Bill Self roared up and down the sideline in front of the Kansas bench, a volcano of emotion threatening to spill onto the court, his unfiltered venom directed at the officiating crew.

Self knew he was going to get called for a technical foul.

He was practically begging for it.

”I acted like an idiot, I know,” Self would say later. ”They could have popped me a lot earlier and I wouldn’t have had to act that way for so long.”

That was the closest Self came to admitting he got the technical foul on purpose, but it clearly had the intended effect. The seventh-ranked Jayhawks quickly became energized, rushing past Iowa State for an 88-73 victory in the Big 12 tournament semifinals Friday night.

Perry Ellis scored a career-high 23 points, Jeff Withey and Elijah Johnson added 14 points each, and Ben McLemore finished with 10 for top-seeded Kansas (28-5), which advanced to play the winner of Kansas State-Oklahoma state on Saturday night for the tournament title.

”I thought it was a very emotional game. Both teams, especially Iowa State, they came out of the chute fast, and our guys knew it would be an emotion-filled game,” Self said, ”and after about the 12-minute mark, we did a great job of playing with emotion and matching their energy.”

His technical foul had a lot to do with it.

McLemore had hit a 3-pointer in front of the Iowa State bench and did a little jig to celebrate it, and was hit with a technical of his own. Self took umbrage with the call and spent about five minutes lambasting the three-man officiating crew, finally earning his technical.

”I could have gotten one 10 minutes earlier,” Self said. ”They told me they were going to give me one, and I’m not a real good listener.”

Asked whether Ellis had ever seen his coach more upset, the freshman replied: ”I haven’t, actually. That was probably the angriest I’ve seen him.”

Self may have disagreed with McLemore’s technical, but the freshman seemed to accept it.

”I was celebrating pretty good,” he said with a smile, ”and the ref tech’ed me up.”

Ellis surpassed his previous career high of 15 points set in the Jayhawks’ season opener by shooting 10 of 12 from the field against the Cyclones. He also gathered six rebounds as chants of ”Perry! Perry!” filled the building in the waning moments of the game.

”He did a great job of finishing dump-downs. Sometimes we got caught out of position,” said Georges Niang, who led the Cyclones with 19 points. ”We weren’t expecting that.”

Melvin Ejim added 17 points and Tyrus McGee had 12 for fifth-seeded Iowa State (22-11), which was trying to turn the tables after losing to the Jayhawks twice in overtime this season.

Instead, Kansas won for the 16th time in 17 meetings.

”We came out with great energy, getting out to an eight-point lead early,” Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg said, ”and then we got stagnant with the ball, and you can’t do that with Kansas.”

After their coach picked up his technical foul, the Jayhawks slowly pulled ahead, and a 3-pointer by Travis Releford in the closing seconds of the first half made it 35-31 at the break.

The Cyclones, who rely so heavily on their own 3-pointers, missed their first six from beyond the arc in the second half, and Kansas responded with a 20-8 surge to seize control.

”Coach made me a big believer in the way you go into a locker room affects the way you come out of the locker room,” Johnson said.

Withey scored seven points during the Jayhawks’ run, and by the time Hoiberg called timeout, the Cyclones trailed 55-39 – the biggest deficit for either team in three games this season.

Iowa State managed to trim the lead to 59-49 on a 3-pointer by Will Clyburn a few minutes later, but Kansas answered with seven quick points, including a 3 by McLemore in front of the Jayhawks’ bench – no dancing this time – that again forced Hoiberg to call timeout.

The closest the Cyclones got the rest of the way was nine points, and chants of ”Rock! Chalk! Jayhawk! K-U!” filled the Sprint Center, where a record crowd of 19,116 had turned out.

”Our goal was to come win the Big 12 title, no matter who we play,” Releford said.

Many fans thought this would settle the score between Kansas and Iowa State after they waged two classic nail-biters during the regular season.

In their first meeting at Allen Fieldhouse, Iowa State led most of the way, only to watch McLemore get hot down the stretch. The freshman finished with 33 points, including a banked-in, buzzer-beating 3-pointer that forced overtime in a 97-89 victory.

The return game at Hilton Coliseum last month may have trumped it.

Kansas rallied behind a career-high 39 points from Johnson, including eight in the last 29 seconds of regulation and 12 in overtime, as the Jayhawks emerged with a 108-96 win.

After the game, the Big 12 disciplined two of the game officials for errors that occurred with the game on the line. The league never disclosed the mistakes, but a foul on Kansas was awarded to the wrong player, and a questionable no-call in a charge-block situation – and the subsequent foul on the Cyclones during a loose ball – helped the Jayhawks force overtime.

There was no extra time needed this time.

The Jayhawks made sure of it.

— Associated Press —

Top-seeded Kansas wasn’t about to let itself get lulled into a sense of apathy by playing an early afternoon game in the Big 12 tournament.

It helped that the Jayhawks had a partisan crowd behind them in the Sprint Center.

It also helped that they had Iowa State awaiting them in the semifinals.

Ben McLemore scored 24 points and the hot-shooting, seventh-ranked Jayhawks rolled to a 91-63 rout of Texas Tech on Thursday, setting up a third matchup with the Cyclones that basketball fans can only hope lives up to the drama of their first two games this season.

”Those two games may be the two most exciting games played in our league this year,” said Kansas coach Bill Self, whose team emerged victorious in overtime on both occasions.

If Kansas shoots it like it did Thursday, regulation might suffice this time.

Anrio Adams had a career-high 11 points as the Jayhawks (27-5) shot 66 percent from the field (31 of 47), the best mark by any team in a Big 12 tournament game, and finished 9 of 18 from beyond the arc. They also went 20 of 23 from the foul line, putting on a show for a crowd that included new Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith, who sat a few rows behind the Texas Tech bench.

”We were pretty efficient offensively when we didn’t turn it over,” Self said. ”Ben got us off to a good start before we puttered around, but we played a pretty good second half.”

Dejan Kravic scored 20 points, Dusty Hannahs added 15 and Jordan Tolbert had 13 for the Red Raiders, (11-20), who head into the offseason awaiting the fate of interim coach Chris Walker.

The longtime assistant took over in October, shortly after Billy Gillispie submitted a letter of resignation citing health concerns, and has been told he’ll be a candidate for the job.

”I’m going to take it day-by-day,” Walker said. ”There’s a process we’re going through at Tech. I’m certainly aware of it, and I think it’s a good thing. I’ve done all I can to make a case. The one thing I am very appreciative of is the opportunity I received.”

The Jayhawks, wearing their special, Zubaz-like Adidas uniforms, raced out to a 15-2 lead in the opening minutes, getting into transition and easily taking the ball to the basket.

McLemore, their star freshman, hit a pair of 3-pointers after missing his first nine tries against the Red Raiders during the regular season. He also added a mid-range jumper, a soaring dunk in transition and a couple of free throws before Texas Tech could slow him down.

”Ben helped us out a lot bringing us energy,” said the Jayhawks’ Jeff Withey.

The Red Raiders stormed back to make it close by halftime.

Kravic, whose buzzer-beating tip-in Wednesday night helped Texas Tech beat West Virginia, followed up a 3-pointer by Jamal Williams by scoring the Red Raiders’ next nine points.

His jumper midway through the second half forced Self, his face red with fury, to call a timeout and lay into a starting lineup that includes four seniors.

Kansas slowly settled down and led 35-25 at the break, and after Tolbert hit a couple free throws early in the second half, the Jayhawks ripped off an 18-4 run to put the game away.

It started when McLemore got loose in the corner opposite the Kansas bench and, with a silky smooth stroke, poured in his third 3-pointer of the game. Young added a dunk, Withey scored inside and McLemore hit again from beyond the arc as Walker burned another timeout for Texas Tech.

”It’s definitely tough when they get rolling,” Kravic said. ”It’s really hard to stop.”

Later in the run, Travis Releford got ahead on a fast break and converted a layup as he was clobbered from behind by the Red Raiders’ Josh Gray. The officials ruled it a flagrant foul, and the senior from Kansas City made both of his free throws to give the Jayhawks a 52-31 lead.

The Jayhawks emptied their bench in the closing minutes, the game well in hand, giving their starters the luxury of looking ahead to at least one more game with the Cyclones.

In their first memorable game in Lawrence, Kansas needed a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by McLemore just to force overtime. In the return game in Ames, Elijah Johnson scored eight of his career-high 39 points in the final 29 seconds to again force overtime.

That second game was thrown into controversy when officials called a foul on the wrong Kansas player down the stretch, and then failed to call a block-charge call. The game was reviewed by the Big 12 office and the officiating crew was disciplined.

”We’ve been fortunate,” Self said, ”but we also had some players step up and make some plays, too. They’re very capable of beating anybody and we know we’re going to have to step up.”

— Associated Press —