The situation has become routine for the Jayhawks.

They’re ahead of an opponent late in the game, but are struggling to put them away. Then, sophomore guard Tyrel Reed checks in and everything changes.

Reed swishes a few three-pointers — sometimes it only takes one — and Kansas coasts the rest of the way. After the game, Kansas coach Bill Self says Reed made the biggest shot of the game. But Reed wants no credit. He praises his teammates.

“They found me open,” Reed says. “Fortunately, I knocked them down.”

It happened again in Wednesday night’s 68-62 victory against Nebraska. For the third time in the last four games, Reed’s three-pointers sparked Kansas.

He made two in a row this time. In less than a minute, Reed changed the score from Nebraska 50, Kansas 48 to Kansas 54, Nebraska 50. Kansas never trailed again.

The Jayhawks will once again look to Reed if they need a crucial three-pointer in Saturday’s 3 p.m. game against Colorado in Allen Fieldhouse. Reed, who is averaging 7.5 points per game and shooting 39.7 percent from the three-point line, said he doesn’t feel the pressure when that situation arises.

“I know there are points in a game where a shot can turn the tide of things,” Reed said. “I try not to think about that and just be ready to shoot at all times.”

But his shots seem to fall more frequently when the game is winding down. Take Kansas’ first game against Colorado, a 73-56 victory at the Coors Events Center two weeks ago, for example.

Reed played poorly in the first half of the game. He missed his two three-point attempts and also committed a turnover. The Jayhawks continued to toy with the Buffaloes in the second half and had not yet established a double-digit lead with 10 minutes remaining.

In the next three minutes, Reed converted on three three-pointers. Game over.

“He’s a shooter,” junior guard Sherron Collins said. “That’s what they do. He just shoots the ball and doesn’t worry about everything else.”

Self said Reed understood his role on the team was to make threes. The fact that Reed recognizes his purpose makes him somewhat of a rarity among the young Jayhawks.

Self has spent the majority of the season trying to work young players into their niche. Self wants freshman guard Tyshawn Taylor to think more like a point guard and find shots for other people before taking his own. Self has to remind freshman forwards Marcus and Markieff Morris that grabbing rebounds should be their primary objective.

Reed knows what he’s supposed to do.

“I come in off the bench ready to shoot,” Reed said.

His teammates have seen it enough times to foresee what’s going to happen. Before Reed even released his second three-pointer in the Nebraska game, the players on the Kansas bench rose and turned their eyes toward Reed on the wing.

“If he gets space,” junior guard Mario Little said, “I know he’s going to let it go.”

The situation repeats itself.

— — Edited by Justin Leverett