Ochai’s career high earns him top spot after 69-62 KU victory over Oklahoma

By Matt Tait     Mar 11, 2021

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Kansas guard Ochai Agbaji attempts a jumper during the Phillips 66 Big 12 Basketball Championship at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri on March 10, 2021.

**1 – Ochai Agbaji -** Shot lights out and flashed more emotion than we’re used to seeing from the junior from KCMO. [A career-high 26 points in your hometown?][1] Doesn’t get much cooler than that. And Agbaji was great in just about every way in this one.

**2 – Dajuan Harris -** It’s not hard to see Dajuan Harris’ confidence rounding into form. The redshirt freshman is more assertive on offense and his usual pest self on defense, and both traits were on full display in the win over Oklahoma on Thursday night.

**3 – Marcus Garrett -** There were a couple of moments in this one where Garrett reminded people why he was the reigning national defensive player of the year. His offense was also on point, as he used his strength and skills to muscle his way to 17 points while doing all of the other things we’re used to him doing.

**4 – Mitch Lightfoot -** Lightfoot told Bill Self that he was going to play a great game. And then he went out and did it. Confidence through the roof. Toughness. And more scoring punch than we normally see. A great game on a night when KU played without its best big man.

**5 – Jalen Wilson -** Shot just 2 of 10 from the floor and missed a few easy ones. But still managed to score nine points and grab nine boards, while hitting four clutch free throws late.

**6 – Christian Braun -** Braun missed the four shots he attempted (3 from 3-point range) and didn’t do much else on the stat sheet, but did play a role in KU’s strong start during his 28 minutes.

**7 – Bryce Thompson -** Made just one shot in four tries, but stuck his nose right in there and played some pretty tough defense in 19 minutes.

**Season Standings**

1 – Ochai Agbaji – 218

2 – Jalen Wilson – 206

3 – David McCormack – 185

4 – Marcus Garrett – 187

5 – Christian Braun – 180

6 – Mitch Lightfoot – 131

7 – Dajuan Harris – 122

8 – Bryce Thompson – 85 ~

9 – Tristan Enaruna – 75

10 – Tyon Grant-Foster – 73

11 – Latrell Jossell – 14

12 – Gethro Muscadin – 10

~ missed more than a month of the season with back and finger injuries and returned to the lineup on Feb. 11.

[1]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2021/mar/11/ochai-agbajis-career-high-26-points-lead-no-11-kan/

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.