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After escaping with a victory, Kansas set to take on Texas A&M

Mar 15, 2008 - 1:47 PM Texas A&M (24-9) at No. 5 Kansas (29-3) 4:20 pm EDT

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) - It wasn't easy, but No. 5 Kansas managed to escape its Big 12 tournament quarterfinal meeting with Nebraska on Friday.

Now, No. 5 Kansas will face Texas A&M for the right to advance to the Big 12 tournament final on Saturday.

Brandon Rush helped Kansas recover from its worst half of the season by scoring six of his nine points early in the second half as second-seeded Kansas (29-3) rallied for a 64-54 victory over the seventh-seeded Nebraska.

Nebraska outscored Kansas, 15-0, in points off turnovers and limited the Jayhawks to just seven points over a 10-minute span just before intermission en route to taking a 27-22 advantage into halftime.

However, led by Rush's six points, Kansas went on a 15-4 run after emerging from the locker room to take the lead for good, 37-31, with 14:16 left in the game.

Texas A&M (24-9) also had a difficult time advancing during its quarterfinal matchup, escaping with a 63-60 win over third-seeded Kansas State.

Dominique Kirk scored 19 points and made 5-of-6 3-pointers to lead the Aggies, who needed a pair of free throws from Josh Carter with seven seconds remaining to seal the victory.