Courtney Kuhlen

Wayne Simien, senior forward, battles for a rebound against Kansas State’s Jeremiah Massey, senior forward, during the first half of last night’s game in Allen Fieldhouse. Simien set a career high of 20 rebounds during the 72-65 victory. The game was he and the other Kansas seniors’ last game in the fieldhouse.

One play said it all last night.

In the larger scheme of things, it wasn’t instrumental in the Jayhawks’ 72-65 victory against Kansas State. Most likely, it was forgotten after Wayne Simien, Aaron Miles, Mike Lee and Keith Langford provided Kansas fans with a one-hour send off after the game.

In a span of 20-seconds, the four seniors showed what they were all about.

About three minutes into the game, a K-State player missed a shot. Before the ball could even bounce off the rim, Big Dub ripped the ball down with his enormous hands.

A second later, he hit Mike Lee with an outlet pass. Lee took one dribble and sent it down the floor to Aaron Miles. Miles penetrated, drew the defense and found Langford, who spotted up on the opposite side of the court.

Money ball!

The fact that the ball went through the hands of the four seniors and ended up in the bottom of the net is pretty much symbolic of the last four years. This team includes Kansas’ all-time assist leader, two players with at least 1,400 career points and a valuable locker room leader.

“This is a special group,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “I love coaching these guys. I love chewing on them. I love going to practice with them every day.”

Sure, 16,300 fans crammed into Allen Fieldhouse to see Kansas beat Kansas State.

But they stuck around to hear the four seniors talk.

A lot of kids missed their bed times last night. Few fans left, and these guys had a lot to say. Collectively, the four guys talked for more than an hour last night — but the fans were interested.

Of all the laughs, tears and random babbles, Wayne Simien said something that embodied how these four feel about each other.

A couple of days ago, somebody asked him to describe each of his classmates.

“I can’t think of anything that can separate us. We’re going to leave as winners,” Simien said. “How many assists Aaron dished out, how many clutch shots Keith hit, how many times Mike dove on the ball or how many rebounds I got.”

“When they think of one they are going to think of us all.”

A funny thing happened with Simien yesterday. Anticipating the guys would be nervous, Self said he walked up to Simien during the shoot around and asked how he was feeling.

“He almost broke down right there,” Self said with a chuckle. “I’ve never had a guy do that.”

Simien was fine during the game. He scored 25 points and pulled down a career-high 20 rebounds. But he said he was on the verge of tears all day just thinking about the game.

“It was a really emotional day, just walking to class and having the shoot-around and warming up,” he said. “I just knew that there were going to be a lot of lasts today.”

As for the rebounds, Kansas certainly gave him plenty of opportunities. The Jayhawks shot just 23-of-53 from the field and 9-of-22 from three-point range.

Three of those three-pointers came from Mike Lee, whose only points of the game came from behind the arc. But sophomore J.R. Giddens nailed a couple of three-pointers of his own. Giddens, whose struggles from behind the arc have been well documented, missed badly on his first shot of the game. He came back and scored five straight points for the Jayhawks.

“It was a 28-footer and he missed by 19 feet,” Self laughed. “But he showed a lot of guts stepping up and making his next two.”

Self said the Jayhawks would need Giddens to play better in order for them to go far in the NCAA Tournament, mainly because teams will do what K-State did last night.

The Wildcats played a 2-3 zone for most of the game, but unlike other games during the season when they went stagnant against a zone, the Jayhawks were able to pass the ball on the perimeter and get it inside.

Self said he was pleased with his team’s play against the zone defense.

The score never indicated that the game was in question, but K-State hung tough. The Jayhawks’ 32-26 halftime lead widened to 12 early in the second half. It was their largest of the game. The Wildcats got within six with about 7 minutes left in the game.

But the Kansas seniors weren’t going to let anything take away from their night. Simien, Langford, Miles and Lee scored all but five of the Jayhawks second half-points.

Last night’s victory gave Kansas a share of the Big 12 Conference title. A victory against Missouri on Sunday would win it. Clinching the conference title would top off the senior’s final regular season.

“This is only halfway,” Langford said. “We wanna win it outright and we have the opportunity to do that.”