LAWRENCE, Kan. — In a game of Kansas runs and ISU answers, it was a string of mistakes that put the game away for good.

Iowa State struggled at the beginning of each half, being outscored a combined 34-16 through the first six minutes. But at the 14:30 mark in the second half, Iowa State trailed 63-50. In the next 10 minutes, Iowa State cut the lead to one point at 73-72. Over that stretch, KU coach Bill Self called Iowa State the best team they’d played all year.

But after Georges Niang’s 3-pointer to cut the lead to one at 73-72, the team imploded over the next 60 seconds. A game of runs got away from Iowa State on a run of its own — mistakes — which No. 6 Kansas (16-4, 7-0 Big 12) used to pull away from No. 16 Iowa State (15-4, 3-4), winning 92-81. 

“Just a couple untimely [turnovers] for us,” said ISU coach Fred Hoiberg. “That’s been a strength of ours all year. Our assist-to-turnover ratio is as good as anybody in the nation. A couple of critical ones there at the end of the game.”

With 3:27 left in the second half, Iowa State turned the ball over twice in a row on the inbound pass, with the latter leading to Dustin Hogue’s flagrant foul on Andrew Wiggins, who finished with a career-high 29 points.

“That flagrant call was a pretty big call,” said Georges Niang. “I’m not saying it was a bad call or anything, but that’s where they took off.”

The foul proved to be the spark the tinderbox Phog Allen Fieldhouse needed to combust.

On the next possession, Wiggins tipped in fellow teammate and potential NBA Lottery Pick Joel Embiid’s miss. It wasn’t 15 seconds later when the Cyclones turned it over for the fourth consecutive possession, and Wiggins found himself streaking on a breakaway layup, extending an 8-0 run over 78 seconds and spiking Phog Allen Fieldhouse into a 116-decibel frenzy.

“It was a big play,” Hoiberg said. “It goes from three to seven — and in the last three minutes — and I think we miss an open look the next time down, and then they got it up to double digits. It was a big play.”

Iowa State was led by Niang, who struggled in the first meeting, only hitting 4 of 20 shots on the night. On Jan. 29, he led the Cyclones with 24 points on 10 of 17 shooting, and he added four rebounds and five assists. The trio of Deandre Kane, Melvin Ejim and Niang combined for 64 points on 25 of 44 shooting.

In the first meeting, Iowa State only hit four of 25 3-pointers, but knocked down 10 of 26 triples Jan.29. Hoiberg considers shooting nearly 50 percent from the field and hitting double-digit 3-pointers a good game, but he said Kansas showed tonight why only nine teams have won in its home building in 12 years.

“I told them that after the game to make sure no one walks out of the building with their head down,” Hoiberg said. “We’re not about morale wins; obviously it should bother them, but at the same time they fought for 40 minutes, they battled and again we had a chance in a building that not many people walk out of with a win.”