LAWRENCE, Kan. — Everything that went well for the Cyclones went better for the Jayhawks. Whatever went wrong for the Cyclones was fuel for a KU team that ran away with a win and a convincing conference lead at Allen Fieldhouse.

Iowa State continued where it left off at Hilton Coliseum, getting off to an 18-11 lead halfway through the first half. Then came the flood.

The Jayhawks hit 3-of-4 3-pointers in consecutive possessions to help the Jayhawks finish the final nine minutes of the half shooting 52.9 percent, while the Cyclones made just five of their final 16 shots of the half. 

Led by Wayne Selden Jr.’s 19-second half points, making 5-of-6 3-pointers, the Jayhawks showed that home court advantage is thriving even outside of Ames, Iowa.

“It’s tougher than hell to walk out of this building with a win,” said ISU coach Fred Hoiberg. “[Coach Bill Self] has lost nine times in this building. It’s tough.”

What worked so well for the Cyclones in Ames was stripped away from them in Lawrence. The Cyclones controlled the game from the tip at Hilton, playing too fast for the Jayhawks to keep up.

Kansas, however, would have none of that on its home court. The Jayhawks allowed zero first-half transition points to the Cyclones, allowing a comfortable 35-28 halftime lead. Forcing nine first-half turnovers, the margin for error in the second half was too thin to execute in one of the nation’s toughest environments.

“They were preparing for [transition defense], they were saying that in a couple articles,” said Naz Long. “I feel like we could have pushed the pace a little harder. Credit to them for doing the scouting report pretty well.”

Kansas, one of the Big 12’s top defenses, executed the scouting report to near-perfection, but it was what they did on offense that sent the dagger into the Cyclones.

Selden and Brannen Greene combined to shoot 7-of-10 from the 3-point line against a suspect ISU defense that has notoriously let teams get hot from behind the arc. 

“When they are shooting the ball like that, they are really tough to guard,” Niang said. “Greene is on a hot streak right now and he was really shooting it. When he made those tough 3s, it was tough to get going after that.”

For the Cyclones, it will be tough to catch the Jayhawks atop the Big 12 standings. Kansas moved to 19-3 this season with an 8-1 Big 12 record, while Iowa State dropped to 16-5 and, more importantly, 6-3 in conference play. Iowa State will likely need to be perfect at home and pull off upsets in a grueling road schedule to have any sort of shot.

But even that might not be enough to catch a KU team that is hitting its late-season stride, as Bill Self teams do almost automatically. If the Jayhawks continue to improve on an already impressive Big 12 start, the Jayhawks will be nearly impossible to catch.

But losing to Kansas doesn’t end the season for the Cyclones. After all, they were seven-point underdogs on the road to a team they had beaten on their home court just weeks before. Both Hoiberg and players knew the team would need a near-perfect game to outlast the Jayhawks, and despite coming up short, the team will get back to work for their matchup against Texas Tech on Feb. 7.

“It’s nothing big, it’s just a couple little things here and there,” Long said. “We’re going to patch it up and get right back to it. The season’s not over.”