KU Sports Extra: Storming Into the Big 12 Semis

By Matt Tait Mar 8, 2018

The Kansas men’s basketball team avenged a pair of regular season losses to Oklahoma State with an impressive 82-68 victory over the Cowboys in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals on Thursday at Sprint Center.

Playing without sophomore center Udoka Azubuike, KU outscored OSU by a point in the first half and by 13 in the second en route to the run-away victory.

Malik Newman poured in 30 points and Silvio De Sousa and Mitch Lightfoot combined for 14 points and 14 rebounds to make up for the absence of Azubuike.

Here are a few thoughts from Tom Keegan and Matt Tait from Sprint Center.

Knee injury to keep KU center Udoka Azubuike out of Big 12 tournament

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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.