Big 12 Tournament 2015: Semifinals Scores, Championship Bracket and Schedule

Heading into the semifinal, the 2015 Big 12 tournament has been all chalk, with the top four seeds remaining. On Friday, the No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks face the No. 4 Baylor Bears, while the second-seeded Iowa State Cyclones clash with the third-seeded Oklahoma Sooners.

Since each of the four teams sits inside the Top 25, the stakes aren't all that high in terms of the Big Dance. Baylor, Kansas, Iowa State and Oklahoma are all in the NCAA tournament at this point; the only question left is where they'll be seeded.

That's not to say that winning the Big 12 tourney is a meaningless accomplishment. Everybody loves climbing up the ladder and cutting down the nets in triumphant fashion. Success in Kansas City could also serve as a springboard ahead of next week.

Here's a look at how the semifinals unfolded on Friday.

Semifinal Scores

Time (ET)	Matchup
7 p.m.	No. 1 Kansas 62, No. 4 Baylor 52
9 p.m.	No. 2 Iowa State 67, No. 3 Oklahoma 65

Championship Schedule

Date	Time (ET)	Matchup	TV Info	Live Stream
Sat., March 14	6 p.m.	Kansas vs. Iowa State	ESPN	Watch ESPN

No. 1 Kansas 62, No. 4 Baylor 52

Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Kansas moved one step closer to its 10th Big 12 tournament title, beating Baylor 62-52 to kick off Friday's play.

The first half of the game was very competitive with the teams exchanging the lead. Kansas closed on a 10-2 run heading into halftime, though, grabbing an eight-point lead, 26-18. The Jayhawks led by as many as 15 points in the second half as Baylor failed to mount a sustained comeback.

Wayne Selden led the way, missing two shots all game and scoring 20 points, per the team's Twitter account:

Perhaps the biggest development of the night from a Jayhawks perspective was Perry Ellis playing for the first time since a March 3 win over West Virginia. The junior forward is Kansas' leading scorer (14.2 PPG) and rebounder (7.0 RPG).

He'd missed Kansas' last two games, one of which was a loss to Oklahoma and the other being a rather unimpressive win over TCU.

"He could have played (Thursday against TCU)," said head coach Bill Self before the game on the Jayhawk Radio Network (via Rustin Dodd of The Kansas City Star). "And that was more my call than his. Today, it was his call, and he said, 'Coach, I'm ready, let's do this.'"

Sports Illustrated's Brian Hamilton noted that the Jayhawks medical staff was taking every precaution with Ellis' knee:

There was a scary moment in the second half after Ellis accidentally banged knees with a Baylor player. Dodd reported Ellis was laboring a bit as he headed to the Kansas bench:

He finished with 11 points and six rebounds.

After the game, he also looked to be showing no signs that the knee was bothering him. Monty Davis of The Kansas City Star videoed Ellis as he headed back to the locker room following the victory:

On the other side, Kenny Chery and Rico Gathers led the way in the losing effort. Chery scored 20 points, while Gathers posted a double-double (11 points, 13 rebounds). Chery was also responsible for all four of Baylor's made three-pointers.

ESPN's Joe Lunardi had the Bears as a No. 4 seed in his most recent edition of Bracketology, so this loss won't be massively detrimental to their NCAA tournament hopes.

Kansas, meanwhile, likely locked itself into a No. 2 seed with its trip to the Big 12 final.

No. 2 Iowa State 67, No. 3 Oklahoma 65

Ed Zurga/Getty Images

Oklahoma forward Ryan Spangler watched as an opportunity to tie the game in the dying seconds of regulation slipped out of his hands, and a wide-open layup went begging.

Somehow, Iowa State walked out of Friday night with a two-point win over the Sooners and advance to the final to play Kansas.

Both Sports Illustrated's Seth Davis and USA Today's Eric Prisbell were upset that the game actually had to end:

Cyclones forwards Georges Niang and Jameel McKay led the way for ISU. Niang scored 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while McKay had 12 points and nine boards of his own.

Although Iowa State was out-rebounded by 16, it made up for it by holding the Sooners to 7-of-28 from behind the arc and 40.7 percent shooting overall. Oklahoma hasn't been an offensive juggernaut this year, but both of those figures were well below its season averages this year.

Buddy Hield and Isaiah Cousins, the Sooners' leading scorers, combined to score 30 points on the night, but the impact of that was somewhat blunted by their 10-of-31 clip from the field. In the end, Oklahoma's offensive inefficiency made the difference.

ESPN.com's Andy Katz wonders whether the Cyclones are riding the crest of a wave as they get into the most critical stretch of the season:

They'll have to topple the Jayhawks before they can start thinking about the NCAA tournament, though. Iowa State vs. Kansas should be a great matchup. ESPN's Dana O'Neil is already taking the proper precautions:

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