Turnovers continue to plague the Cyclones, as the team suffered its worst conference loss in Hilton Coliseum history on Wednesday.

Kansas capitalized off of 17 Iowa State turnovers, 13 in the first half, to win 83-62 as the Cyclones dropped to 10-12 overall and 3-6 in the Big 12 Conference.

“It is certainly disappointing,” Coach Tim Floyd said. “I thought that we played with a lack of poise early in the game and we were never able to crawl back into the game because we were never able to stop them or get three or four consecutive stops.”

ISU, which ranked first in the Big 12 in scoring defense going into the game, struggled not only in turnovers, but in allowing Kansas several transition baskets.

“Our inability to get back was probably the biggest problem for us,” center Paul Shirley said. “It was a pretty good beating that we took tonight.”

Shirley said it is vital the team regroup before heading to Colorado Saturday.

“I think we just need to get back to our basics — play defense hard, rebound, take care of the ball — and that will carry us through,” he said.

Jayhawk forward Lester Earl, who was second in the game in scoring with 18, hurt the Cyclones early with three unguarded dunks. Forward Paul Pierce, who led with 19, also had several open looks at the rim.

“We really felt like if we would have not given up cheap baskets, we might have been able to win,” Floyd said. “It may have been the most tentative our freshmen have been this season in the first half.”

Cyclone point guard Lee Love, who did not sit out in the first half, led the team in turnovers with seven, before leaving the game five minutes into the second half with an apparent thigh injury.

Senior Matt Knoll had zero turnovers in 15 minutes after replacing Love.

“What we did in practice we didn’t take into the game,” forward Martin Rancik said. “We didn’t play with the same intensity we did in practice. We didn’t take care of the ball at all and we didn’t get back on defense. They got way too many easy baskets.”

The Cyclones face a 10-9 Colorado team Saturday that ranks 10th in the Big 12 in scoring offense, behind Missouri and ISU. The Buffalos are last in the league in field goal percentage and field goal percentage defense.

“All we have to do is get past what happened tonight,” Rancik said. “We have to go to practice tomorrow and work hard on our transitions and little stuff. We’re going to have one more chance to play Kansas, but for now we have to forget about them and concentrate on Colorado.”

Colorado is led by forward Ronnie DeGray, who averages 13.3 points per game. In the Buffalo backcourt is Howard Frier, who has 30 steals on the season, more than Love, Knoll and Jerry Curry combined.

Floyd said, “I hope we can regroup from [Kansas] and play better over in Colorado.

“But we also understand where we are and we expected maybe to be here in our second year, but we are here in our fourth year and that just comes with how we decided to build this team.”