Ochai Agbaji dedicates most outstanding player award to his Kansas Jayhawks teammates
Wearing a Big 12 championship hat and T-shirt, Kansas City native Ochai Agbaji watched as Kansas men’s basketball teammate Mitch Lightfoot cut the final strand of net off the south goal in T-Mobile Center.
Agbaji, the Big 12’s leading scorer, who in the postgame interview room Saturday night wore the net as a necklace, once again was instrumental in a huge Jayhawks victory, this time in the finals of the Big 12 Tournament against Texas Tech.
The 6-foot-5 Oak Park High graduate scored 16 points on 4-of-10 shooting, including 3 of 6 three-pointers and 5 of 6 free throws, and grabbed seven rebounds in the No. 6-ranked Jayhawks’ 74-65 victory over the No. 14-ranked Red Raiders.
Agbaji joined teammate Christian Braun (14 points, five rebounds) on the all-tournament team with Texas Tech’s Bryson Williams (17 points vs. KU) and Terrence Shannon (14 points), TCU’s Mike Miles and Oklahoma’s Umoja Gibson.
In addition, Agbaji was voted Most Outstanding Player of the tournament. He became the fifth player to back up his Big 12 player of the year award with MVP honors in the postseason tournament the same season. The others: Marcus Fizer (Iowa State, 2000), Tony Allen (Oklahoma State, 2004), Kevin Durant (Texas, 2007) and Marcus Morris (Kansas, 2011). KU’s Devonté Graham won both honors but in different seasons. He was league player of the year in 2018 and most outstanding player of the Big 12 Tournament in 2016.
“It means a lot,” Agbaji said after KU improved to 28-6 overall and solidified its position as a No. 1 seed for the upcoming NCAA Tournament. Joe Lunardi of ESPN projected before the game that the overall No. 1 seeds figured to be Gonzaga followed by Arizona, KU and Baylor. Texas Tech (25-9) can expect a 3 seed according to Lunardi.
“I’ve grown up coming to this place, all the tournaments that are here and the Big 12 Tournament. Obviously I’ve watched it. Performing in front of all these people, it’s just crazy, so surreal. I’m honored to receive that,” Agbaji added of sweeping the league player of the year honors. “I’m just blessed to be in this position. I’ve always got to give it back to my teammates because I couldn’t have done it without them, so I’m giving it back to my teammates.”
Agbaji — he played 38 minutes versus Texas Tech — scored 22 points while playing 34 minutes in KU’s 75-62 semifinal win over TCU and scored 18 points in 30 minutes in KU’s 87-63 quarterfinal win over West Virginia.
“I cut down nets in high school. This one is different,” Agbaji said. “It means a lot more. It means a lot to the program. It means a lot to the guys here and our fans.”
Braun — he had 11 points and 14 rebounds against West Virginia and nine points and six boards against TCU — spoke glowingly of Agbaji’s achievements.
“It’s awesome to see somebody that I have known for so long accomplish these things,” Braun said. “It started last summer. His work ethic has gone up so much and it’s at a level where he’s competing with himself every day. Every rep he goes 100%. It’s great to see him do all these things. He’s accomplishing pretty much every goal he set out to accomplish.
“It’s great for us to see. It’s awesome to watch, so we know he carries us a little bit. A lot, actually. He carries us and it’s fun to watch him, fun to play with. He’s super unselfish. He’s super humble so he’ll never tell you but it’s great to see from our perspectives.”
KU forward Jalen Wilson didn’t make the all-tournament team but could have after scoring 12 points, all in the second half, of the title game victory. KU, which led 37-36 at halftime, outscored the Red Raiders 37-29 in the final half.
“I thought everybody played pretty well, but I thought Jalen Wilson was the best performer for us the second half,” KU coach Bill Self said. “He didn’t get a lot done the first half. The second half he got a lot done and the majority of the stuff he got done was off of kind of power ball. He scored around the basket and played strong and did a good job on the defensive end. I thought he played great today.”
Also, David McCormack scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and Remy Martin scored 12 points with four assists and three steals in 26 minutes against the Red Raiders.
Perhaps the only negative is the fact Mitch Lightfoot, who had scored a career-high 15 points against TCU and had five blocked shots against West Virginia, injured his left leg on the defensive end of the court with 7:26 left. He headed to the locker room then returned to the bench area wearing black sweatpants.
Asked how Lightfoot, who scored two points in 10 minutes, was doing after the game, Self said: “I have no idea. His knee is sore. They (KU doctor, trainer) came and told me he wasn’t available for the rest of the game. He’s got a sprained knee but I don’t know anything more than that.”
An update will be coming after Sunday’s 5 p.m. Selection Show, when Self and KU players will speak about the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
Agbaji hopes there will be more net cutting this season.
“I think that before, on the podium, we were talking, ‘We like this feeling, let’s do it again,’ type stuff. So at that moment we were enjoying the moment but knowing we want more,” Agbaji said.
This story was originally published March 12, 2022 at 7:50 PM with the headline "Ochai Agbaji dedicates most outstanding player award to his Kansas Jayhawks teammates."
