Kansas forward Perry Ellis (34) goes up for a bucket against Oklahoma guard Buddy Hield (24), forward Dante Buford (21) and forward Ryan Spangler (00) during the first half, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016 at Allen Fieldhouse.
With the Kansas University men’s basketball team facing a monster week — Tuesday night vs. West Virginia at Allen Fieldhouse and Saturday afternoon at Oklahoma — KUsports.com’s Tom Keegan & Matt Tait decided to do a little rapid fire edition of KU Sports Extra to break down the Big 12 hoops race.
With KU gunning for consecutive Big 12 title No. 12, six teams sit at the top of the conference standings with just two games separating first-place West Virginia from sixth-place Baylor.
Kansas, of course, is right in the thick of things at 7-3 and even though there are still eight games to play, this week sort of has that make-or-break feel for Kansas.
Here’s what Keegan & Tait had to say about this year’s wild chase for the Big 12 title.
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.
