Iowa State looks for first win at Kansas since 2005

AMES — The Iowa State and Kansas men's basketball teams won't be playing for a Big 12 regular season title — the Jayhawks locked that up last week — but that's not to say nothing is on the line.

As winners of four of the last five games in the series, No. 20 Iowa State has been the biggest thorn in the side of No. 1 Kansas — which has won at least a share of the conference title for 12-straight years.

Saturday's 3 p.m. tipoff at Allen Fieldhouse has no league championship implications, but it does allow the Cyclones to get a season sweep of the Jayhawks and do what they feel like they haven't been able to do in awhile: play free.

'We're just going to go in there and play loose and have fun with it,' junior Monte Morris said. 'We're not going to go in there and try to play too tense. Just play basketball and let the chips fall where they may.'

Finding a way to win at Kansas (26-4, 14-3) is one of the best kept secrets in college basketball — the Jayhawks have more Big 12 titles (12) than home losses (9) since 2003 under Coach Bill Self — but Iowa State (21-9, 10-7) did account for one of those defeats.

There was the two-point overtime win against the Jayhawks in 2005 — Curtis Stinson had 29 points — but there was another close call. Had it not been for a banked 3-pointer by Ben McLemore in 2013, the Cyclones would have escaped with another win.

Playing a near-perfect game doesn't always get you a win at Allen Fieldhouse, but anything less than that almost certainly damages your chances. Treating each period between media timeouts like its own mini-game is one way to look at it.

'You can't get ahead of yourself and if you make a couple shots and are up 8-2, you've got 35 more minutes to play,' Iowa State Coach Steve Prohm said. 'You've just got to stay even-keeled and stay focused and continue to defend and rebound. The atmosphere is going to be electric, just like Hilton (Coliseum) is.'

Like Georges Niang is for Iowa State, Kansas senior Perry Ellis has been a staple of the starting lineup for the last several years. Ellis averages 16.3 points and six rebounds while junior Frank Mason III adds 13.6 points and 4.6 assists, but the X-Factor is Wayne Selden Jr. with 13.3 points per game — with a 40.9 percent shooting clip from 3-point range.

Niang went to the Tilton School with Selden Jr. and after four years of matching up with Ellis, getting a win on his home floor would be an ultimate sendoff.

'It would be bragging rights for the future,' Niang said. '(Ellis) is a good friend of mine so any time you can look back later in life and say to someone you kicked their butt at their house, that's something you look forward to.'

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