In a Kentucky-Kansas game featuring stellar talent, Ochai Agbaji is a rising star
Allen Fieldhouse will feature plenty of coveted college basketball talent when Kentucky and Kansas play Saturday in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. But the best player on the floor could well be a three-star prospect.
That would be Ochai Agbaji, Kansas’ 6-foot-5 senior who, at this point of the season, could be locked in a head-to-head battle with Kentucky center Oscar Tshiebwe for National Player of the Year honors.
Agbaji is averaging 21.3 points per game for the 17-2 Jayhawks. He is shooting a sizzling 47 percent from three-point range. And he’s coming off a Monday night performance in which Agbaji scored a career-high 37 points to lead Kansas to a thrilling 94-91 double-overtime victory over Texas Tech at Allen Fieldhouse.
Agbaji was 13 of 23 from the floor, including seven of 12 from three-point range. He also hit the shot that sent the game into a second overtime. Matt Tait of KUsports.com wrote, “I can’t get over the shot. How big it was. How pure it was. How cool, calm and collected Agbaji was when he rose to shoot it and when he got back on defense after it went down.”
Agbaji was following up a career-high 29 points in Kansas’ come-from-behind 78-75 win at Kansas State last Saturday. The Kansas City native was but two of eight from three in that game. “The way that Och has scored of late shows you that he’s a complete guy,” said Kansas Coach Bill Self after the win over K-State.
Rated as a three-star prospect by both 247Sports and Rivals, Agbaji picked Kansas over Texas A&M and Wisconsin in 2018. He averaged 8.5 points per game as a freshman, followed by 10.0 as a sophomore and 14.1 as a junior. He went through a rigorous training regimen to work on his shot in the offseason. It has paid off. After shooting 42 percent from the floor last season, Agbaji is shooting 52 percent so far this campaign.
“He’s a good player,” Kentucky’s Keion Brooks said on Friday. “He’s shooting the ball really well right now.”
Agbaji scored 17 points in Kansas’ 65-62 win over Kentucky last year in the Champions Classic. This year, he has scored 20 or more points in 12 of Kansas’ 19 games.
Links for the Kentucky-Kansas game
Kentucky faces ultimate challenge at Kansas. Jerry Tipton of the Lexington Herald-Leader writes, “Playing No. 5 Kansas in Allen Fieldhouse, which ESPN analyst Jay Bilas has called the ‘St. Andrews of college basketball,’ Kentucky is aware the uphill climb it faces Saturday night.”
Where did Agbaji’s 37 points rank? Gary Bedore of the Kansas City star writes, “To put things in perspective, Agbaji’s 37 points (on 13-of-23 shooting, 7-of-12 from three, 4-of-8 from the line) were the most points scored by a KU player in a home game in more than 30 years — since shooting guard Terry Brown posted 42 points in a 105-94 victory over North Carolina State on Jan. 5, 1991.”
Former Kansas players react to all-time wins chase. Bedore writes, “The Jayhawks, who have closed the gap on the Wildcats on the NCAA men’s college basketball victory list by 48 games during the 19-year Bill Self era, trail the country’s winningest team by just three victories (2,343 for Kentucky; 2,340 for KU) entering Saturday’s Big 12/SEC Challenge at Allen Fieldhouse.”
All eyes on TyTy Washington’s ankle. Jon Hale of the Courier-Journal writes, “Kentucky basketball players and coaches continue to be amazed at the efficiency with which star freshman guard TyTy Washington has operated this season. But with Washington’s status for Saturday’s game at No. 5 Kansas uncertain due to an ankle injury, there is no doubting the importance of the player coach John Calipari has dubbed UK’s ‘silent assassin.’”
The last five times Kansas has played Kentucky. Jordan Guskey of the Topeka Capital-Journal writes, “Dec. 1, 2020: Kansas 65, Kentucky 62. The Jayhawks won this matchup, played in Indianapolis, 65-62. It required a second-half comeback, as the Wildcats had held a six-point lead at halftime. Kansas was led in scoring by Jalen Wilson’s 23 points, and Ochai Agbaji’s 17 points, while Kentucky saw both Davion Mintz and Brandon Boston Jr. each have 12 points.”
Kansas is back to a No. 1 seed, says Joe Lunardi of ESPN.
Kansas still focused on Big 12 race, writes Matt Tait of Lawrence Journal-World.
A rivalry renewed when Kentucky visits Kansas, writes Hunter Shelton of the Kentucky Kernel.
Agbaji’s career night propels Kansas, writes Nathan Swaffar of the Daily Kansan.
College Basketball’s Top 25, according to a poll of student journalists.
Personal note
With Kentucky still doing its postgame interviews by Zoom, we did not make the trip to Allen Fieldhouse. I hate that in the fact that the old barn in Lawrence is one of my favorite places to watch a basketball game.
True story: In the summer of 1999, our family traveled to Iowa for a wedding and then to Manhattan, Kansas, to visit my wife’s brother, his wife, and newborn son. On the way back, I insisted we take the exit off I-70 and visit Lawrence just so my two boys — ages 6 and 12 — could go inside and see Allen Fieldhouse. And we did.
