KU tops Iowa State on reunion weekend ... to the delight of many former Jayhawks

Tyshawn Taylor stood outside the northwest tunnel of Allen Fieldhouse and visited with his former Kansas basketball teammate, Ben McLemore, as well as KU legend Mario Chalmers moments after the final horn sounded in the current Jayhawks’ 62-60 victory over Iowa State on Saturday.

“They keep doing this to me,” Taylor, said, holding his hand over his heart and feigning a cardiac event after the No. 2-ranked Jayhawks’ latest nail biter in KU’s tradition-rich building.

KU, 16-1 overall and 5-0 in the Big 12, needed a bucket on its last offensive possession and stop on defense to overcome the No. 14-rated Cyclones and make it a happy 125 Years of KU Basketball reunion weekend for Taylor, McLemore, Chalmers and approximately 200 other ex-Jayhawks.

The victory they witnessed resembled Tuesday’s narrow four-point win over Oklahoma, as well as a two-point win over Oklahoma State and three-point win at Texas Tech.

“I knew we’d win because that’s what we do,” a confident Taylor quickly added of the Jayhawks, who have won 10 games in a row. Iowa State (13-3, 4-1) had a six-game win streak come to an end.

This one came down to one huge play on offense and one on defense.

KU forward KJ Adams accepted a pass on the side of the lane from point guard Dajuan Harris, took one dribble, went up and banked in an 8-footer that busted a 60-60 tie with 11.6 seconds left to play.

“It was basically (designed) to get ‘J-Will’ (Jalen Wilson) a chance to post up right there, but they subbed the post in the middle,” Adams said. “I was wide open and just drove it, tried to draw a foul. They didn’t call the foul and I made the shot.”

Adams scored 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting (3-of-5 from the free-throw line) with six rebounds in 31 minutes.

KU coach Bill Self, one of KU’s four living head basketball coaches in the building on reunion day (with Ted Owens, Larry Brown, Roy Williams) described KU’s final offensive play.

“We tried to post him,” Self said of forward Wilson, who scored 16 points on 5-of-14 shooting with 11 rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots (KU had five blocks; Iowa State six).

That didn’t work, so “we tried to get the best shot possible,” Self added. “He (Adams) drove it. Fortunately he got Jones (Robert, three points, nine rebounds in 19 minutes) who is a bigger defender off balance a little bit. KJ was able to explode and shoot over him.”

Iowa State, which went 8-for-20 on three-pointers (KU was 6-of-21) had a final possession to tie or win.

The Cyclones’ Caleb Grill, who scored three points on 1-of-8 shooting (1-of-6 from three), released a deep three-pointer with 2 seconds left that hit off the back of the rim and assured KU the hard-earned victory.

“We did defend it well,” Self said of guard Bobby Pettiford’s hand in Grill’s face. “We just didn’t do what we were supposed to do late.”

KU had two fouls to give at that juncture of the game. Self was telling his players to foul when Iowa State passed halfcourt with the ball on its final possession.

“We were supposed to foul. Bobby said, ‘Coach I fouled him,’’’ Self said. “I said, ‘Well you didn’t make it very obvious. They didn’t call it.’ The whole deal was to foul twice, then hopefully have 3 seconds or less to run side out of bounds play (for Iowa State) to try to score.”

Self had told the refs the Jayhawks were planning on fouling, but that ultimately did not happen, with Grill misfiring well before the buzzer sounded.

“The defense on the actual shot was great,” Self reiterated. “But we said, ‘Make them catch in front, get it into the scoring area close and take one (foul) so hopefully there’d be 6 or 7 (seconds) left. Throw it in, take another one, hopefully there’d be 3 or 4 left.’ We told the official we were going to foul. We just didn’t make it very obvious.”

It all worked out well, of course, as KU handed Iowa State (13-3, 4-1) its first Big 12 Conference loss of the season on a day Kansas State lost at TCU for its first loss of the league campaign against four wins. Thus, KU gained sole possession of first place in the conference.

Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelbelger explained the last 11 seconds of Iowa State offense this way:

“It was a tough shot. It didn’t fall,” he said of Wichita native Grill’s attempt from well past the three-point line, “Their defensive intent was really good, especially good on that last possession. Credit to them. They were able to make one more play in a really good game to come out with a victory.”

Otzelberger added: “We knew we needed to get the ball up court quickly. We knew there’s a chance they could play it real aggressively because they are not as worried about a foul in that situation. If they are going to foul then it’s side out of bounds. They were fortunate to be in that spot to play as aggressively as they did. They did a great job communicating through it. We weren’t able to get downhill like we hoped.”

The end of the game assured a fun banquet on Saturday night for the 200 former players, coaches and staff members in town.

“The building was great,” Self said. “To win with so many guys back will definitely make tonight a lot more pleasant and the dry chicken taste a little bit more moist probably. It was fun out there today.”

The two teams will meet in a rematch on Feb. 4 in Ames, Iowa.

Next up for KU, though, is a game Tuesday at Kansas State. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. at Bramlage Coliseum.