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LAWRENCE, Kan. – With the vast majority of another raucous sellout crowd at Allen Fieldhouse staying put to watch Kansas continue its all-day senior party Saturday afternoon, well after the Jayhawks beat Arizona 83-76, Wildcats coach Tommy Lloyd took a seat in a near-empty interview room and reflected.

“My ears are still ringing,� Lloyd said, “and that’s awesome.�

The long-lost Arizona-Kansas rivalry, revived by the Wildcats’ new membership in the Big 12, had just put on an entertaining show: The Jayhawks took leads of up to 14 points, led by nine at halftime and watched Arizona wipe the leads out before hanging on late thanks to the heroics of seniors Hunter Dickinson, Zeke Mayo, Dejuan Harris and KJ Adams.

The loss dropped Arizona to 20-11 overall and finished the Wildcats' first Big 12 season at 14-6, which put them into the No. 3 seed for the Big 12 Tournament. They will open on Thursday at approximately 6:30 p.m. Arizona time against either the sixth, 11th or 14th seeded team in the bracket.

Kansas improved to 20-11 overall and 11-9 in the Big 12.

Fittingly, perhaps, a seniors-only connection between Harris and Adams all but put it away for the Jayhawks. Harris threw a welltimed alley-oop pass to the right of the basket just as Harris drove the baseline and elevated for a dunk.

“When you play with the same point guard for four years, you kind of have the same tendencies,� Adams said. “When he looks up, I know when to jump. That's kind of been our thing for the past four years.�

Harris’ dunk gave KU a 79-72 lead with 1:22 to go, jolting the Allen Fieldhouse to another peak, but even before then Lloyd said he was having trouble communicating.

Except once, when he and his Kansas counterpart didn’t need to exchange words.

“I honestly had a lot of fun coaching the game,� Lloyd said. “I mean, down that stretch of that game, coach Self and I even shared a wink. It's fun out there competing in an environment like that. It's stuff you dream of as a competitor. So absolutely no fear, nothing but respect for coach Self, his program, and Kansas basketball.�

Even UA point guard Jaden Bradley had a good time, at least as much as anyone could have while losing. Bradley led the Wildcats with 21 points on 7-for-11 field goal shooting and hit all seven of his free throws, slicing through the noise with confidence.

“It was electric,� Bradley said. “The fans, the energy. It was just like you see on TV.�

The atmosphere was so overwhelming, especially after Arizona lost a week earlier before a nearly as enthusiastic crowd at Iowa State, that Lloyd even had to adjust the way he tipped his cap.

After spending much of his four seasons with Arizona praising McKale Center fans, Lloyd fielded a question about what adjustments helped the Wildcats erase Kansas’ 14-point lead by saying the first thing was simply to adjust to the crowd.

“The last two places we played are electric,� Lloyd said. “I'm an Arizona guy, and I love Arizona but --- and this is not an indictment on our fans -- we’ve got work to do. There's a gap. There's a gap between Kansas and Iowa State (and Arizona) in these game-day atmospheres and their fan support.

The enthusiasm continued after the game. Similar to what Arizona did Tuesday against ASU for its final McKale Center game of the season, Kansas held formal senior day ceremonies before the game and then let players take the microphone afterward.

Partly because Arizona’s players didn’t take the mic until nearly midnight Tuesday, the vast majority of McKale Center fans were already out of the building for the Wildcats' postgame speeches.

But as Saturday afternoon transitioned into Saturday evening, there was no place better for Jayhawk fans to be. 

They stayed through a long course of postgame senior speeches, surrounding Lloyd with more energy as he sat down for his postgame radio interview.

“It was awesome and crazy,� Lloyd said. “Ninety percent of the fans were still there 20 minutes after listening to the senior speeches. That’s pretty special.�

Then, getting back to that question about erasing a 14-point deficit, Lloyd said the Wildcats had to adjust to the crowd and also to stop being selfish.

While the Wildcats held Kansas to just 3 of 11 shooting from 3-point range in the first half, after struggling to defend from long range in recent games against BYU, Iowa State and ASU, the Wildcats couldn’t do much inside about Dickinson.

The Jayhawks’ perennial honors candidate had 16 points on 8-for-9 shooting and five rebounds in the first half, en route to a game-high 33 points and 10 rebounds.

“I told him last night in front of the team, `You've done a lot of good things since you've been here, but I haven't seen you put a team on your back and carry us over an extended period of time,’ " Self said. “Today was a pretty good start.�

A trio of other Kansas seniors helped offset Arizona’s comeback in the second half.

Outshooting Kansas 55-45% over the first 12 minutes after halftime, the Wildcats took a 59-58 lead when Trey Townsend hit a 3-point shot with 11:48 to go. They later took a 68-66 lead when Caleb Love drove in for a layup.

But Kansas then scored seven straight points, getting a jumper from Rylan Griffen, an inside shot from Dickinson and a 3 from Mayo to take a 73-68 lead with four minutes left.

UA later cut it within three points twice over the next two minutes, but it wasn't enough to hold off KU's seniors: Harris tipped in a miss from Dickinson and Dickinson hit a 12-foot jumper before Adams’ dunk all but clinched it for Kansas.

Mayo finished with 20 points while making 5 of 7 3-pointers, Adams had 12 points and eight rebounds while Harris dished nine assists with only one turnover.

While Bradley had 21 points for Arizona, Tobe Awaka had 10 points and nine rebounds, and Love had 16 points.

It was Arizona’s fifth loss in its past eight games but maybe a lesson learned, the way Bradley viewed it.

“They played great,� Bradley said of the Jayhawks. “Big Hunter and (Adams) and their guards, they hit big-time shots at big-time moments. Going forward, we've got to see what we can do to adjust.�