Mike Lee sat hunched over in his chair in the locker room. After Kansas’ 78-75 loss to Oklahoma State in the Big 12 tournament semifinals, it was obvious the senior guard didn’t want to talk to anyone.

It wasn’t like the senior guard had played poorly or made a crucial mistake to cost Kansas the game. It wasn’t like the Jayhawks gave up.

Quite the opposite; Lee played one of his best games of his career. His 14 points against the Cowboys was the second highest of his career.

And the Jayhawks had a chance to win this one, with a single shot in the games final minutes.

That’s what made Lee so upset.

“We let one get away,” Lee said quietly.

Hanging to a one-possession deficit with 11 seconds left in the game, the Self called the exact same play as the previous possession that got the Jayhawks within one possession -- a three-point shot for J.R. Giddens from the left wing.

Senior guard Aaron Miles pushed the ball up the court with time winding down. He handed off to Lee, who said he was supposed to dribble to the middle and hit Giddens on the wing.

Giddens was heavily guarded, so he passed to freshman Alex Galindo on the opposite wing. Galindo fired over Oklahoma State senior forward Joey Graham.

It barely missed.

“It felt great,” Galindo said of the shot when he released it.

“It looked good,” Lee said.

But it was just inches off.

Lee said it was difficult to take anything good away from Saturday’s loss. The Jayhawks had control of the game early, but the Cowboys fought back.

“We got out-rebounded tremendously, we fouled,” Lee said in a dejected tone.

Kansas coach Bill Self, however, said he felt better about his team now than he did coming into this weekend’s tournament. He said he was pleased with the way the Jayhawks pulled together in the absence of Keith Langford, who sat on the bench Friday because of a stomach virus.

“This weekend was good for us,” Self said. “Even though we lost we are really playing much better.

After leading for almost all of the first half, the Jayhawks trailed at halftime 30-29.

The Cowboys pulled ahead by as many as seven with 11 minutes left in the game, but four straight three-pointers by the Jayhawks tied the game up at 56 with seven and a half minutes left.

The Jayhawks were on fire, but a television timeout at the seven-minute mark cut off their momentum. Out of the timeout, the Cowboys went on a 6-0 run, and the Jayhawks had to play from behind the rest of the game.

Wayne Simien made three crucial baskets in the final three and a half minutes and kept the Jayhawks in the game, but a shot by J.R. Giddens allowed them the opportunity for the tie.

There was a reason Self made the call he did for the last shot. Just seconds earlier, Giddens had nailed a three-pointer to pull Kansas within one, 76-75. With no timeouts left, the Jayhawks had to foul.

Cowboy forward Joey Graham hit two free throws to make the score 78-75 with 11 seconds left in the game.

Everyone knows what happened from there.

Kansas will most likely not get the number one NCAA tournament seed that they had hoped for. But they will get Langford back. Giddens, who has struggled throughout the season, also appears to be back. He scored 11 points Saturday and went 3-5 from behind the arc.

With Lee putting up a career-high 11 rebounds against Kansas State on Friday and scoring 14 on Saturday, Self said the Jayhawks could have all the pieces in place for a tournament run.

“We need those guys to play like that with Keith back,” Self said. “Sometimes we tend just to sit back and watch, but we need those guys to be as aggressive as they were with Keith out.

Self said he expected the Jayhawks to receive a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament.