Travis Releford scored 12 points and No. 3 Kansas held off No. 11 Kansas State down the stretch for a 59-55 victory Tuesday night that gave the Jayhawks sole possession of first place in the Big 12.

Ben McLemore and Jeff Withey added 11 points each for the Jayhawks (17-1, 5-0), who pushed their nation-leading winning streak to 16 games – matching the third-longest under coach Bill Self – and ended the Wildcats’ 12-game home winning streak.

Shane Southwell, who scored a career-high 19 points, got Kansas State (15-3, 4-1) within 56-53 with a scooping layup with 38.2 seconds left. But after Naadir Tharpe made two foul shots to restore a five-point lead, the Wildcats’ Rodney McGruder misfired from beyond the arc at the other end.

McLemore was fouled and missed his free throw, and McGruder made two to get Kansas State within 58-55 with 5 seconds left. But Elijah Johnson’s free throw put the game away.

McGruder finished with 13 points and Angel Rodriguez had 12, all in the first half, as the Wildcats lost for the 45th time in 48 games against their bitter in-state rival.

Kansas State had its own eight-game winning streak snapped.

The atmosphere was amped long before the opening tip. Students on their first day back from winter break lined up for several hundred yards in freezing temperatures, and then flooded seats on one side of the building more than 2 hours before the game started.

The Jayhawks, undaunted by the pulsating crowd, methodically built a 16-8 lead midway through the first half. Kansas took advantage of some balky outside shooting by the Wildcats, and routinely beat them off the dribble at the other end for easy baskets around the rim.

McLemore picked up his second foul of the half with 9:22 left, though, and Kansas State went on a run with the Jayhawks’ leading scorer on the bench. Martavious Irving started the 11-2 spurt with a scooping layup and Southwell ended it with a 3-pointer from the wing that gave Kansas State a 19-18 lead and forced Self to call a timeout.

It served to settle down the senior-laden Jayhawks.

Perry Ellis scored a couple of baskets around a shot clock-beating jumper by Tharpe to help Kansas retake the lead, and Kevin Young’s putback off his own miss made it 31-27 at halftime.

McGruder, shadowed everywhere by Releford, only managed two points on a soaring jam just before halftime. He missed both of his outside shots as the Wildcats went 4 for 16 from the arc.

The Big 12’s reigning player of the week finally hit a 3 to start the second half, but Kansas answered with eight straight points, including a dunk by Withey off a feed from Young that forced Kansas State coach Bruce Weber to burn his first timeout of the half.

McGruder hit consecutive 3s later in the half to help keep the Wildcats close, but a 3 from the corner by McLemore and then an open jumper by the freshman with 6:50 to go gave the Jayhawks a 53-43 lead, the first time the margin had reached double figures all game.

Southwell shot the Wildcats back in it, hitting a jumper with 8:13 remaining and then consecutive 3-pointers – his fourth and fifth of the game – to make it 54-49 with 5:30 remaining.

— Associated Press —

Kansas football head coach Charlie Weis announced Tuesday that defensive back Colin Spencer of Dallas, has graduated early from Woodrow Wilson High School and has enrolled at KU for the Spring 2013 semester. Spencer will participate with the Jayhawks in Spring Football, which begins Tuesday, March 5.

A three-star prospect according to Rivals, Scout and ESPN, Spencer was a standout defensive back at WWHS where he was credited with six interceptions and five blocked kicks during his final two seasons.

Spencer also saw action on the offensive side of the ball where he rushed 54 times for 405 yards and five touchdowns as a senior. The son of Rob and Celeste Spencer, he also hauled in six receptions four receptions for 119 yards and three TDs, while completing six passes, three of which were touchdowns, in 2012. Coached by Bobby Estes at WWHS, Spencer selected Kansas after receiving interest from TCU, Arkansas, Texas A&M, Tulsa, Louisiana Tech and SMU.

Spencer is the 11th player to join the Jayhawk football program since the 2012 season ended.

— KU Sports Information —

Kansas redshirt freshman G Ben McLemore has been selected the Phillips 66 Big 12 Men’s Basketball Rookie of the Week for games of January 14-20 in a vote by a media panel which covers the conference, the league announced Monday. McLemore is receiving the honor for the second time and his third league weekly accolade this season as he was the conference’s player of the week last week (1/14).

McLemore led the Jayhawks to victories over Baylor (61-44) and at Texas (64-59) as KU improved to 4-0 in conference play and extended it overall win streak to 15 games, the nation’s longest streak. The St. Louis, Mo., guard averaged 16.5 points and 7.0 rebounds in the two games, shooting 56.5 percent (13-of-23) from the field and 57.1 percent (4-of-7) from beyond the arc. He also recorded five steals and three blocked shots. In Kansas’ come-from-behind win at Texas, he scored 11 of his 16 points in the second half as the Jayhawks rebounded from an 11-point second-half deficit. McLemore leads all Big 12 freshmen in scoring and is first on his team with 16.4 points per game. He is fourth in the league in field goal percentage (.508) and also ranks second from the free throw line, converting 88.1 percent of his attempts.

McLemore is the first Kansas player to earn multiple Big 12 Rookie of the Week honors since current NBA player Josh Selby was named twice during the 2010-11 season. Last week, McLemore became the third different Jayhawk to be named Big 12 Player of the Week this season joining Travis Releford (11/26) and Jeff Withey (12/3). He also became only the second Jayhawk to win the conference’s player and rookie of the week accolades during the same season. He joined NBA standout Mario Chalmers who accomplished the feat during the 2005-06 season.

Kansas (16-1, 4-0 Big 12) will play at Kansas State (15-2, 4-0) Tuesday, at 7 p.m. (Central) on the Big 12 Television Network with the winner taking over sole possession of first place in the 2013 Big 12 race.

— KU Sports Information —

No. 4 Kansas is still unbeaten the last two months. Beleaguered Texas is still winless in the Big 12.

But just barely.

Ben McLemore scored 16 points and the Jayhawks stormed back late in the second half from an 11-point deficit – nearly their biggest all season – to stun the Longhorns 64-59 on Saturday for their 15th straight victory.

Jeff Withey added 14 points and nine rebounds for the Jayhawks (16-1, 4-0 Big 12), who looked bound for their first loss since Nov. 13 against Michigan State before McLemore piloted a rally that thwarted the reeling Longhorns (8-9, 0-4) from seizing a badly needed victory in this troubled season.

”We just had to play through it,” McLemore said of the slow start. ”We talked in the huddle. Coach told us to be more aggressive, and that’s what we did.”

Sheldon McClellan led the Longhorns with 18 points. Texas has dropped four straight – its longest losing streak since coach Rick Barnes’ first season in 1998-99.

Like a handful of Longhorns losses this season, this was another that Texas let slip away after leading in the second half.

How old is this getting?

”Pretty old,” Barnes said. ”We do a lot of things well. But we don’t win because we don’t do it when the game is on the line.”

Texas’ Julien Lewis had a chance to force overtime but missed a corner 3-pointer with 13 seconds left. Lewis had made just three of his previous 12 from behind the arc before that shot, and McLemore said afterward that hoisting that one so early with plenty of time left on the shot clock even surprised him.

Travis Releford added 12 points and Kevin Young had 6 for Kansas. McLemore was 6 of 10 from the field and had six rebounds.

When Texas went up 42-31 with 15:22 remaining, it was the second-biggest deficit the Jayhawks faced all season. They had trailed by 12 against Chattanooga – two days after that loss to the Spartans -before roaring back to easily win that one and just about every game since.

”It looked to me that as experienced as we are, we looked like a bunch of inexperienced kids off the playground playing during that bad stretch,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. ”We were trying to catch up too fast, had no poise, their pressure bothered us. We turned the ball over just by kicking it to them.”

Lewis finished with 11 points while Jonathan Holmes had 10 for Texas.

”We were very close out there,” Lewis said. ”We keep losing these close games by possessions. It hurts us a lot. But we got to keep going.”

The Jayhawks played listless from the start before roaring back.

McLemore showed no hint of an injury after spraining his ankle in Monday night’s win over Baylor, but the Big 12’s second-leading scorer took just three shots in the first half while his teammates missed shot after shot.

Defense hasn’t been the problem for the Longhorns during this forgettable season – their offense takes the blame there. That showed while holding Kansas to a season-low 26 points in the first half on 28 percent shooting, which was easiest to notice as the Jayhawks went 1 for 7 from behind the arc.

That lone 3-pointer belonged to McLemore in the opening minutes to give Kansas the lead, something the Jayhawks wouldn’t get back until the second half when the star freshman made another 3. And even that didn’t last long: Texas answered with baskets on five straight possessions, stretching their lead to 11.

But then the Longhorns did what’s doomed them all season.

They gave away another late lead.

Up by eight against UCLA in December. A 13-point lead against West Virginia in the Big 12 home opener. Both went down as losses, and so did this one after Kansas shook off what Self called a ”miserable” start to the second half.

— Associated Press —

Kansas redshirt freshman Ben McLemore has been named to the Sporting News Mid-Season All-America First Team it was announced Tuesday.

McLemore is joined on the first team by Oklahoma State freshman Marcus Smart, Michigan sophomore Trey Burke, Creighton junior Doug McDermott and Duke senior Mason Plumlee.

A 6-foot-5, guard from St. Louis, McLemore ranks second in the Big 12 in scoring at 16.4 points per game and with an 87.7 free throw percentage. He has five games of 20 points or more including 22 in KU’s victory at Ohio State (Dec. 22) and 33 in Kansas’ overtime win against Iowa State on Jan. 9. His 33-point effort is the most scored by a Big 12 player this season and the most by a Kansas freshman since All-American Danny Manning scored 35 against Oklahoma State in 1985.

Sporting News reporter Mike DeCourcy wrote this about McLemore: “It has taken some prompting to get McLemore to understand how important he is to the offense. The nature of the KU system does not put the ball in his hands a ton, so he has to look to score when he gets it. He has gone through eight games with single-digit shot attempts, which is a lot for a player who clearly is his team’s best scorer. He has made the difference when necessary, though: in a tough road game at Ohio State, in a closer-than imagined overtime home win over Iowa State.”

On Monday, McLemore was named the Big 12 Player of the Week for his performance against Iowa State. He became the first player this season to earn both Big 12 Player and Rookie of the Week accolades.

No. 4/4 Kansas continues Big 12 action and will play at Texas Saturday, Jan. 19, at 1 p.m. (Central) on CBS.

— KU Sports Information —

This year’s edition of the Kansas Relays could be the last at Memorial Stadium.

The University of Kansas received approval from the Lawrence city commission Tuesday to begin construction on a $39 million complex west of campus that will include a new track and field facility along with a soccer-specific stadium and softball park.

Preliminary plans for “Rock Chalk Park” call for a track and field stadium with 7,000 permanent seats and room for 3,000 temporary seats. The new facility would mean the existing track could be removed from Memorial Stadium, where the Jayhawks play football.

“As we move forward in our capital campaign, we can focus our attention on two premier projects — the completion of the renovation of Allen Fieldhouse, which we know is our crown jewel, and the renovation of Memorial Stadium,” Kansas athletic director Sheahon Zenger said.

“Why is that important?” Zenger asked. “We live in a day and age of conference realignment. We have seen in recent months that it continues to bubble and percolate. We cannot afford at this time to sit back on our hands and have a stadium that does not reflect the commitment to big-time college football. If that’s how we are perceived, we could rue the day that we didn’t act when we had the opportunity to act.”

The Kansas Relays, which began in 1923, annually draw one of the nation’s top fields to the school’s campus. Kansas is one of the few schools in the nation that still has its track inside the football stadium, something that went out of vogue years ago.

School officials hope to have the new track and field complex completed by spring 2014, and Zenger said the goal is to build a facility capable of hosting national championships.

“Track and Field is back at Kansas,” he said. “If we give them one of the top tracks in the nation, can you imagine what we can do here at the University of Kansas?”

The new soccer stadium will seat 2,500, while the softball facility will seat 1,500.

Zenger said those upgrades are part of a decades-old Title IX review that found Kansas to be far behind rival institutions in providing proper facilities for its women’s programs.

“This is just an unbelievably golden opportunity to get that corrected,” he said. “Even if we weren’t under review, even if Title IX weren’t involved, the right thing to do is to build facilities for those young women in soccer and softball that are equal to their peers.

“Many of our fans and Lawrence residents aren’t able to travel around the county with us as we compete, or even around the region in the Big 12,” Zenger said. “If they could, they’d see that in these sports we are woefully behind. It’s hard for me to say that, but its reality, and that’s why we’re building these tremendous facilities.”

The Kansas athletic department plans to work with the KU Endowment Association and Bliss Sports to build the facilities. Under terms of the partnership, the school will be able to spread the $39 million cost over 30 years.

“This is great day for Kansas Athletics,” Zenger said. “This will address longstanding needs that we have been trying to fill for well over a decade, and probably should have addressed as many as 20 years ago.”

— Associated Press —

Ben McLemore had just hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key, and then rose to the rafters of Allen Fieldhouse to throw down an alley-oop dunk and bring a raucous crowd to its feet.

When he hit the floor moments later, the old barn was filled with deafening silence.

McLemore had poured in 17 points in the fourth-ranked Jayhawks’ 61-44 win over Baylor, but he was now clutching his right ankle in pain. The star freshman grimaced as a trainer probed and prodded it, and then he was helped to his feet and straight to the Kansas locker room.

Kansas coach Bill Self said afterward that McLemore had a Grade-1 sprain, ”and if we were going to practice tomorrow, I wouldn’t let him practice.” But Self also was hopeful that McLemore won’t miss more than a few days, which means he could be back before Saturday’s game at Texas.

McLemore has been a big reason why the Jayhawks (15-1, 3-0 Big 12) have won 14 straight games, matching the fourth-longest winning streak during the Self era.

He leads the team in scoring, hit the buzzer-beating 3-pointer to force overtime in a win against Iowa State, and has become one of the best perimeter defenders in the Big 12.

”It’s pretty easy to see how good a player he is,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said. ”We knew out of high school he’d be good, but what he’s done this early in his career has been impressive.”

Johnson finished with 12 points and Travis Releford had 10 for the Jayhawks, whose defense held the Bears (11-5, 3-1) to 23.2 percent shooting and 9 of 42 from inside the 3-point arc.

Freshman center Isaiah Austin had 15 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Bears, who still have never won in 10 tries in Lawrence. Pierre Jackson finished with 10 points.

”Our defense definitely carried us, because in stretches we didn’t shoot that well,” Kansas forward Jeff Withey said. ”We just played really good defense and that saved us.”

The Jayhawks used a pair of 10-3 runs to seize control in the first half, doing a good job of sharing the ball on offense and clogging up the interior on defense.

Baylor was just 4 of 25 from inside the 3-point arc in the first half – two of the makes were easy put-backs – while the Jayhawks managed two blocks each from five different players.

The Bears carried over their offensive struggles from Saturday, when they trudged their way to a 51-40 win over TCU. They committed nine first-half turnovers – 16 for the game – against one of the nation’s premier defenses, and only had a single assist to show for six made field goals.

”We weren’t going strong to the basket, like we should have, like we usually do,” said the Bears’ A.J. Walton. ”You can’t knock anything they do. They were just good on defense.”

Still, Baylor was within 23-18 on Austin’s 3-pointer with 5:26 left before Kansas went on a 10-2 run to finish the half. Five different players scored during the spurt.

The run was nearly derailed when Releford was called for a flagrant offensive foul, much to Self’s chagrin. But the Bears’ Deuce Bello badly missed two free throws, and Jackson was stuffed on a drive to the basket to leave Kansas ahead 33-20 at the break.

The Jayhawks stretched the lead to 42-23 early in the second half before Baylor trimmed it to 47-34 with 10:32 remaining on a run of free throws by Walton and Gary Franklin.

It was the closest the Bears had been since halftime.

Kansas again stretched the lead on a couple baskets by McLemore sandwiched around an easy inside look from Jeff Withey. And when Austin hit from 15 feet with 6:51 left to trim the deficit to 15, Johnson drove the lane and converted a three-point play as the shot-clock was expiring.

Austin’s 3-pointer got Baylor within 56-42 with 4:18 left, but McLemore poured in his own from the top of the key and then threw down his signature dunk in transition.

It would have been the exclamation mark on a blowout win.

Instead, his injury left a sellout crowd inside Allen Fieldhouse quiet as the final seconds ticked off the clock on the Jayhawks’ fourth win in their last five games against Baylor.

”My heart dropped, to see something like that. You don’t want to see nothing bad happen to him,” Johnson said. ”I think he moreso panicked than anything. That has a lot to do with it sometimes. I think he’ll be all right. Ben will bounce back.”

— Associated Press —

Bill Self saw an unenergetic No. 6 Kansas team in the first half and he let his players hear about it.

”That’s as miserable as an offensive team can play,” the Jayhawks coach said following their 60-46 win over Texas Tech on Saturday. ”We had to decide whether or not we wanted to be here or not.”

Self also noticed that Texas Tech wasn’t guarding Kevin Young very tightly in the first half.

”In the second half he took advantage of that personally,” Self said. ”He goes and scores eight straight points or whatever to start the second half off of being aggressive.”

He went on to score 14 points and the Jayhawks got their 13th straight win.

Jeff Withey and Travis Releford added 12 points each. Withey pulled down seven rebounds in the first Big 12 road game for Kansas (14-1, 2-0).

Jamal Williams made three free throws with 5 seconds left in the first half to trim Kansas’ lead to 27-25 at the break. Dejan Kravic then made a foul shot at the beginning of the second half to get the Red Raiders within one.

Kansas responded with a 14-2 run to open a 41-28 lead with 13:41 remaining. Young started the spurt with a layup and Releford closed it out with two free throws.

Williams scored 11 points for Texas Tech (8-6, 1-2), and Kravic added nine points and eight rebounds. The Red Raiders shot 35 percent from the field and committed 16 turnovers.

Kansas got the ball inside often, getting 28 points in the paint.

After shooting just 28 percent in the first half, Kansas more than doubled that, hitting 14 of 23 shots.

Texas Tech coach Chris Walker said the Red Raiders showed they can play top-10 teams and stay close.

“Obviously there are some things we’ve got to continue to work on,” the interim coach said. ”Kansas is a team where you can’t make mistakes. They’ve got a lot of senior leadership and they just take their time and take advantage of every mistake.”

The Jayhawks have a quick turnaround, playing Baylor at home on Monday night.

”I don’t know how you guys feel, but we looked like a tired team,” Self said. ”So we need to get our batteries recharged.”

Releford knows the bull’s eye is on the Jayhawks.

”We know every game coming out is going to be tough because we’re a team that every team wants to beat because of what we’ve done in the past,” the senior said.

Young scored eight of Kansas’ first 14 points in the second half.

”We just had to stop them from attacking the offensive glass,” he said.

Releford got back-to-back steals during a 12-3 run late in the game. On one, he fed Young for a layup and on the second one he outraced his defender and dunked it to put the Jayhawks up 58-40.

Red Raiders reserve Jaye Crockett, who averages 14.8 points, was held to three points on 1-of-8 shooting. He made a 3-pointer with 1:21 left in the game.

The Jayhawks continued their pursuit of a record ninth straight Big 12 title. Kansas has won six outright championships and twice shared the title with Texas, in 2006 and ’08 – the year the Jayhawks won the national title.

Kansas went 16 for 18 at the line in the first half. It was the Jayhawks’ lowest scoring first half of the season.

The Red Raiders scored five of the final six points of the half, including Williams’ foul shots after he was fouled by Elijah Johnson while attempting a 3-pointer.

— Associated Press —

Kansas guard Ben McLemore and center Jeff Withey have been named to the John R. Wooden Award Midseason Top 25, announced Thursday via ESPNU by The Los Angeles Athletic Club.

Selected by the Wooden Award National Advisory Board, the list is made up of 25 student-athletes who, based on their performances in November, December, and the beginning of January, are the frontrunners for college basketball’s Wooden Award.

With McLemore and Withey listed, Kansas is one of three schools to have two players among the 25, along with Duke and Missouri.

McLemore, one of three freshmen on the Wooden midseason list, leads Kansas and is second in the Big 12 with a 16.9 scoring average. The 6-foot-5, St. Louis, Mo., redshirt freshman is coming off a career-high 33 points, on 10-of-12 shooting, including 6-for-6 from three-point range, in Kansas’ 97-89 overtime win against Iowa State Jan. 9. Included was the game-tying three with 1.3 seconds remaining.

McLemore’s 33 points against the Cyclones are the most by a Big 12 player this season and were the most by a KU freshman since 1988 Wooden Award winner Danny Manning had 35 points against Oklahoma State in 1985. McLemore leads the Big 12 with an 89.3 free throw percentage and also ranks among the league leaders in three-point field goal percentage (second, 45.9) and three-pointers made per game (sixth, 2.0). Additionally, McLemore has five games with 20 or more points this season.

Withey leads the nation with 5.1 blocked shots per game. The 7-foot, San Diego, Calif., senior is tied for the Big 12 lead with six double-doubles, including three in the last five games for the Jayhawks. Withey ranks third in the conference in field goal percentage at 56.2 percent, fifth in rebounding with an 8.4 average and 12th in scoring at 13.5 points per game.

Earlier this season Withey recorded the second official triple-double in Kansas men’s basketball history with 16 points, 12 rebounds and a school and Big 12-record 12 blocked shots against San Jose State. His 71 blocked shots in 2012-13 are currently more than seven conference teams.

The players on the Wooden midseason list are considered strong candidates for the official ballot. The National Ballot consists of approximately 20 top players who have proven to their universities that they are making progress toward graduation and maintaining at least a cumulative 2.0 GPA.

The Wooden Award All-American Team, consisting of the nation’s top 10 players, will be announced the week of the “Elite Eight” round of the NCAA Tournament. The John R. Wooden Award Player of the Year will be announced on ESPN during the Final Four Weekend in Atlanta. The 2013 Wooden Award Gala presented by Wendy’s will take place April 11-13, 2013, at The Los Angeles Athletic Club. The Gala will honor the Men’s and Women’s Wooden Award winners, All Americans and the Legends of Coaching Award winner, Kansas head coach Bill Self.

Besides Manning winning the honor in 1988, Kansas players who have made the Wooden All-American Team in the 10-year era of current Jayhawk head coach Bill Self include: Wayne Simien (2005), Brandon Rush (2007, 2008), Sherron Collins (2010), Marcus Morris (2011) and Thomas Robinson (2012).

— KU Sports Information —

Ben McLemore came around a screen set by Travis Releford, took a pass from Elijah Johnson and then let a 3-pointer rip from well beyond the arc as the final seconds ticked away.

As soon as it left his hand, McLemore dutifully yelled, ”Bank!”

It would have counted even if he hadn’t.

The shot banked off the glass and went through the net, pulling sixth-ranked Kansas into a tie with Iowa State with a single second left in regulation. Their game Wednesday night went to overtime, and the Jayhawks scored the first nine points to wrap up a stunning 97-89 victory.

”The way it left my hand, I knew it was going to hit the backboard,” said McLemore, who finished with a career-high 33 points – and was apparently wise enough to call his dramatic shot off the glass, just in case anybody wanted to argue it was a lucky make.

Including his own coach, Bill Self.

”We executed perfectly,” Self said. ”Travis set a great screen and Ben was fortunate, because he didn’t call glass, I’m sure.”

McLemore ended up 10 of 12 from the field and was perfect on six 3-pointers for the Jayhawks (13-1, 1-0 Big 12), who have won 12 straight as they pursue a ninth consecutive Big 12 title.

One that might be a little more difficult than previously thought.

Iowa State (10-4, 0-1) poured in 14 3-pointers, and had forged a 79-76 lead after two free throws by Korie Lucious with 8.4 seconds left in regulation. But that’s when Cyclones coach Fred Hoiberg chose not to foul, and that allowed McLemore to let loose with his tying 3.

”It backfired on us. That’s the breaks of the game,” Hoiberg said. ”I wish it would have swished. I would feel better about myself right now if that didn’t bank in.”

McLemore, who also made a key four-point play late in the game, added another 3-pointer to open overtime, and the Jayhawks used a series of free throws to seal the win.

Withey finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds, and Johnson and Releford scored 12 each for the Jayhawks, who have won 22 straight league openers and 30 in a row at Allen Fieldhouse.

”We had the formula to lose that game. We were down with a couple minutes left, they kept getting offensive rebounds and scoring, and Ben just took over,” Withey said. ”The last couple minutes, he had the four-point play and then the last play was unbelievable.”

Melvin Ejim had 19 points and Lucious added 15 for the Cyclones, though he missed the front end of a one-and-one late in the game that could have helped Iowa State secure the win.

Will Clyburn finished with 16 points, Georges Niang had 13 and Chris Babb and Tyrus McGee added 11 each for the Cyclones, who have lost 13 of their last 14 to the Jayhawks.

”We know we let one slip away,” Hoiberg said. ”But at the same time, if you come in here and compete with a team that’s won eight championships in a row, you can compete with anyone.”

Iowa State came into the game leading the Big 12 in scoring, and its hoist-a-3 offense was at work from the opening minute, when Niang poured in two quick shots from beyond the arc.

Johnson matched him with two 3-pointers of his own, and that began a back-and-forth 20 minutes that featured nine lead changes. And even when the Jayhawks built a 40-32 lead, Iowa State managed to whittle it to 42-38 by the break.

Kansas pushed it back out to 48-40 in the opening minutes of the second half, but the Cyclones’ half-court defense buckled down. The Jayhawks went their next seven possessions without scoring, turning it over three times and failing to get a single offensive board.

Iowa State put together a 12-1 run that included 3-pointers on consecutive trips by Babb deep on the wing, and the second one gave the Cyclones a 54-49 lead with 13 minutes left.

The only points Kansas scored for nearly nine minutes came on three free throws.

The drought finally ended when Withey stepped in front of a pass on the wing, tipped the loose ball ahead to Releford, and he dunked in transition. But Hoiberg quickly called a timeout, and that served to quiet the crowd and rein back the Jayhawks’ momentum.

Lucious poured in two 3-pointers down the stretch, and another from McGee from well beyond the arc gave Iowa State a 73-67 with 3:59 left. The teams kept trading blows, and a basket from Ejim inside gave the Cyclones a 77-73 lead with a minute remaining.

Johnson made the second of two free throws for Kansas, and Lucious was fouled. He missed the front end of a one-and-one, and Johnson’s driving layup made it 77-76 with 14.5 seconds left.

Lucious was fouled again with 8.4 seconds to go, and this time he made both of his attempts to restore a three-point cushion. But with time winding down, Johnson found McLemore coming open on the wing, and the freshman knocked in the shot of the night as Allen Fieldhouse erupted.

”I mean, when it left my hand, I actually called, ‘Bank!”’ McLemore insisted. ”It was a good release and it went in, so I’m glad.”

— Associated Press —