LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas center Joel Embiid is expected to miss the first weekend of the NCAA tournament.

Embiid got a second opinion on his ailing lower back from a specialist in Los Angeles on Monday, and the school says the physician confirmed the original diagnosis of a stress fracture.

The school says Embiid’s treatment for the injury makes him “unlikely to play in the first weekend of the NCAA tournament.”

A potential top choice in the NBA draft should he choose to declare, Embiid sat out Kansas’ final two regular-season games, a home victory against Texas Tech and a road loss against West Virginia. The Jayhawks had already clinched the outright Big 12 title.

— Associated Press —

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Its NCAA chances all but gone, West Virginia showed it still has some fight left in a lackluster season.

West Virginia built a 25-point lead and had to withstand 41 points by freshman Andrew Wiggins and a furious comeback by No. 8 Kansas to upset the Jayhawks 92-86 in their Big 12 regular-season finale Saturday.

“We just had to stay composed, not get too down, don’t say, ‘dang, they’re going to come back,” said Eron Harris, who led West Virginia with 28 points. “You’ve got to always have confidence in your team that you’re going to win.”

The Mountaineers (17-14, 9-9 Big 12) could have finished with a thud like they had in losing four of their five previous games that reduced them to playing for a spot in the NIT.

The young Mountaineers, who have no seniors, watched Kansas tear into the deficit behind Wiggins, who set a season high for scoring and a freshman record for the Jayhawks before fouling out in the final seconds. He also eight rebounds, four blocks and five steals, to go along with 12-of-18 shooting from the field. Ben McLemore has the Kansas single-game freshman scoring record with 36 last season.

West Virginia made some clutch free throws in the final minute to thwart the comeback and keep coach Bob Huggins’ sanity intact.

“When we get a little more experience, we’ll handle those things a little better,” said Huggins, who earned $25,000 for beating Kansas in the regular season, one of the bonus clauses in a 2012 contract extension.

Juwan Staten added 24 points and Devin Williams, WVU’s star freshman, had a season-high 22 points along with 13 rebounds. It marked the first time this season that Kansas had allowed three opposing players to score 20 points.

“I thought Staten controlled the game,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “Harris was terrific and Williams was by far the best big in the game.

“They were terrific and then we didn’t guard at all. We’ve gone through stretches this year where we haven’t guarded well, but that’s probably as poor as we’ve been. But give them credit, they were a lot better than us offensively than we were defensively.”

West Virginia shot 53 percent from the floor and outrebounded Kansas 37-31.

Perry Ellis added 14 points for Kansas (23-8, 14-4), which clinched its 10th straight regular-season title a week ago and had little riding on this game. The Jayhawks will have a first-round bye in the conference tournament that begins Wednesday in Kansas City, Mo.

Kansas was without 7-foot freshman Joel Embiid, who sat out his second straight game to rest a lower back strain. Tarik Black, starting in Embiid’s place, went to the bench with his second foul four minutes into the game.

The Mountaineers led nearly the entire game but fell apart down the stretch. Still, West Virginia managed to beat a ranked team for the third time in seven tries over the past month.

Kansas went more than seven minutes without a field goal spanning the halves and found itself with its biggest deficit of the season, 64-39, with 16:43 left in the game after a Harris 3-pointer.

But the Mountaineers have had trouble holding double-digit leads this season, and Kansas — especially Wiggins — was hardly done.

West Virginia struggled against Kansas’ full-court press, and Wiggins followed Landen Lucas’ three-point play with four free throws and a 3-pointer over a 47-second span to pull Kansas within 78-68 with 6:13 remaining. Wiggins scored 14 straight points at one point for the Jayhawks.

Frank Mason’s 3-pointer trimmed the deficit to 85-80 with 1:24 left. But West Virginia made 7 of 8 free throws in the final minute to hang on.

Backups Lucas and Jamari Traylor couldn’t keep up with Williams, who scored 10 straight points for the Mountaineers at one point. He had 18 in the first half to give the Mountaineers a 50-38 halftime lead — the most points given up by the Jayhawks in the first half this season.

“I thought Devin played really well,” Huggins said. “(He) scored it through contact and made open shots, which he does in practice. And then he rebounds the ball for us. He’s the one guy who can really go rebound it in a crowd.”

West Virginia had its second sellout of the season, thanks to hundreds of Kansas fans who made the 900-mile trek east and those especially coming to see Wiggins, who played his high school ball on the other side of the state at Huntington Prep.

“I’ve never seen him play like that,” Huggins said. “When he makes shots he’s really difficult to defend.”

— Associated Press —

Kansas men’s basketball signee Cliff Alexander has been named the Naismith Boys High School Player of the Year, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced Friday.

Currently listed as the No. 4 overall recruit by rivals.com, Alexander, a 6-9, 240-pound power forward from Curie High School in Chicago, was one of three finalists for the Naismith honor. An elite list that included fellow KU signee Kelly Oubre, a guard from Henderson, Nev.

Alexander, who was also named the Chicago Sun-Times Player of the Year on Friday, averaged 24 points, 15 rebounds and six blocked shots in 2013-14, according to the Sun-Times.

Alexander is the second-straight Jayhawk to earn the Naismith Boys High School Player of the Year honor as current KU freshman guard Andrew Wiggins was the 2013 recipient. Alexander and Wiggins are the only KU players to earn the accolade since the inception of the award in 1987.

In addition to his Naismith honor, Alexander and Oubre will participate in the McDonald’s All-America Game on April 2 at the United Center in Chicago. The duo was also named to the USA Basketball Junior National Select Team which will take on the World Select Team in the 2014 Nike Hoop Summit on April 12 at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore.

— KU Sports Information —

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Tarik Black pulled a Big 12 championship T-shirt over his broad shoulders, slipped a title hat on his head, and then gave Andrew Wiggins and the rest of his teammates a hug.

In the background stood the trophies, all 10 of them, brought onto the court at Allen Fieldhouse — a perfect ending to Black’s nearly perfect senior night.

The transfer from Memphis scored 19 points on 9-for-9 shooting, more than making up for the loss of injured center Joel Embiid, and led the eighth-ranked Jayhawks to an 82-57 victory over Texas Tech on Wednesday night.

“Wow, did he play good tonight,” Kansas coach Bill Self said.

Black matched the school record for field goal attempts without a miss held by C.J. Giles (2005) and Mark Randall (1990). The only shots he missed came at the free throw line.

Wiggins, also likely playing in his final home game, added nine points for the Jayhawks (23-7, 14-3 Big 12). Naadir Tharpe came off the bench to contribute 16 points and five assists, and Perry Ellis finished with 13 points and five rebounds.

Toddrick Gotcher scored 10 points to lead the Red Raiders (13-17, 5-12), who trailed by 20 points at halftime and never threatened down the stretch in losing their sixth straight game.

“We didn’t do a good job of executing,” Gotcher said.

The lopsided victory allowed Kansas to celebrate its latest conference title in style.

The Jayhawks backed into the outright championship despite a loss last weekend at Oklahoma State, and Self was so disheartened by the performance that he ordered the title T-shirts and hats waiting in the locker room to remain in their boxes. His decision was criticized in some circles, but Self defended it in a news conference Tuesday.

They were finally brought out moments after the final buzzer Wednesday, along with a series of tables at midcourt that held up the Jayhawks’ 10 straight Big 12 title trophies.

Self also made sure that senior night at Kansas focused on the seniors, which is why Black started alongside classmates Niko Roberts and Justin Wesley — two rarely used role players.

Still, the packed crowd was keenly aware that it was probably the last time Wiggins would step on the Phog’s court, too. The fans roared at every basket made by the star forward, who has already made it clear that he plans to enter the NBA draft this summer.

“We’ve been able to recruit some guys that will probably never get to a senior night, and we should be happy to have those guys,” Self told the crowd after the game. “So one last time, let’s give the entire team a loud ovation and thank them for their efforts.”

All the positive vibes made it easy to forget that the Jayhawks were playing without Embiid, their talented 7-foot freshman, whom Self decided to sit the rest of the regular season because of a lower back strain. It’s the same injury that caused Embiid to miss a game against TCU earlier in the season, though Self is hopeful he will be back for the Big 12 tournament.

“Didn’t you guys think Joel looked great in his suit tonight?” Self asked the crowd. “But Jo, listen, everybody thinks you look much better in a uniform.”

Without the big man patrolling the paint, it was up to Black to leave his mark.

The graduate transfer dominated the overmatched Red Raiders in the paint, scoring just about all his baskets at the rim. The highlight came in the midst of a 17-4 run to end the first half, when Black caught an alley-oop pass from Tharpe and slammed it home.

By the time Conner Frankamp buried a 3-pointer and Frank Mason added a free throw in the final seconds, the lead had swelled to 39-19 and Kansas was well on its way.

The second half was merely an excuse for another sellout crowd, this one including 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh and Packers coach Mike McCarthy, to enjoy a rollicking party.

Meanwhile, the loss means that Red Raiders coach Tubby Smith, who spent most of the game sitting glumly on the bench, will have to beat Texas on Saturday and win the Big 12 tournament — four games in four days — to avoid his first losing season in 23 years as a head coach.

Texas Tech still has never won in 14 tries at Allen Fieldhouse.

“It’s just not our time right now. I feel like we still have another season coming up with the Big 12 tournament,” said the Red Raiders’ Jaye Crockett, “and hopefully we can make a run during the tournament along with our next game against Texas.”

— Associated Press —

Kansas men’s basketball coach Bill Self announced Monday that freshman center Joel Embiid will miss Kansas’ last two regular-season games vs. Texas Tech on March 5 and at West Virginia on March 8, due to a lower back strain.

“Joel re-aggravated a spot in his lower back that he was dealing with a few weeks ago,” Self explained. “We had another MRI performed. We’ve also spoken with experts with this particular injury and have been told the same thing we were told before, rest is the best remedy.”

Embiid leads Kansas in rebounding with an 8.1 per game average, which ranks sixth in the Big 12. His 2.6 blocks per game ranks second. The seven-foot center from Yaounde, Cameroon, missed the Jayhawks’ home contest against TCU on Feb. 15 with the same injury, but returned to average 14.0 points and 10.3 rebounds in the four games since.

“It should not be an injury that keeps him out for the rest of the season,” Self said. “Last time he was off five days and that worked very nicely for him and he was able to come back and be 100 percent.”

Embiid is coming off back-to-back double-doubles with 12 points and 13 rebounds against Oklahoma (2/24) and 13 points and 13 rebounds at Oklahoma State (3/1).

Self and his staff will monitor Embiid’s progress and determine his status after Kansas plays at West Virginia on March 8.

“We’ve made a decision that since we are so close to the postseason, we will re-evaluate him on Sunday,” Self said. “If the discomfort ceases, he should be able to practice on Monday (March 10) and participate in the Big 12 Championship. If he’s still having symptoms of tightness and soreness, then we will look at sitting him longer through the postseason conference tournament but there is no reason why he should not be feeling much better by the NCAA Tournament. The doctors feel that amount of time off should do him wonders for how he is feeling.”

— KU Sports Information —

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — Marcus Smart scored 20 of his 21 points in the second half to help Oklahoma State defeat No. 5 Kansas 72-65 on Saturday night and give a major boost to the Cowboys’ once-fading NCAA tournament hopes.

Oklahoma State (19-10, 7-9 Big 12) overcame a 10-point deficit in the second half. The Cowboys improved to 3-0 since Smart returned from a three-game suspension for shoving a Texas Tech fan.

Andrew Wiggins scored 15 points for Kansas (22-7, 13-3), which already had clinched the Big 12 title outright before tipoff because Texas and Iowa State lost earlier.

The student section was filled nearly an hour before the opening tip. The crowd included Oklahoma City Thunder players Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook and their coach, Scott Brooks.

Wiggins’ three-point play tied the game at 64 with just over 2 minutes to play.

Kamari Murphy’s layup gave Oklahoma State a 66-64 lead with 1:37 remaining. Kansas’ Naadir Tharpe missed a jumper, and Murphy pulled in the rebound.

Smart made a layup with 46.1 seconds left to push Oklahoma State’s lead to four, then he broke the press and hit another layup with 23.8 seconds to go to put the game out of reach.

The Jayhawks led 26-25 at halftime despite 35 percent shooting.

Oklahoma State shot just 24 percent in the first half but forced 11 turnovers. Le’Bryan Nash and Markel Brown scored nine points each to keep the Cowboys in the game. Smart had one point on 0-for-7 shooting.

Wiggins scored five points in the half but committed two fouls.

Brown hit a 3-pointer in the opening seconds of the second half to give Oklahoma State a 28-26 lead, but Kansas answered with a 3-pointer by Wayne Selden.

Smart made his first field goal, a 3-pointer, with 17:46 to play.

He drew the third foul on Joel Embiid with 14:19 to go and the Jayhawks up 38-36. Wiggins picked up his third foul 11 seconds later.

Kansas responded with a run. With both freshman stars on the bench, Tharpe and Selden drained 3-pointers that put the Jayhawks up 46-38. A three-point play by Perry Ellis pushed Kansas’ lead to nine, and a pair of free throws by Wiggins extended the margin to 10 for the first time.

Oklahoma State muscled its way back into the game with a three-point play by Nash and a long lob by Smart to Brown that cut Kansas’ lead to five and got the crowd back into the game. The Cowboys moved into the double bonus with 5:50 remaining, and Brown made two free throws to give Oklahoma State a 60-59 lead.

Nash picked up his fourth foul with 4:35 remaining, but Smart calmed him down after Nash disagreed with the call.

Wiggins picked up his fourth foul with 4:09 to play. Smart’s 3-pointer with 3:44 left put Oklahoma State up 63-61.

— Associated Press —

Kansas freshman Andrew Wiggins has been named one of 10 semifinalists for the 2014 Men’s Naismith Trophy, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced Friday.

Four finalists for the Naismith Trophy will be announced March 23. On Thursday, Feb. 27, Wiggins was also selected as one of 15 finalists for the Oscar Robertson Trophy, which is the U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s (USBWA) National Player of the Year award. He, along with KU teammate Joel Embiid, is also one of six finalists for the USBWA’s Wayman Tisdale Award, recognizing the organization’s National Freshman of the Year.

Wiggins leads Kansas with a 16.3 scoring average, the best among Big 12 freshmen and ninth overall in the conference. The Vaughan, Ontario, Canada, guard has made 35 threes this season and is the team leader with 29 steals. Wiggins’ 5.8 rebound average is third on the team and 18th in the conference. A gifted shooter, Wiggins also ranks among the Big 12 leaders in field goal percentage (11th at 44.8) and free throw percentage (ninth at 75.9). He is a two-time Big 12 Newcomer of the Week and was the Wayman Tisdale National Freshman of the Week on Jan. 28.

The last Jayhawk to be named a Naismith Trophy semifinalist was Thomas Robinson in 2012. He would later be named one of the four finalists for the award.

No. 5/6 Kansas (22-6, 13-2) has won at least a share of the 2013-14 Big 12 Conference regular-season title, its 10th-straight, 14th Big 12 and NCAA-leading 57th overall. The Jayhawks will travel to Oklahoma State (18-10, 6-9) Saturday, at 8 p.m. on ESPN College GameDay.

— KU Sports Information —

Kansas freshmen Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid have been named finalists for national awards the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) announced Thursday.

Wiggins was selected as one of 15 finalists for the Oscar Robertson Trophy, which is the USBWA’s National Player of the Year award. Additionally, he and Embiid are among the six finalists for the Wayman Tisdale Award recognizing the organization’s National Freshman of the Year.

Wiggins leads Kansas with a 16.3 scoring average, the best among Big 12 freshmen and ninth overall in the conference. The Vaughan, Ontario, Canada, guard has made 35 threes this season and is the team leader with 29 steals. Wiggins’ 5.8 rebound average is third on the team and 18th in the conference. A gifted shooter, Wiggins also ranks among the Big 12 leaders in field goal percentage (11th at 44.8) and free throw percentage (ninth at 75.9). He is a two-time Big 12 Newcomer of the Week and was the Wayman Tisdale National Freshman of the Week on Jan. 28.

Embiid is coming off his seventh double-double of the season with 12 points and 13 rebounds against Oklahoma (2/24). The Yaoundé, Cameroon, center has broken the KU freshman record for blocked shots, currently at 71, and his 2.6 blocked shots per game are second in the league. Embiid leads KU with 7.9 rebounds per game, which ranks fifth in the Big 12. A two-time Big 12 Newcomer of the Week and the Wayman Tisdale National Freshman of the Week (1/21), Embiid is shooting 62.4 percent from the field (which would lead the league if he made 5.0 per game) and averages 11.1 points per game.

No. 5/6 Kansas (22-6, 13-2) has won at least a share of the 2013-14 Big 12 Conference regular-season title, its 10th-straight, 14th Big 12 and NCAA-leading 57th overall. The Jayhawks will travel to Oklahoma State (18-10, 6-9) Saturday, at 8 p.m. on ESPN.

— KU Sports Information —