Zeke Mayo scores 17 points, No. 16 Kansas ramps up the defense and beats No. 8 Iowa State, 69-52

Published Feb. 3, 2025 11:16 p.m. ET

Associated Press

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Zeke Mayo scored 17 points, Hunter Dickinson added 14 points and nine rebounds, and No. 16 Kansas leaned into its defense to shut down eighth-ranked Iowa State in a 69-52 victory on Monday night.

Dajuan Harris Jr. added 12 points for the Jayhawks (16-6, 7-4 Big 12), who avenged a 74-57 loss to the Cyclones (17-5, 7-4) earlier this year in Ames while handing Iowa State its third consecutive loss.

Tamin Lipsey, Keshon Gilbert and Joshua Jefferson scored 11 points apiece for Iowa State, but it took a whole lot of shots for them to get there. The trio was 13 of 42 from the field and 2 of 14 from beyond the 3-point arc.

The Cyclones' leading scorer, Curtis Jones, had seven points on 3-for-11 shooting.

The Jayhawks held Iowa State to its worst offense half of the season while building a 35-19 lead by the break.

Perhaps appropriately, the play of the half came off courtesy of the Kansas defense: Dajuan Harris Jr. corralled a loose ball with a baseball slide near the sideline and passed to Dickinson, who in turn got the ball to David Coit running up floor. He threw an alley-oop from the midcourt line that KJ Adams slammed down to an enormous roar from a packed Allen Fieldhouse crowd.

Kansas never allowed the Cyclones to make a big second-half run and get back in the game.

Takeaways

Iowa State's biggest problem right now is on offense. The Cyclones managed just 75 points in an overtime loss at Arizona and 61 in last weekend's lopsided home loss to Kansas State.

Kansas proved it could hold off a Big 12 foe after building a big lead at halftime. The Jayhawks similarly led Baylor 40-21 at the break last weekend but was outscored 60-30 over the final 20 minutes for an 81-70 loss.

Key moment

The Cyclones had closed to 64-49 with 3:25 left when Mayo used a jab step to get open for a 3-pointer. It not only extended the Kansas lead but wiped away any momentum that Iowa State had built.