comeback, albeit from a vastly greater deficit, after they opened the game by committing 14 turnovers in the span of 16 minutes. They scored 15 straight in the second half and cut a 24-point deficit down to two, but gave up a late corner 3 to the Tigers’ Mark Mitchell and ultimately fell 76-67.
It was the second of back-to-back road losses in early December that halted KU’s early-season momentum after it had opened the season No. 1 in the country, and it also went down as the Jayhawks’ first loss in the Border Showdown since Feb. 4, 2012, shortly before Missouri left the Big 12.
The defeat looked a lot worse from a nonconference resume perspective at the time, when the Tigers had only just snapped a streak of over a year without beating a power-conference opponent.
In fact, Missouri proved to be a much more formidable team in its third season under head coach Dennis Gates, as it went 10-8 in a cutthroat SEC with victories over the likes of Alabama (twice), Florida, Mississippi State and Ole Miss.
The Tigers are a No. 6 seed and will face No. 11 Drake on Thursday.
Full West Region (San Francisco)
No. 1 Florida
No. 2 St. John’s
No. 3 Texas Tech
No. 4 Maryland
No. 5 Memphis
No. 6 Missouri
No. 7 Kansas
No. 8 UConn
No. 9 Oklahoma
No. 10 Arkansas
No. 11 Drake
No. 12 Colorado State
No. 13 Grand Canyon
No. 14 UNCW
No. 15 Omaha
No. 16 Norfolk State
The rest of the bracket
East Region (Newark, New Jersey)
No. 1 Duke
No. 2 Alabama
No. 3 Wisconsin
No. 4 Arizona
No. 5 Oregon
No. 6 BYU
No. 7 Saint Mary’s
No. 8 Mississippi State
No. 9 Baylor
No. 10 Vanderbilt
No. 11 VCU
No. 12 Liberty
No. 13 Akron
No. 14 Montana
No. 15 Robert Morris
No. 16 American/Mount St. Mary’s
Midwest Region (Indianapolis)
No. 1 Houston
No. 2 Tennessee
No. 3 Kentucky
No. 4 Purdue
No. 5 Clemson
No. 6 Illinois
No. 7 UCLA
No. 8 Gonzaga
No. 9 Georgia
No. 10 Utah State
No. 11 Texas/Xavier
No. 12 McNeese
No. 13 High Point
No. 14 Troy
No. 15 Wofford
No. 16 SIU Edwardsville
South Region (Atlanta)
No. 1 Auburn
No. 2 Michigan State
No. 3 Iowa State
No. 4 Texas A&M
No. 5 Michigan
No. 6 Ole Miss
No. 7 Marquette
No. 8 Louisville
No. 9 Creighton
No. 10 New Mexico
No. 11 North Carolina/San Diego State
No. 12 UC San Diego
No. 13 Yale
No. 14 Lipscomb
No. 15 Bryant
No. 16 Alabama State/St. Francis
2025 NCAA Tournament Preview
A closer look at No. 10 Arkansas, KU’s first-round opponent
Two nearby teams in West Regional already boast wins over KU
KU making rare East Coast trip as unusually low seed
Reasons why KU could or could not win it all
‘We want Flory!’: What will KU get out of its intriguing freshman in the tournament
KU continuing checkered history as preseason No. 1 team
A look back on forgotten moments from the regular season
Injury-marred, transitional season concludes for KU women without postseason play
AP Photo/L.G. Patterson
