Kansas City, Mo. ? The lights were out.

The TV was turned off.

Hyatt Hotel roommates Drew Gooden and Michael Lee chit-chatted in opposite double beds just after midnight, talking basketball before getting a good night’s sleep prior to Saturday afternoon’s Kansas-Texas Tech Big 12 semifinal at Kemper Arena.

“We were lying there just talking. Drew said he was really anxious to play today,” Lee said. “He said he was going to get 20 rebounds. I believed him. Sometimes he’s just talking, but Drew speaks the truth. He speaks the truth.”

No lie  Gooden, who was upset after grabbing a season-low four boards in a Big 12 quarterfinal win over Colorado, tied a career high with 21 rebounds in KU’s 90-50 semifinal slaughter of Texas Tech.

Gooden also scored 16 points  he was one of five Jayhawks to hit double figures  as top-ranked KU advanced to today’s 2 p.m. final against No. 4 Oklahoma. OU advanced with a 67-51 victory over Texas in the other semifinal.

“I told my roommate, Michael Lee, before the game I’d get 20 rebounds,” Gooden said. “Sixteen points, 21 rebounds. Twelve points, 21 rebounds. I like those kind of games. It makes you look like a beast.”

Gooden was such a factor in grabbing 20 defensive rebounds that Texas Tech coach Bob Knight made a point to congratulate the Big 12 Player of the Year after the game.

“He said, ‘You are a good credit to basketball, a real credit to basketball.’ It was a nice compliment,” Gooden said. “I feel good somebody as legendary as coach Knight would give me a compliment like that. It makes me feel good.”

Gooden did commit one noticeable blunder. He failed to hit Jeff Boschee with a pass on a 2-on-1 break in the first half and missed a layup on the play.

“It was a bonehead mistake,” Gooden said. “I think I made up for it later when I gave it to Aaron (on the break for layup).”

Freshman point guard Aaron Miles had an amazing game with a Big 12 tournament-record 15 assists to go with 15 points off 5-of-7 shooting.

Happy with Gooden’s overall play and the final result, KU coach Roy Williams was visibly upset with Gooden for not making the feed to Boschee.

“Like Drew said, it was a boneheaded play,” Williams said. “I jumped him, but I also said, ‘It’s behind us. It not only makes you look dumb, it makes me look dumb. Let’s go from here and not do it again.”’

The Jayhawks didn’t make many mistakes Saturday in handing Tech what is believed to be Knight’s third-worst loss in his Hall of Fame coaching career. The former Indiana coach suffered a 50-point loss to Minnesota in 1994 and 48 point loss to Michigan in ’98.

KU hit 55.2 percent of its shots to Tech’s 27.1 percent The Jayhawks made eight of 13 threes to Tech’s six of 21 and outrebounded the Red Raiders 56-31.

Tech’s usually dynamic duo of Andrew Emmett and Andy Ellis combined for zero points off 0-for-15 shooting.

“Needless to say, we played very well and also caught Texas Tech playing its third game in three days,” said Williams, whose team had a first-round bye. “They didn’t appear to have their legs. We were active defensively. I think fatigue caught up to them. It is definitely as good as we’ve played defensively all year.”

The Jayhawks swarmed the Raiders in grabbing a 51-22 lead at halftime.

“Drew had to guard Emmett. I had Ellis,” said KU forward Nick Collison, who contributed 14 points and six rebounds. “They were difficult matchups. They roll off screens so well. They missed some shots early. We definitely defended well.”

KU had 13 steals.

“We can cause some havoc out there and we did today,” said Kirk Hinrich, who had 17 points.

The Jayhawks (29-2), who have been wildly successful on offense this season, could really have something going if they play defense as they did Saturday.

“Iowa State and K-State at our place, Oklahoma State, today,” Williams said, rattling off the four games KU played exceptional defense. “The biggest part is our focus. It was a snowball effect today, too. We’d get a stop, then get something off the break.”

KU hit a batch of layups and eight of 13 threes versus Tech. Miles hit a three for his first bucket of the game and played well on offense the rest of the way.

“They made the decision to not play Aaron and he hit his first shot, a three, that gave him confidence as well,” Williams said.

Oklahoma enters today’s 2 p.m. final with a 26-4 record. The Jayhawks beat the Sooners, 74-67, on Jan. 19 at Allen Fieldhouse.