LAWRENCE, Kan. – The ISU men’s basketball team has struggled all year in getting to the free-throw line, and that problem came to a head Saturday against Kansas.

The Cyclones only managed to shoot 12 free throws in the game and compounded things by only making four of the 12.

“We did not do a good job free-throw shooting today,” said ISU coach Wayne Morgan.

“Our percentage was not high enough and we missed the front end of a lot of one-and-ones and that hurt us.”

Iowa State leads the conference in free-throw percentage at just over 75 percent (136-181), making the 33 percent at Kansas that much harder to swallow.

But the difference in the 88-75 Jayhawk victory was Kansas’ performance from the line.

The Jayhawks shot 81 percent from the charity stripe, going 26-of-32, a difference of 22 points at the free-throw line in a 13-point loss.

“We put them to the line a lot and they made their free throws,” Morgan said.

The teams combined for 46 fouls, 28 on Iowa State and 18 on Kansas. The fouls were nearly even in the first half (9-Kansas, 11-Iowa State) and remained close throughout the game until the final five minutes.

“They got to the line a lot and knocked their free throws down,” said ISU forward Rahshon Clark. “We felt we were getting fouled at our end, but the refs didn’t see it that way.”

This was the second consecutive game that the Cyclones shot significantly fewer shots from the line. Iowa State was 1-of-4 in a three-point loss Wednesday at Kansas State.

The Wildcats were 19-of-25 from the line, underscoring a bigger problem within the season for Iowa State.

The Cyclones have not only been outshot from the line, but in conference play their opponents have made more free throws (186) than Iowa State has attempted (181).

Morgan said he would review the tape to see what the Cyclones could do to get to the line more often, but would not comment directly on the free-throw disparity.

“We foul, but we also sometimes get fouled,” Morgan said. “I wish I could be more specific, but every now and then we do get fouled.”