Allen Fieldhouse never seems to disappoint, and neither does Iowa State-Kansas.

The home-and-home between two of the Big 12’s best this season was a split, with Kansas’s 80-76 win Monday night, evening it up and putting the Jayhawks atop the Big 12 ranking.

In a back-and-forth battle worthy of the game’s Big Monday billing, there was much to look back on.

It turns out, the little things are sometimes what turns a game one way or the other.

Kansas adjusts its defense, ISU flounders

The game was essentially won for the Jayhawks on a 14-0 extended run that pushed Iowa State from a six-point lead into an eight-point hole with seven minutes to play.

In the five-plus minutes, the Cyclones went without a field goal, missed two free throws and turned the ball over three times. Kansas was, effectively, putting Iowa State in a sleeper hold.

The Cyclones were able to tie the game up at 69 with less than three minutes to play, but the Jayhawks’ run set the tone for the final stretch.

“That was enough to get us to the finish line,” said Kansas coach Bill Self.

The key to the Jayhawk run? A defensive adjustment that threw the Cyclones off their rhythm at just the right moment. Kansas was more aggressive in running Iowa State off of the three-point line and stopping the Cyclones’ dribble penetration, particularly from Nick Weiler-Babb.

Self said the Jayhawks stopped switching on Weiler-Babb, leaving Devon Dotson to harry the Cyclones’ point guard.

“I do think [Weiler-Babb] was more disrupted in the second half from a rhythm standpoint than what he was in the first half,” Self said.

Wigginton and Lard go missing

After a combined 26-point outing from Cam Lard and Lindell Wigginton against the Cowboys, the two combined for just three points on 1-of-10 shooting. Lard lasted only six minutes before fouling out, while Wigginton had three turnovers and was 0-for-2 at the line. Wigginton also had a crucial turnover with the Cyclones down 72-71 after a miscommunication with freshman guard Tyrese Haliburton. A Jayhawk bucket on the other end put Kansas up three and sapped the energy out of Iowa State’s comeback attempt.

This game won’t necessarily dictate how Wigginton and Lard perform the rest of the season. The duo each provide something Iowa State needs to reach its peak potential: Wigginton has a shot-making ability that is matched only by Marial Shayok on the Cyclones’ roster, while Cam Lard’s shot-blocking was sorely missed against Kansas.

Prohm expressed optimism after the loss that Wigginton would get back to his best.

“He’ll be ready to go Saturday,” Prohm said. “He’ll be better for it down the road.”

If Lard and Wigginton are unable to reach their 2017-18 levels, then the Cyclones will have a difficult time beating out the league’s best.

Horton-Tucker’s aggressiveness

One positive for Cyclone fans after the tough loss to Kansas was the play of freshman star Talen Horton-Tucker. After going through a shooting slump to start conference play, THT had one of his best games of the year at Allen Fieldhouse.

Horton-Tucker had 16 points on 6-for-15 shooting, including a 4-for-8 performance from behind the arc. His ability to score from everywhere on the floor and create his own shot is something that, at times, the Cyclones have been lacking.

Horton-Tucker’s progression — if it continues like it has the past four games — can ease some of the burden off of Shayok and make Iowa State more versatile on the offensive end.