KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - The Kansas Jayhawks survived an upset bid in an overtime thriller Wednesday night, defeating UCF 98-94 to advance to the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals.

Late in regulation and throughout overtime, the Jayhawks got key plays from Hunter Dickinson, KJ Adams and Zeke Mayo. Dickinson and Mayo each scored critical baskets in the extra five minutes of action while Adams took on the main defensive assignment of UCF’s All-Big 12 selection Keyshawn Hall.

“We’re happy we won,” said Kansas head coach Bill Self. “We didn’t play our best, but I think they had a lot to do with that. When we had a chance to kinda break the game open, we didn’t take advantage of it.”

The Jayhawks held a 64-53 lead in the second half and looked well on their way to a Wednesday night win before UCF rattled off a 12-0 run in less than two minutes, grabbing the Knights’ first lead at 65-64 midway through the second half.

In the final seconds of regulation, Adams stepped out of bounds with 4.3 seconds remaining and set UCF up for a game-winning 3-point attempt. UCF guard Jordan Ivy-Curry missed the 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.

Following a 33-point, 10-rebound performance on Senior Day to end the regular season, senior center Hunter Dickinson had 23 points and 13 rebounds in his Big 12 Tournament opener. A sub-standard first half saw Dickinson score just 3 points but the Alexandria, Virginia, native quickly added to his scoring total with 10 points in the first six minutes of the second half.

The double-double was Dickinson’s 32nd in his two-year Kansas career.

Dickinson opened overtime with a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to give Kansas an 86-83 lead. He later secured an offensive rebound and got a dunk to give the Jayhawks a 90-87 lead with 2:21 to play in overtime.

After being dormant for almost the entirety of Big 12 play, Wisconsin transfer AJ Storr looked like the player that was heavily coveted in the transfer portal heading into the season. Storr scored 19 points, reaching double figures for the first time since Jan. 22 against TCU and a career high in his Kansas career.

“I just started off going downhill,” Storr said following his 7-for-11 shooting performance. “I seen the ball go in a couple times and I stepped out to 3 and then it was money.”

Storr made key plays in overtime as well, scoring a fast-break layup to give Kansas a 92-87 advantage with 1:18 to play. The Jayhawks held on for the victory despite veteran point guard Dajuan Harris and Storr fouling out in overtime.

UCF forward Keyshawn Hall had 25 points in the losing effort for the Knights. Aside from Adams’ effort on Hall, Self was largely displeased by the defensive execution of the Jayhawks.

“I thought we didn’t play to the scouting report. Their players got to their strong hand way too often,” Self said, lamenting the mistakes that led to a 46-point UCF second half to force OT. “I thought our bad switches, not getting to shooters and then overguarding non-shooters and certainly not being in good help position when guys drove it.

“It’s not really fair to the guy that’s playing one-on-one to say, ‘go stop Johnson and Hall.’ They need to feel like they’re being guard from either side, and I didn’t think we did a good job at all tonight.”

On a night where Kansas made 12 3-point attempts, Mayo had five of them and a team-high 24 points.

“Fortunately, Zeke and AJ both made shots and Hunt made three 3s in the second half that were all huge, and we needed every one of them,” Self said.

With the win, KU avoided a second consecutive loss in their first game of the Big 12 Tournament. The Jayhawks advance to take on No. 3 seed Arizona Thursday night at 8:30 p.m. CT. KU beat Arizona on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse, 83-76.

Self said in order to beat the Wildcats again, KU will have to be even better than it was five days prior.

“On Saturday we had four seniors play very, very, very well and it was barely enough -- in our building,” Self said. “It’s going to take a great energy-type game.

“The biggest thing for me and I think our guys is that was a great effort by us. It was barely enough, so we gotta bring at least that plus more tomorrow.”