AMES, Iowa — Rap blared, Sherron Collins bellowed and the rest of the Jayhawks cheered.

Kansas’ locker room on the southwest side of Hilton Coliseum got a little rowdy after its 82-67 victory against Iowa State on Saturday. That was no surprise. Not after Kansas started Big 12 Conference play 4-0 to establish itself as one of the conference’s main contenders.

“It feels like it’s coming together,” Collins, a junior guard, said. “We’re finding out about ourselves. We’re not there yet, but we’re finding an identity.”

Photo Gallery

Kansas Basketball vs. Iowa State

A photo gallery of Kansas' 82-67 win over the Iowa State Cyclones Saturday afternoon at Hilton Coliseum.

Collins is the largest part of that identity. He tied a career-high 26 points and added five assists and four rebounds in a contest where Kansas never trailed.

Arguably, Collins compiled the best game of his career. Undoubtedly, Collins put on the second best performance of the game. But the day belonged to Iowa State forward Craig Brackins.

Brackins, a sophomore, scored 42 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. He was two points away from breaking the Big 12 scoring record — recorded by Kansas State’s Michael Beasley last year against Baylor — and scored the most points by any single player against Kansas since Oklahoma State’s Randy Rutherford exploded for 45 in 1995.

“I felt locked in the whole game,” Brackins said.

Brackins and Collins established themselves early as their team’s stars. Kansas roared out to a 12-3 lead, but Brackins scored 22 first-half points to keep Iowa State in the game.

Collins was just as impressive in the first half. He made his first six shots and scored 18 points in the opening 12 minutes. Kansas coach Bill Self described Collins as “unbelievable.”

“I told Sherron after the game, ‘The good news is you were great,” Self said. “’The bad news is you won’t be the Big 12 Player of the Week because that’s already been decided.’”

While Collins slowed on scoring for the rest of the game, Brackins never did. He scored Iowa State’s first nine points of the second half.

Kansas tried everything to stop Brackins, but wound up as helpless as a camp counselor in a “Friday the 13th” flick. Freshman forward Marcus Morris fouled out trying to guard Brackins. Junior guard Mario Little and freshman forward Markieff Morris also matched up against Brackins and combined for seven fouls.

The Jayhawks tried to trap Brackins in the post. That didn’t work either.

But Kansas still led 66-51 with nine minutes remaining before a scoring drought ensued for nearly three minutes. In that time, Iowa State scored nine points. Brackins capped it off with his third three-pointer to make the score 66-60.

The Hilton Coliseum crowd roared and Self took a timeout.

“We got a little fumbley with the ball,” sophomore center Cole Aldrich said. “We needed some good possessions and good defense.”

The Jayhawks got both. They halted Brackins by holding him scoreless for the next four minutes.

Aldrich — who had 12 points and nine rebounds in the second half to finish with 16 points and 12 rebounds — threw down a putback dunk in transition moments after Self’s timeout.

Collins fired a pass to sophomore guard Tyrel Reed, who had 10 points, on Kansas’ next possession. Reed set his feet behind the three-point line in the corner and released. Swish. 71-60.

“Sherron found Tyrel off of a good screen,” Self said, “and he made the biggest shot of the game.”

Afterward, Self said Brackins was as good as any player in the country. Camera crews surrounded Brackins and the crowd gave him a standing ovation.

But Brackins didn’t care about all of that. The celebration went on in the visitor’s locker room.

“We’re getting better,” Self said. “Sherron got us off to a good start and we never trailed in the game. We’re growing up.”

— ­— Edited by Chris Hickerson