KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — During a break early in the second half of the Big 12 tournament title game, Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg gathered his team in front of the bench and asked them a simple question:

“How much do you have left?”

The answer turned out to be just enough.

After digging a 17-point hole against ninth-ranked Kansas, the Cyclones put together another of their trademark comebacks. Georges Niang led the way with 19 points, Abdel Nader made the go-ahead foul shots with 48 seconds left, and No. 13 Iowa State beat the Jayhawks 70-66 to win its second consecutive tournament championship.

“We got down 17, and they were still talking and positive in the huddle,” Hoiberg said, “and that’s a great sign, when your guys can stick together through adversity.”

They’re getting quite accustomed to it.

It was the fifth straight game — including all three in the tournament — that the Cyclones rallied from a double-digit deficit, prompting Niang to dub his teammates the “Comeback Kids.”

“We don’t want to come back every time, but it just seems to keep happening to us,” Niang said. “If that’s our emergency button, if that’s what we have to do, we’ll do it.”

Nader finished with 13 points, and Jameel McKay and Monte Morris had 11 each for the Cyclones (25-8), who also knocked off the Jayhawks on their way to winning the title a year ago.

As the final seconds ticked off the clock, the Cyclones streamed onto the floor and chants of “I-S-U” echoed through the Sprint Center, which was evenly split between the red-clad fans from the north and the blue-clad Kansas fans from the west.

“We knew it’s a long game, no matter what team you’re playing,” said the Jayhawks’ Wayne Selden Jr., who had a career-high 25 points. “Whether you’re up or down, it’s a long game.”

Frank Mason III had 13 points for the Jayhawks (26-8), who had their chances after Nader’s two foul shots made it 65-63 with 48 seconds left.

Freshman guard Devonte Graham went to the basket but was out of control, turning the ball over, and Kansas quickly fouled. Morris made the second of two free throws with 23.8 seconds left.

Kansas still had a chance to tie the game with a 3, but coach Bill Self opted to drive to the rim. Mason missed a spinning layup, Dustin Hogue gathered in the rebound, and Iowa State began to celebrate its second consecutive championship and third overall.

“Coach always talks to us about fighting through adversity, staying together as a team,” Nader said. “That’s what we did again tonight.”

With Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard recovering in the hospital from a heart attack, the Cyclones went on a 12-0 finishing run with a buzzer-beater from Morris to knock off Texas in the quarterfinals. Then they rallied from an 11-point hole in the semifinals, a game that ended when Oklahoma’s Ryan Spangler missed a tying layup at the horn.

Their comeback Saturday night may have been the most impressive yet.

After trailing 37-23 at the break and watching Mason hit three straight foul shots to start the second half, Iowa State rallied against one of the Big 12’s best defenses. Niang led the way with seven points during a 17-2 run that forced Self to burn several timeouts.

Selden tried to answer the charge, elevating high above the rim and spearing an alley-oop pass from Mason with one hand before slamming it through.

Iowa State kept on coming, though.

With relentless pressure in the half court, the Cyclones forced the Jayhawks into difficult shots — when they weren’t turning the ball over. Eventually, Iowa State embarked on a 10-0 run capped by Bryce Dejean-Jones’ basket for a 57-51 lead with six minutes left.

That’s when Kansas mounted a charge of its own, with Selden driving to the rim and getting fouled three times down the stretch. With 1:29 to go, he went to the rim and was fouled by Niang, the ball hanging on the rim for a moment before falling in. The ensuing free throw made it 63-all.

Set up a memorable final minute too.

BUMPS AND BRUISES

The Jayhawks’ Perry Ellis, who returned from a knee injury for the semifinals, played 30 minutes but was just 2-of-10 shooting.

“He’s not 100 percent, but the great thing is he got through it,” Self said. “Give him six of seven days and he’ll be fine.”

MORE ON POLLARD

Iowa State’s athletic director taped a video from his hospital bed that was shown to fans on a big screen outside the arena before the game. He had triple-bypass surgery after having a heart attack while watching his children compete in a track meet Monday.

TIP-INS

Iowa State: The Cyclones won despite going 2-for-16 from beyond the arc. They had just six turnovers. … McKay had eight rebounds.

Kansas: The Jayhawks had won 19 of the last 22 meetings with Iowa State. … Kansas was 21-of-23 from the foul line. … The Jayhawks were outscored 46-22 in the paint.

UP NEXT

Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg earns a $50,000 bonus for making the NCAA tournament.

Kansas learns whether it will open the NCAA tournament in nearby Omaha, Nebraska.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Bill Self was the first to admit that Kansas and Baylor set basketball back Friday night. In fact, the Jayhawks coach said the late Phog Allen and Henry Iba would have been rolling in their graves watching their ugly execution.

Then again, it was exactly what Self wanted to see.

“I think sometimes when it’s not very artistic, people say, ‘You didn’t play well,'” Self explained. “But if we played a pretty game with Baylor, they would have beat our butts.”

Instead, the ninth-ranked Jayhawks muddied things up enough to earn a 62-52 victory over the No. 16 Bears in the semifinals of the Big 12 tournament.

Wayne Selden Jr. led the way with 20 points, and Perry Ellis returned from a right knee injury to add 11 as the top-seeded Jayhawks (26-7) cruised into Saturday night’s championship game for the 11th time. They’ll face the winner of No. 2 seed Iowa State and No. 3 seed Oklahoma.

Wearing a bulky brace on his knee, Ellis limped off late in the game. He never returned, but said afterward that he simply took a shot to his thigh and would be ready for the title game.

“I could have put him back in late,” Self said, “but I thought we had the game.”

Indeed, they did.

Rico Gathers had 11 points and 13 rebounds, and Kenny Chery added 20 points for the fourth-seeded Bears (24-9), who should still feel quite secure heading into Selection Sunday.

With a school-record seven wins over ranked teams this season, the Bears are a near-lock to make the NCAA Tournament as an at-large in back-to-back years for the first time.

“We didn’t take care of the ball well enough. Shooting obviously wasn’t good, wasn’t pretty. But the turnovers is the one that got us,” said Baylor coach Scott Drew, whose team coughed it up 17 times — one turnover fewer than the Jayhawks.

The Bears came in touting one of the best defenses in school history, a vexing 1-3-1 mashup of zones. But the simpler, man-to-man defense of Kansas was even more effective in the first half, holding the Bears to 5-for-25 shooting from the field as the Jayhawks built a 26-18 lead.

It was the Bears’ lowest-scoring half since they managed just 16 points over the first 20 minutes in a loss to Wisconsin in the Sweet 16 of last year’s NCAA Tournament.

It took the Bears another 3 minutes in the second half before they finally scored another field goal, a layup by Lester Medford. Selden promptly answered with an and-one at the other end, pushing the Jayhawks’ lead to 35-20 and leaving a heavily-pro Kansas crowd roaring.

Baylor responded with its only real run of the game, getting within 41-35 and energizing a smaller bunch of green-clad fans. But the Jayhawks clamped down on defense one more time.

They forced turnovers on two of the next three possessions, Gathers missed a pair of foul shots and Baylor missed seven straight field goals. The scoring lull allowed the Jayhawks, driving to the basket almost at will, to crank out a 10-0 run that gave them control.

Kansas managed to put the game away from the foul line in the closing minutes, beating the Bears for the first time in three tries in the Big 12 tournament.

“We knew we hadn’t been playing defense to our capability the last few games,” Selden said. “We wanted to get out and pressure their guards and play with a lot of energy.”

PRINCE OR PAUPER

Baylor’s Taurean Prince was just 1 for 11 from the field and 0 for 7 from beyond the arc. He finished with two points in 22 minutes. “It happens to the best of us,” Chery said. “We weren’t making shots tonight and you can’t do nothing about it.”

ABOUT THE ARC

After going 0 for 8 in the quarterfinals against TCU, the Jayhawks hit their first two 3-pointers. Then, they made one of their next 10. “We were on fire from 3, because we made 3 — we were 3 for 12,” Self said, sarcastically. “That’s the best we’ve shot it in a while.”

TIP-INS

Baylor: Gathers fouled out in the closing minutes. … The Bears finished 4 for 22 from the 3-point line. … Baylor’s largest lead was two points, the first time all season it has not led an opponent by at least six. … The Bears trailed at halftime for just the fifth time.

Kansas: Kelly Oubre Jr. had nine points, one night after scoring a career-high 25 against TCU. … The Jayhawks outrebounded Baylor for the first time in three games this season. … Kansas has won its last five against the Bears.

UP NEXT:

Baylor: waits for its NCAA tournament seeding on Sunday.

Kansas: will play for the Big 12 tournament title on Saturday night.

— Associated Press —