Strong second half carries No. 5 Kansas past No. 9 Baylor

Jalen Wilson had 21 points and 13 rebounds as No. 5 Kansas rode a strong second half to an 87-71 victory at home over No. 9 Baylor in Big 12 Conference play Saturday in Lawrence, Kan.

KJ Adams Jr. had 17 points and Gradey Dick added 16 points and five rebounds for the Jayhawks, who defeated Baylor for the 19th time in 20 all-time meetings inside Allen Fieldhouse dating to December 1951.

Dajuan Harris scored all 14 of his points in the second half for Kansas (22-5, 10-4), which moved into a first-place tie with sixth-ranked Texas after the Longhorns defeated Oklahoma in overtime earlier in the day.

Baylor (20-7, 9-5), which had its four-game winning streak snapped with just its second loss in its past 12 games, dropped to third in the conference.

The Jayhawks outscored the Bears 55-26 in the second half to rally from a 13-point halftime deficit.

Kansas finished the game shooting 29 of 57 (50.9 percent) from the field, including 6 of 21 (28.6 percent) from 3-point range.

Baylor was led by Adam Flagler, who had 22 points and seven assists, while Keyonte George had 20 points and five rebounds. LJ Cryer chipped in 15 points, but no other Bear scored more than six.

The Bears shot 26 of 59 (44.1 percent) from the field, including 10 of 25 (40 percent) from beyond the arc.

Baylor's 13-point halftime lead didn't last long. The Jayhawks opened the second half on a 20-4 run to take a 52-49 edge on Adams' dunk with 14:06 left.

After Baylor pulled to 55-54 on Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua's 3-point play, the Jayhawks put the game away with a 16-5 run to take a 70-59 advantage on Ernest Udeh Jr.'s alley-oop dunk with 7:20 to go.

George scored 15 of his first-half points during a 20-6 run that gave Baylor a 40-23 lead with 3:30 left before Kansas trimmed the advantage to 45-32 at intermission.