photo by: AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

Kansas forward KJ Adams Jr. (24) knocks the ball away from UCF guard Keyshawn Hall (4) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025, in Lawrence. Kansas won 91-87.

The sixth-seeded Kansas men’s basketball team will face No. 14 UCF on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. to open the Big 12 tournament, after the Knights knocked off No. 11 Utah 87-72 on Tuesday night at the T-Mobile Center.

Forward Keyshawn Hall, the Big 12’s leading scorer, led UCF with 23 points against the Utes, while guard Darius Johnson added 20 more. The Knights, who improved to 17-15 on the year and beat Utah for the second time this season, went on a 22-1 run early in the second half after battling back from an uneven start to their first-round matchup.

Utah was playing without one of its top players, forward Ezra Ausar, who suffered an injury in Saturday’s game against BYU. With the Utes’ elimination, Jayhawks will not get the chance to avenge their defeat at the Jon M. Huntsman Center on Feb. 15.

As for UCF, KU previously beat the Knights on a pair of occasions this season: a 99-48 blowout at Addition Financial Arena on Jan. 5 that went down as the most lopsided road win in the history of the Big 12, and then a much closer 91-87 thriller at Allen Fieldhouse on Jan. 28.

The second matchup, which is the only game since point guard Dajuan Harris Jr. started playing for KU that he has missed (he suffered an ankle injury that kept him out for that game only), went down to the wire, with a disorganized Jayhawks defense giving up 34 points to Hall. KU rallied from down nine points early in the second half and Adams made key stops on Hall late to prevent the Knights from pulling off an upset.

“I’m excited for the matchup,” Johnson said on Tuesday night, according to the Orlando Sentinel. “They got us twice this year at home and away. So, I’m looking forward to it. I know it’s going to be a competitive, high-level game.”

While KU has Harris and Adams both healthy for Wednesday, it does not have guard Shakeel Moore. The game against UCF on Jan. 5 was Moore’s first start of the season, a strategic move by head coach Bill Self to have Moore guard Johnson and Harris face off against guard Jordan Ivy-Curry. It worked well, as the two Knights combined to shoot 2-for-13 and score eight points.

However, Moore is currently dealing with a foot injury that has plagued him throughout the season and has not appeared since mid-February. Self has ruled him out for the Big 12 tournament, though did mention on his “Hawk Talk” radio show on Monday that Moore practiced that afternoon.

The winner of Wednesday night’s matchup will advance to play No. 3 seed Arizona, which KU defeated 83-76 in Lawrence on Saturday for its senior night. UCF lost 88-80 to the Wildcats in Tucson, Arizona, on Jan. 11.