Kansas head coach Bill Self looks to senior Kansas guard Melvin Council Jr., far right, after Council asked him to bark like a dog, a signature greeting of the Kansas student section for Council during the senior speeches following the Jayhawks’ 104-85 win over the Wildcats on Saturday, March 7, 2026 at Allen Fieldhouse. Photo by Nick Krug

With BYU’s late-night victory over No. 10 Texas Tech in Provo, Utah, on Saturday night, Kansas earned the No. 3 seed in the Big 12 tournament.

KU, Iowa State and Texas Tech all finished with 12-6 conference records in a tie for third place in the league, but KU has the best round-robin record among the three schools with its 1-1 record against the Cyclones and 1-0 mark against the Red Raiders.

The Jayhawks earned a double bye through the first two rounds, so even though the tournament begins on Tuesday, KU will play its first game at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday night at the T-Mobile Center. The game will be televised on either ESPN or ESPN2.

Its opponent is yet to be determined. No. 11 seed Colorado will face No. 14 Oklahoma State at 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The winner will take on No. 6 seed TCU (in the position in which KU found itself each of the last two seasons) at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, and then the winner of that game will advance to face the Jayhawks.

KU was 1-0 against each of the three possible opponents over the course of the regular season.

During their uneasy 1-2 start to league play, the Jayhawks earned a miraculous win over the Horned Frogs at Allen Fieldhouse on Jan. 6 in which they had trailed by 13 points with four minutes to go but came back to win 104-100 in overtime, a victory they dedicated to the late administrator Scott “Scooter” Ward.

They went on to earn a hard-fought road win over Colorado two weeks later by a score of 75-69, one that was in question until Melvin Council Jr. led the Jayhawks on a late 11-1 run. KU won that game without head coach Bill Self, who stayed back in Lawrence due to health issues as Jacque Vaughn served as acting head coach.

The Oklahoma State game on Feb. 18 still stands as the Jayhawks’ most recent victory away from Allen Fieldhouse. They built a big advantage early as the Cowboys struggled to defend Darryn Peterson, then largely kept OSU at arm’s length on the way to an 81-69 victory at Gallagher-Iba Arena.

In Kansas City, Missouri, KU will have a chance to vie for a Big 12 title, and also to potentially improve its seeding for the NCAA Tournament as it currently sits as a low No. 4 seed nationally in most projections, likely to play somewhere far from home. (ESPN currently has the Jayhawks in Philadelphia for first-weekend competition.)

If the Jayhawks win their first game in the Big 12 tournament, they will play again on Friday at 8:30 p.m. against either No. 2 Houston, No. 7 West Virginia, No. 10 BYU or No. 15 Kansas State.

FINAL BIG 12 STANDINGS

1. Arizona (16-2)

2. Houston (14-4)

3. Kansas (12-6)

4. Texas Tech (12-6)

5. Iowa State (12-6)

6. TCU (11-7)

7. West Virginia (9-9)

8. UCF (9-9)

9. Cincinnati (9-9)

10. BYU (9-9)

11. Colorado (7-11)

12. Arizona State (7-11)

13. Baylor (6-12)

14. Oklahoma State (6-12)

15. Kansas State (3-15)

16. Utah (2-16)