It started with Ben McLemore at Phog Allen Fieldhouse. Then it was Elijah Johnson at Hilton and Perry Ellis at the Big 12 Tournament. This time it was Naadir Tharpe.

In the last four meetings between the Big 12 rivals Iowa State and Kansas, one, single Jayhawk, has erupted for a career game against the Cyclones to put the co-defending Big 12 ahead. This time it was Tharpe, who put No. 15 Kansas over the top against No. 8 Iowa State, 77-70. 

Tharpe finished with a career-high 23 points making 7-of-9 shots and added six rebounds and four assists. It took a total of 26:47 for him to miss a shot, which came at the 13:13 mark in the second half.

“I thought Naadir was fabulous,” said KU coach Bill Self. “Anytime someone makes 23 points on nine shots, they’re doing something right.”

And while all who follow the ISU basketball team collectively held their breath as Deandre Kane received around the clock ankle treatment since Saturday afternoon to play, Kane was Iowa State’s bright spot, scoring 21 points on 6-of-13 shooting with eight rebounds, four steals and three assists.

While Kane gutted out a bulky 37 minutes even with taking a knee to the quad, Niang struggled mightily and wasn’t shy about it, finishing 4-for-20 from the field and missed all nine of his 3’s.

The trend of cold shooting did get worse, stemming from hitting only 6-of-26 3-pointers against Oklahoma on Saturday in the team’s first loss of the season. And when they need it most against the uber-talented Jayhawks, they hit a nearly identical 4-of-25. The team finished making a season-low 22 field goals on 70 attempts. 

“It’s just one of those nights we couldn’t get anything to fall,” said Melvin Ejim. “When you’re a team that relies on shooting the ball and making shots sometimes it’s hard to overcome and you’ve got to sometimes shoot yourself out of it. And we’re not going to change that just because our shots aren’t falling.”

For the second straight game the Cyclones were dominated on the glass. On Saturday, Oklahoma’s Ryan Spangler finished with 16 points and 15 rebounds.

This time, potential NBA lottery draft picks Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid dominated the glass, combining for 28 rebounds, 33 points and knocked down 14 of their 24 shots.

Hoiberg called Embiid, who’s only been playing organized basketball for about 2 years, the best player in the country. 

“I think Embiid’s the best player in the country,” Hoiberg said. 

But why does he think the seven-footer is the best in college basketball?

“Did you watch him play tonight?” Hoiberg asked. “He’s huge and he’s got great length and he can shoot and he’s got incredible footwork and he’s been playing the game for about two years.”

It wasn’t just the pair of potential one-and-dones who controlled the glass. Even with Embiid and the 6-foot-8 Tarik Black fouling out of the game, the Jayhawks reloaded with player after player who held a physical advantage over Iowa State’s front court, out-rebounding them 53-36, with 15 of those coming on the offensive end leading to 23-10 advantage on second-chance points.

“We’re giving up inches every night,” Hoiberg said. “I’ll say this, our guys battle every night because we’re giving up [inches] pretty much at every position. Again, our guys gave us a shot to win this game even though we couldn’t of shot the ball any worse.”