Ginny Weatherman

Derek Klaus, Wichita junior, Sarah Connelly, Leavenworth junior and member of the Kansan advertising staff, and Justin LaBerge, Lawrence grad student, are nervous and upset about the close score before the KU men’s basketball game went into overtime. Kansas ended up losing by two points.

Angry isn’t the word to describe the Kansas players and Bill Self after the Jayhawks’ 63-61 overtime loss to the Iowa State Cyclones on Saturday. Frustrated, confused, dejected — all were apparent on the faces of seniors Keith Langford, Aaron Miles and their coach.

But not angry.

It wasn’t the same kind of anger that was evident after the double-overtime loss against Texas Tech, when the Jayhawks thought they got ripped off on a no-call foul on Miles.

This time they were frustrated because back-to-back losses have turned the Jayhawk’s two-game lead in the Big 12 Conference into a first-place tie with Oklahoma State.

They were confused because Kansas had no answer for Iowa State’s tricky match-up zone that kept them out of sync for the entire game.

They were dejected because the four seniors had never lost a conference game at Allen Fieldhouse.

“That was our worst performance of the season,” Langford said. “Combine that with the fact that they were tough, and that is how you lose.”

But nobody pointed fingers at Langford for missing two free throws in overtime with the game tied 61-61. It would have been easy to blame sophomore guard J.R. Giddens, who went 3-16 from the field, for missing wide-open looks in the game’s critical minutes, but no one did.

The Jayhawks just didn’t do what they needed to do to win, and the Cyclones did.

Kansas didn’t get the ball to its best player; Iowa State did.

Senior All-American candidate Wayne Simien took just seven shots from the field on Saturday, only three in the second half and overtime periods. Meanwhile, Iowa State guard Curtis Stinson, who contributed 29 points, shouldered the load for the Cyclones in the second half and hit the game-winning shot with 5 seconds left in overtime.

Kansas’ inability to get the ball to Simien was a costly difference in Saturday’s game. That, and the fact that the Jayhawks failed to compensate for their lack of inside production with outside shooting, doomed the team. The Jayhawks were a dismal 4 of 23 from behind the arc and shot just 34 percent from the field.

“I think they did a good job of keeping the ball from Wayne, but I thought we did a miserable job of getting him the ball,” Self said.

Miserable was the word Self used to describe everything the Jayhawks did on Saturday. The 2-3 Iowa State zone and full court press never allowed Kansas to get an offensive rhythm. It sped up the pace of the game, forced the Jayhawks into mental errors and took their focus from getting the ball to their All-American candidate.

The Jayhawks are now on their way to Norman, Okla., to face the Oklahoma Sooners at 8 tonight. To hang with the Sooners, the Jayhawks are going to have to do a much better job executing offensively than they did on Saturday.

“Collectively it is about as poor as you can play offensively and about as poor as we can execute and a large part of that is me,” Self said. “So I think we have to look at that and improve from it, but we can’t dwell on it because if we do we won’t play well on Monday.”

Ginny Weatherman

Kansas center Sasha Kaun goes up for a shot during the second half of the game against Iowa State. Kaun played for 23 minutes, finishing the game with seven points.

Tonight’s match-up is also magnified because a Kansas loss would not only move the Jayhawks behind Oklahoma State in the Big 12, but it would tie them with Texas Tech. But because Tech beat Kansas last Monday, Kansas would take third because Tech owns the tie-breaker.

“We said last week our season is just starting,” Self said. “And we got off to a crap start. But it certainly won’t get any easier on Monday.”

Saturday’s performance didn’t help the Jayhawks confidence going into one of their toughest conference road games of the season.

Kansas played from behind for most of the game, and unlike other close games this season, the Jayhawks were not able to rely on experience and senior leadership to bail them out.

Kansas did rattle off a 12-3 run in the final two minutes of regulation that helped them erase a nine point deficit. With 5 seconds left, it also sent the game into overtime on a Langford drive through the lane, tying the score at 56.

But in overtime, it was all Stinson, all the time. Junior guard Jeff Hawkins hit a three-pointer in the opening seconds of the extra period, giving Kansas a 59-56 lead.

A minute and a half and two Simien free throws later, the Jayhawks were still on top 61-60. But they were also done scoring.

Langford missed two critical free throws with 25 seconds left in the game with the score tied at 61.

Stinson scored all seven Iowa State points in overtime, including the game-winner with five seconds left in the game.

“We had no answer for Curtis Stinson today,” Self said. “None.”

Kansas, now 10-2 in the conference, knows that the team let an important game get away.

“It was pretty damaging,” Simien said. “We let one loss turn into two. Now we have a tough stretch playing the upper half of the conference. It would have been nice to go in with some momentum.”

The Jayhawks, who practiced yesterday, said the most important thing was to stay focused and positive. Langford said they could learn from their “miserable” performance, but it was more important for the players to put it behind them.

Steven Bartkoski

Will Blalock, sophomore guard, and Damion Staple, senior forward, talk about their performance moments after beating the Kansas Jayhawks in overtime 63-61. Blalock finished the game with three points, and Staple finished the game with five points.

“We messed up, but it’s done now,” Langford said. “Now everyone can go and complain, and talk about how bad Kansas is, and write your little complaints on the Internet and all that junk. We are by no means out of it. We still control our own destiny.”

Basketball Notebook:

When the Jayhawks gathered for practice Friday afternoon, junior forward Christian Moody arrived with a severely swollen left knee.

Self said Moody had an infection that came from a floor burn he got at Texas Tech.

“He could hardly walk yesterday,” Self said.

Unfortunately for the Jayhawks, he will most likely be out for tonight’s game as well.

Self played all five of his freshmen in the first half of Saturday’s game. Forward Sasha Kaun started in place of the injured Moody, and C.J. Giles, Darnell Jackson and Alex Galindo all saw minutes in the post. Guard Russell Robinson played for two minutes.