AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Kansas found a solution for Texas’ size and muscle: pinpoint passing and nearly flawless handling of the basketball.

Ruthlessly efficient on offense and willing to match Texas’ physical effort under the basket, the No. 11 Jayhawks snagged a key 75-62 Big 12 road win Saturday.

Freshman Cliff Alexander had 15 points and nine rebounds, and three other Jayhawks scored in double figures. Kansas (16-3, 5-1) had just three turnovers — none in the second half — tying a school record set back in 1966.

“This is a huge road win for us. It was big,” said Brannen Greene, who scored 14 points and made four of Kansas’ six 3-pointers.

Kansas coach Bill Self compared Texas’ size to top-ranked Kentucky, a team that blew out the Jayhawks by 32 back in November.

“Against Kentucky, we shied away from it. Today we didn’t,” Self said.

Isaiah Taylor scored 23 for Texas in his best game since returning from a long layoff with a broken wrist. But Texas (14-5, 3-3) showed little offensive flair beyond Taylor’s scoring. Taylor had just one assist as Texas’ big frontcourt all but disappeared for long stretches.

Cam Ridley, a 6-foot-9, 285-pound center who averaged nearly 15 points the previous two games, took just one shot in the second half, and had just four overall. Freshman Myles Turner, who is 6-11 and came in as Texas’ leading scorer, scored eight on 4-of-11 shooting, but the Big 12’s best free throw shooter didn’t get to the line.

“We’re one of the biggest teams in the country and we don’t take advantage of it,” senior forward Jonathan Holmes said. “I don’t understand it.”

The loss is a tough blow for Texas’ conference title hopes, which could all but end if the Longhorns lose at No. 9 Iowa State on Monday night.

Texas did what it could to energize its best home crowd of the season. The Longhorns’ mascot “Hook’Em” dropped about five stories down to the middle of the court and thousands of balloons were released from the rafters just before tipoff.

The Longhorns fed off the energy for a quick 11-2 lead but a Kansas program that has won 10 consecutive Big 12 titles isn’t one to be rattled by a little showmanship.

The Jayhawks slowly broke down Texas’ zone defense with 3-pointers before picking it apart from the inside. Perry Ellis scored eight points and Alexander had consecutive dunks to help the Jayhawks to a 32-30 halftime lead.

The teams traded the lead seven times in the opening minutes of the second half before Holmes’ 3-pointer put Texas up 42-38. The Jayhawks responded with an 8-0 run behind consecutive 3-pointers from Wayne Selden Jr., and Greene.

Greene’s last 3-pointer pushed the Kansas lead to six with just under seven minutes to play and the Jayhawks steadily pulled away.

TIP-INS

Kansas: The Jayhawks not only silenced the Texas frontcourt offensively, they also handled themselves well on the boards. The Jayhawks outrebounded Texas 37-36 and grabbed 24 offensive boards.

Texas: Home hasn’t been friendly for the Longhorns over the last month. The Longhorns have lost three of their last five at the Erwin Center.

BLOCK PROBLEMS

Texas is lauded for its shot-blocking and the Longhorns had nine more against Kansas, five by Turner. But coach Rick Barnes sees a flaw in all those swats.

“We’re one of the best shot-blocking teams in the country. That also tells you our perimeter guys are getting beaten a lot. Our guard play has got to be better,” Barnes said.

DUNK CITY

Alexander had no trouble establishing his territory among Texas’ big men under the basket. Five of his six baskets came on dunks. He didn’t sound impressed by Texas’ Turner, who came into the season hyped as one of the top recruits in the country.

“He’s kind of thin,” Alexander said. “I played against Turner all the time in high school. I played against Ridley too … It was nothing to it.”

UP NEXT

Kansas visits TCU on Wednesday.

Texas visits Iowa State on Monday.

— Associated Press —

Being a student-athlete at the University of Kansas includes several encounters with history, but Thursday reached a new level. During President Barack Obama’s visit to Lawrence, the Kansas men’s basketball team met the U.S. Commander in Chief.

Obama became the fourth-sitting United States president to visit KU, but is the first in more than 100 years. Prior to Obama’s visit, William H. Taft was the most recent in 1911. Ulysses S. Grant (1873) and Rutherford B. Hayes (1879) were the other two presidents to visit KU while still in office. The Jayhawks gathered in Hadl Auditorium to await the president, and there was no doubt they were witnessing history.

“I don’t even know how to explain it, it was such a good experience,” sophomore Wayne Selden, Jr., said. “It was amazing just to be part of history, not just as a basketball team, but as people.”

Like Obama’s mother, junior Perry Ellis also hails from Wichita, Kansas. He couldn’t agree more with his teammate on his excitement to meet the most-powerful man in the world.

“It’s not an opportunity where many people get to meet him,” Ellis said. “I’m blessed and honored to have been able to do that. It was an awesome experience and we’ll never forget it.”

Head coach Bill Self was complimentary of the work done campus-wide to host the President in Lawrence, noting the event was first class and one the University of Kansas should be proud of. After the team spoke to Obama, a conversation that Self estimated to be 15 minutes in length, he received instant confirmation that his players appreciated and respected the opportunity.

“I have a pretty good relationship with our guys, but very rarely do they text me out of the blue and say, ‘Hey coach, how are you doing today?’” Self said. “But after this today, half of the team immediately texted me to say, ‘Coach that was awesome, thanks for allowing us to be a part of that.’ I know our guys all felt very honored and privileged to be a part of that today.”

Self talked about the president’s humor, how he still has a little speed on the court and even offered to answer players’ questions on how to improve their own skills. Just moments before Obama took the stage in Anschutz Pavilion to discuss issues much bigger than basketball, he had another piece of solid advice to offer the Jayhawks.

“He said, ‘You need to worry about your academics, too, you didn’t come here just to play ball.’” Self said. “I told him that ‘Mr. President, overall team GPA: 2.93.’ You know what he said? ‘Got to get it up to a 3.0.’ Basically telling them to not ever be satisfied, which I thought was pretty cool for our guys to hear.”

Upon concluding his brief visit with the small contingent of Jayhawks in Hadl, the President had nearly 7,000 more waiting for him inside Anschutz. President Obama spoke for more than half an hour about his family’s background in Kansas and shared his passion for his own policies and for the people of the United States.

“It’s a big deal for everybody, but you look at people like Svi (Mykhailiuk) and who knows how Svi has viewed the President of the United States after coming here from the Ukraine, but he filmed the whole thing – he was really into it,” Self said. “Then you think of kids, especially African-American kids, who maybe come from a tough environments like Cliff (Alexander) and Jamari (Traylor) being from Chicago, he wanted to know right away what high schools they went to. He made our kids feel special.”

— KU Sports Information —