Other than Ellis, Jayhawks come up cold

MANHATTAN – The streak may live on. Bill Self might still add another championship ring to the collection. Maybe the title reign will continue.

But if No. 8 Kansas hoped to win an 11th straight Big 12 title outright, the Jayhawks will require some help. And after an abysmal night inside a wild and raucous Bramlage Coliseum, even snatching a piece of title No. 11 is suddenly now in doubt.

This was the stinging reality for the Jayhawks after Monday night’s 70-63 loss in the latest Sunflower Showdown. The Streak — the run that has come to define Self and his program — is now in serious jeopardy.

On Monday morning, Kansas controlled its own destiny. The Jayhawks needed three victories in their last four to claim a share of the championship. They now stand 22-6 overall and 11-4 in the Big 12, a half-game ahead of second-place Iowa State.

This was the consequence of another loss here inside Bramlage, the Jayhawks’ fourth defeat in eight trips down I-70. For Kansas, this was reality.

In the next two weeks, the Jayhawks will face Texas and West Virginia at home and travel to Oklahoma. They can’t afford more setbacks.

In the final minutes, the Wildcats made more plays. The Jayhawks’ offense was absent, shooting just 36 percent in the second half. Kansas forward Perry Ellis (24 points) and Kelly Oubre (14) combined for 38 points. No other Jayhawk managed more than seven in the team’s third road loss in four games.

Kansas led by as many as eight points early in the second half. It didn’t matter. The night ended with another floor-rushing.

Perhaps it could have been different.

The Jayhawks nearly extended the lead to 10 points in the early moments of the second half. Ellis forced a steal and filled the lane in transition, but his one-handed dunk attempt came up short and drew iron. The Wildcats scored on their next two possessions, and the Kansas lead was cut to 41-37.

By the 11:55 mark, the Jayhawks had stretched the lead back to six points before K-State climbed to within 47-44 and forced a timeout from the Kansas bench. As both teams huddled, the Bramlage Coliseum louspeakers blasted party anthem “Sandstorm” and the building erupted into a sea of noise. Moments later, the decibel level ticked up a notch when Wildcats guard Nigel Johnson tied the game with his third three-pointer.

Johnson would continue the onslaught, drilling his fourth three-pointer. And K-State pieced together a 60-54 lea with an 8-0 run. Two of the buckets came from K-State forward Thomas Gipson, who also forced a fourth foul from Kansas forward Cliff Alexander.

As K-State surged, the Jayhawks searched for offensive answers. For a long stretch of the second half, Ellis’ field goals (10) matched those from all his teammates. Sophomore guard Frank Mason finished just four points, hitting just one of eight from the floor. Wayne Selden was limited to just seven points. And sharpshooter Brannen Greene, who was so clutch for so long in Big 12 play, missed the rim on each of his first two three-point attempts.

More than three weeks earlier, Kansas had dispatched K-State 68-57 in Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks sprinted out to an early lead, then salted away the minutes during a workmanlike second half. It was not a supreme performance, but it was enough to continue the dominating nature of the series.

When the Jayhawks boarded a charter and trekked across I-70 on Monday morning, the numbers looked like this: The Jayhawks had won 49 of 53 against their in-state rivals, even after dropping three of their last seven at Bramlage Coliseum.

That set the stage for Monday night.

In the opening minutes, Ellis took control, scoring Kansas’ first nine points and 15 of their first 28 as the Jayhawks built a 26-19 lead with 5:21 remaining in the half. Alexander sat on the bench with two fouls, and the Jayhawks had to work for everything. But for a brief moment, as the lead stretched to seven points, it appeared as if the Jayhawks might gain some separation in the final minutes of the half.

But then K-State’s Johnson showed up. Johnson, a 6-foot-1 sophomore guard, would drill two straight threes, cutting the Kansas lead to 28-26. And the Wildcats would finish the half on a 15-4 run.

For 20 minutes, Ellis was brilliant, maneuvering around the paint and attacking the rim with a litany of spins and drop-steps. He converted seven of his first eight shots from the field, and carried the offensive load. The Jayhawks needed it, too.

Ellis finished 7 of 10 from the floor in the first half. The rest of the roster was 6 of 21.

The story stayed the same in the second half.

This story was originally published February 23, 2015 at 11:10 PM with the headline "Other than Ellis, Jayhawks come up cold."