No. 8 Kansas beats No. 11 Iowa State at Allen Fieldhouse

LAWRENCE, Kan. - Early mental mistakes, surrendered transition points, a hot-shooting opponent and a raucous Allen Fieldhouse crowd are all things that give opponents fits when they visit Lawrence.

Having them occur all on the same night was enough to send Iowa State home with its 10th-straight loss in 'The Phog.”

'What's Bill (Self) lost nine times in this building?” ISU Coach Fred Hoiberg said after the game. 'It's tougher than hell to walk out of this building with a win.”

No. 8 Kansas beat No. 11 Iowa State 89-76 on Monday night in Allen Fieldhouse, giving the Cyclones (16-5, 6-3) and Jayhawks (19-3, 8-1) a split this season after Iowa State's win in Ames on Jan. 17.

Iowa State got off to a quick start when Naz Long and Georges Niang both knocked home 3-pointers, but it was early turnovers that kept them from creating any separation. The Cyclones led 16-9 mid way through the first half, but an 8-2 run by Kansas closed the gap and forced an ISU timeout.

'Once we started turning the ball over, that gave them rhythm and once they started getting dunks and transition points, that gives them confidence,” Hoiberg said. 'This building explodes when they get those dunks in transition. I've seen it a million times.”

'I think some of us were just making mental mistakes,” said Niang, who finished with 24 points, six rebounds and five assists. 'You can't have that in a tough environment and you've got to limit those mental mistakes and I don't think we did that.”

After owning the fast break points 21-10 in its win against the Jayhawks, points in transition were harder to come by at Kansas in the first half. The Cyclones were behind 10-0 in first-half fast break points, which was partially due a slower pace early on.

'I put that on myself, I caused the first couple turnovers and we were just doing uncharacteristic things,” said Long, who finished with 11 points.

With Kansas leading 35-28 at halftime, the Jayhawks roared out of the locker room in the second half, going on a 14-6 run in 4:45, forcing an ISU timeout. Wayne Selden Jr. chipped in eight of those points, and finished with 20 on the night after shooting 5 of 7 from long range.

The loss to Kansas on Monday brought the Cyclones to the midpoint of the Big 12 season, where they sit at 6-3 in league play. The Jayhawks own a one-and-a-half game lead in the title race, but for Iowa State, they tried to keep the loss in perspective.

'It's just a couple little things here and there and we're going to patch it up and get right back to it,” Long said. 'The season's not over.”