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 —