LAWRENCE, Kan. – No. 7/7 Kansas (16-2, 5-1) returns home to host No. 18/19 Texas Tech (15-4 (5-2) in a Big 12 battle on ESPN Big Monday, Jan. 24 at 8 p.m. (CT).
At 5-1, Kansas sits atop the Big 12 standings after its 78-75 come-from-behind win at Kansas State, Jan. 22, in the Dillons Sunflower Showdown. KU trailed by 17 early in the second half in the victory. Texas Tech is tied with Baylor for second in the Big 12 standings at 5-2. The Red Raiders have won two straight after defeating West Virginia, 78-65, on Jan. 22.
Since the inception of the Big 12 in 1996-97, Kansas is 74-20 all-time on ESPN Big Monday (44-1 at home and 30-19 on the road), including 55-14 under head coach Bill Self (33-0 at home and 22-14 on the road).
Kansas leads the overall series with Texas Tech, 39-7, including 20-1 in Allen Fieldhouse. Earlier this season, Texas Tech handed Kansas its lone league loss, 75-67, on Jan. 8, in Lubbock.
Kansas is No. 7 in the NET rankings released by the NCAA for 2021-22 through games played Jan. 22. Nine of the 10 Big 12 teams are ranked in the top 50 in the latest NET – (4) Baylor, (7) Kansas, (13) Texas Tech, (18) Texas, (29) Iowa State, (37) Oklahoma, (43) TCU, (47) West Virginia and (48) Oklahoma State.
Kansas leads the Big 12 in scoring offense (80.8 ppg), which is 16th nationally, field goal percentage (49.7%), which is eighth nationally, and three-point field goal percentage (36.7%, 49th nationally).
Senior Ochai Agbaji has been named to the Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 Watch list, The Sporting News Midseason All-American Second Team and has twice been the Big 12 Player of the Week, including Jan. 17. Agbaji leads the Big 12 in scoring at 20.4 points per game, which is 18th nationally. Agbaji has scored 20 or more points in 11 games this season.
Kansas is the only Big 12 school that has two players ranked in the top six in the Big 12 in scoring with Agbaji first at 20.4 ppg and junior Christian Braun sixth at 15.3 ppg.
Kansas shows balance on the boards as it is the only school in the Big 12 to have three players ranked in the top 11 in rebounding with senior David McCormack fifth (6.8 rpg), redshirt-sophomore Jalen Wilson sixth at 6.5 rpg and Braun 11th at 5.8 rpg.
Up Next
The two winningest programs in college basketball will square off when Kansas hosts Kentucky in the Big 12/SEC Challenge on Saturday, Jan. 29, at 5 p.m. (CT) on ESPN. Kansas is second with 2,339 all-time wins, while Kentucky is first with 2,342 victories.
ESPN’s College GameDay will originate from Allen Fieldhouse on Jan. 29 with the live show running from 10-11 a.m. (CT).
Kentucky leads the overall series with Kansas, 23-9, but the Jayhawks have won four of the last five meetings and are 7-4 against the Wildcats under Bill Self.
