The Jayhawks, now a pedestrian 21-12, were going to hold that underdog designation a) only if they won Thursday in the Big 12 quarterfinals against Wildcats and b) because they had backed into their current plight to begin with.

Henri Veesaar and KJ Lewis scored 19 points apiece and Arizona pulled away late to beat Kansas 88-77 in a Big 12 Conference Tournament quarterfinal at T-Mobile Center on Thursday night. Veesaar came off the bench to sink 7 of 11 shots with two 3-pointers for the third-seeded Wildcats (21-11),

The Kansas Jayhawks men’s basketball team will play No. 3-seeded Arizona in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament on Thursday. Kansas defeated UCF in an overtime thriller Wednesday. Meanwhile, Arizona had a bye through the early rounds of the tournament.