01/13/26 11:24:00
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01/13 23:22 CST Peterson and Kansas show their potential as Jayhawks crush
previously unbeaten No. 2 Iowa State
Peterson and Kansas show their potential as Jayhawks crush previously unbeaten
No. 2 Iowa State
By DAVE SKRETTA
AP Basketball Writer
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) --- Kansas finally showed what it could do with a healthy
Darryn Peterson and a regular rotation Tuesday night.
The timing couldn't have been worse for second-ranked Iowa State.
After falling from the AP Top 25 following a second loss in their first three
Big 12 games, the Jayhawks roared away from the stunned Cyclones the moment the
ball was thrown up. Tre White hit four early 3-pointers and went on to score 19
points, Peterson contributed 16 before more cramping issues, and Kansas coasted
to an 84-63 victory over previously unbeaten Iowa State.
"This is more what I envisioned," Jayhawks coach Bill Self said. "We've got an
elite player --- we got an elite scorer --- and even tonight, when (Peterson)
went to get his own, he can do some things other guys can't do. But the thing
is the other guys are good players. We don't need to defer to him. I don't know
that we've found that balance yet. But tonight was the closest thing to it."
Melvin Council Jr. added 15 points and Flory Bidunga had 10 for the Jayhawks
(12-5, 2-2 Big 12), who led by 26 in the first half, had that advantage trimmed
to 11 midway through the second, then answered with a 10-0 run to put the game
away.
It was the kind of performance that college basketball fans have become
accustomed to seeing from the Jayhawks over the years.
Much more familiar than recent losses to unranked UCF and West Virginia.
"They were extremely well-prepared, well-coached, like we knew they would be,"
Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger said. "Extremely urgent (for Kansas) to come
out and play with a tremendous spirit, which they did, so credit to them.
"That was an absolute beat-down," Otzelberger added, "in their favor,
unfortunately."
There are a multitude of reasons for a stumbling start to the season, which had
the Jayhawks in danger of their first 1-3 start to league play since the
1987-88 season. But the biggest may have been the cramping problems that had
kept Peterson off the court for long stretches and kept the Jayhawks from
getting into a rhythm even when he was available.
He was still massaging his calf on the bench Tuesday night, and at one point,
Peterson grabbed it after going high for a dunk. But Self said the issue wasn't
as serious as earlier in the year: "It was more of, ?I'm not quite whole right
now.'"
"Feeling better. It's coming back slowly to me," Peterson said. "I was out for
a while but every game is getting better. This was a great win, especially
coming off the loss to West Virginia. We knew we had to come out and get a win."
The Jayhawks clearly felt a sense of urgency. They even had a players-only
meeting --- Self insisted he knew nothing about it --- during which they talked
about their goals for the season and what it would take to get back on track.
"Just kind of reiterating the key things that we want to identify ourselves as
this year," White said, "and just internal conversations that made us more
focused on what we want to do. It definitely made us more connected."
It was evident from the opening minutes, when Kansas opened with an 11-3 run to
get the crowd into the game.
By the 7-minute mark, the lead had grown to 31-14, and Otzelberger had wasted
two timeouts trying to get things under control.
Kansas pushed the lead to 26 points before Iowa State mounted its only real
comeback, stringing together some stops and getting some buckets to go on each
side of halftime. But eventually, the Jayhawks found their stride again, and
they quickly pushed the lead back over 20 points before emptying the bench in
the final minutes.
What made the performance particularly impressive was the opposition: Iowa
State was off to a 16-0 start, including a 23-point road win over then-No. 1
Purdue, and the Cyclones were one of two teams receiving No. 1 votes in the AP
Top 25 this week.
"We looked a little spooked and panicked, and the moment got to us,"
Otzelberger said. "We know how well prepared they were going to be. We know how
competitive they're going to be. We know how much confidence they have,
especially in this building. You can tell they've been on the practice court
working, and getting ready, and they did a tremendous job."
___
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