Local baller Balham

Nebraska’s Chris Balham, who scored two points, played high school basketball at Shawnee Mission West in Overland Park. His high school team upset Brady Morningstar and Lawrence Free State in the first round of the state playoffs in 2005.

Football praise

KU’s All Big 12 offensive and defensive performers were honored during the game. Todd Reesing, Marcus Henry, Scott Webb, Brandon McAnderson, Ryan Cantrell, Darrell Stuckey, Mike Rivera and James Holt all stood before the crowd. Aqib Talib, James McClinton, Cesar Rodriguez, Marcus Herford and Anthony Collins were not there to be honored.

The ladies man

For the second game in a row, students chanted Conner Teahan’s name with about five minutes left. Bill Self thinks it was a certain group of fans that did most of cheering.

“I think I hear more high-pitched voices chanting it than deep voices,” Self said. “I think they like Conner, and he’s a great kid.”

Teahan missed both of his field goal attempts on Saturday and hasn’t scored in the last two games.

Award finalists

Mario Chalmers and Brandon Rush were named mid-season finalists for the John Wooden Award. Darrell Arthur was named as a mid-season finalist for the Naismith Award.

Rush is Kansas’ leading scorer in Big 12 play, averaging 15.2 points a game. Chalmers leads the team and the Big 12 in steals, and Arthur is the Jayhawks’ leading scorer throughout the season at 13.6 points a game.

— Mark Dent