Selden carries No. 9 Kansas past Iowa State

LAWRENCE, Kan. — Wayne Selden picked the right time to tie a career high for 3-pointers, even if it took the sophomore guard some time to heat up Monday as the Kansas Jayhawks topped the Iowa State Cyclones 89-76 in Allen Fieldhouse.

After missing all three field goals he attempted and scoring just one point in the first half, Selden netted five 3-pointers in the second half and finished with 20 points.

Selden spent 11 first-half minutes on the bench, but said it was not a motivating factor.

“Not necessarily. I just remain confident,” he said. “Even before I hit a 3, I felt like the next one is going to go in.”

Junior forward Perry Ellis added 17 points and freshman guard Kelly Oubre chipped in 16. Sophomore point guard Frank Mason scored in double figures for the 18th straight time, providing 12 points and a team-high eight assists.

The No. 9 Jayhawks (19-3) remained atop the Big 12 by improving to 8-1. Iowa State (16-5) fell two games behind at 6-3 after beating Kansas earlier in the season. The Cyclones were bidding to become the first league rival to claim a season sweep of the Jayhawks since 2001.

“This game, it was a lot on our minds,” Selden said. “We thought about the last game (at Iowa State) so much and it was really haunting us. When we played other teams, we got away from what we were doing and started thinking about this one. I think we played well.”

By canning 10 of 21 attempts from behind the arc, Kansas posted its second-highest point total of the season and held off any second-half threat from the Big 12’s top-scoring team.

In winning for the 20th straight time at home, the Jayhawks used an 11-2 run to push the margin to 67-48 with 6:44 left.

“If teams take away your low-post offense, you’ve got to have some guys who can hit some shots,” Kansas coach Bill Self said, addressing his team’s backcourt production, which also included 11 points from sophomore guard Brannen Greene.

“Sometimes we’ve done it different from what we emphasize and this was one of those nights. When the lid came off, we were confident in everything, including driving it. But Wayne is such a key. When you’ve got Wayne, Brannen, Frank, and the way Kelly’s played, you’ve got four good perimeter offensive players.”

Iowa State never got any closer than 10 points over the final six minutes after leading by seven midway through the first half. Junior forward Georges Niang scored 24 points on 9-for-18 shooting to pace the Cyclones. Senior guard Bryce Dejean-Jones added 14 points and a game-high nine rebounds.

“It should be fun to watch how this plays out with nine (conference) games to go, but I think Kansas is playing as well as they have all season,” Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg said. “It’s tough. What is it? Bill’s lost nine times at home? It’s tougher than hell to win in this building.”

Nonetheless, the Cyclones did not leave completely disheartened.

“The season’s not over, so we’ll just leave it at that,” Niang said.

Kansas closed the first half on a 14-6 flurry and held a 35-28 advantage at the break. During the surge, the Jayhawks scored on five consecutive possessions, including back-to-back 3-pointers by Oubre.

Oubre scored 10 first-half points to pace the Jayhawks, who recovered from a 2-for-12 start from the floor. Ellis added nine first-half points, and Greene added seven off the bench.

Niang scored 10 first-half points to lead Iowa State, which broke out to an 18-11 lead but shot just 12-for-34 (35.3 percent) from the field before the break and turned the ball over on three late possessions. Senior forward Dustin Hogue added seven first-half points.

NOTES: Iowa State was coming off an 83-66 win over TCU, the first time in Big 12 play that one of the Cyclones’ games was decided by more than six points. … Iowa State entered the game allowing the second-fewest free throws on average among Division I squads. That, in part, was because the Cyclones often play passive defense. They came in ranked ninth in the Big 12 in defensive efficiency. … After hitting 2-of-3 treys Monday, Kansas G Brannen Greene is shooting 50.9