AMES, Iowa (AP) — Jaren Holmes led No. 13 Iowa State with 15 points to lift the Cyclones to a 68-53 win over No. 8 Kansas on Saturday at Hilton Coliseum.
Osun Osunniyi added 13 for the Cyclones (16-6, 7-3 Big 12), who stayed within at least a game of front-running Texas in the Big 12 Conference standings.
“Today, we came out and played desperate,” Holmes said.
Jalen Wilson led the Jayhawks (18-5, 6-4) with 26 points for his sixth straight game with at least 20 points, which is the longest stretch by a Jayhawk since Dedric Lawson also scored 20-plus in six straight in 2018. Wilson has also scored 159 points over his last six games, which is the most by a Jayhawk since at least 1996-97. Wayne Simien had the previous high with 156 points.
“It’s not a formula for success for us,” Jayhawks coach Bill Self said. “We need balance from our starting five. If one guy feels like he’s got to go do it all on his own, it crashes the offense.”
The Cyclones led for all but 1:14 of the game, building a 34-16 scoring edge in the paint. Kansas struggled early, making just two of their first 10 shots and committing 11 turnovers in the first 20 minutes.
Iowa State was up 33-21 at the break. Trailing 36-23 at the 18:34 mark of the second half, the Jayhawks went on a run to cut the Cyclones lead to five. Wilson started the run with four straight points, and then KJ Adams Jr. cut it to seven with a bucket in the paint off a pass from Dajuan Harris Jr. A Gradey Dick dunk then cut it to five at 36-31 with 16:13 to play.
But Iowa State scored the next five points to stretch it back to 11 at 42-31 with 14:50 to play. Kansas wouldn’t get closer than nine the rest of the way as Iowa State finished off the win.
Iowa State shot 46% for the game.
“From the beginning, we gave them some easy buckets,” Wilson said. “That’s something we’ve struggled with (defensively) … the easiest way to get comfortable is easy buckets, layups, stuff like that.”
