Kansas State took a 1-0 lead against Kansas.
Painfully familiar with his Wildcats' lack of success in Allen Fieldhouse over the years, coach Frank Martin joked afterward that he almost called a timeout.
Maybe he should have.
The 23rd-ranked Wildcats quickly fell 18 points behind in No. 14 Kansas' venerable basketball showcase before launching a second-half rally that fell short.
The Jayhawks went on to a 67-49 victory, making them 82-35 against the Wildcats at home.
''It's a combination of three things,'' Martin said. ''It's an incredible atmosphere, they have very good players and they're coached by one of the best. You put those three things together, there's a reason they've won 83 of 85 here at home.''
Kansas (11-3, 1-0 Big 12) has won 15 of the past 16 games against Kansas State (11-2, 0-1) played in Lawrence.
Once down 18 points in the first half, Kansas State cut its deficit to 39-36 with 12:30 remaining, but that's as close as the Wildcats would get.
Kansas State's philosophy coming into the game was to come out strong early. Martin told the media on Tuesday that the game would probably be over in 10 minutes. Martin said that's kind of what happened.
''It's deflating, that is the problem with the first five or 10 minutes here,'' he said. ''I think every team is down 12-2 to start the game here. It's unbelievable. It takes so much effort and energy to get yourself back to where you can manage the game that when you make a mistake and they make you pay that deflates your team.''
Martin said the team's comeback was attributed to not standing around and watching Thomas Robinson grab every rebound. He said the team ran the offense and it crashed the boards when it missed shots.
''We played the way we usually play,'' Martin said.
Kansas State came in outrebounding its opponents 41.8 to 34.7. On Wednesday, the Wildcats were outrebounded 50-26.
Rodney McGruder led Kansas State with 15 points and five rebounds, while Will Spradling tied a season-low with five points.
Spradling said the Wildcats' previous three practices coming into the game weren't very good.
''If you don't come out well in practice, then you are not going to come out and play well,'' Spradling said.
Robinson got his 10th double-double of the season.
''I've never in 27 years, including coaching 13-year-olds, I've never been part of a game where our team got its tail whipped in the physical part of the game the way we did today,'' Martin said. ''It was a complete mismatch. They got 24 more possessions than us.''
Robinson had 14 rebounds to go with 15 points and Travis Releford had 16 points and a career-high 11 rebounds. In addition, Jeff Withey came in with nine boards and guard Elijah Johnson had eight as the Jayhawks launched their quest for an eighth straight Big 12 championship.
''I never would have dreamed that we could outrebound them by that margin,'' Kansas coach Bill Self said. ''But we did.''
It was exactly what the Jayhawks worked at all week.
''Before the game, we definitely did a lot of drills in rebounding,'' Withey said. ''We definitely prepared to go and have a physical game, and it was a physical game. We were working on rebounding all week and it showed.''
Trailing by as many as 18 points early, the Wildcats got 3-pointers from Jamar Samuels and McGruder in a 10-0 run and closed to 39-36. But Conner Teahan's two 3-pointers triggered a rally by Kansas that included dunks by Robinson on consecutive possessions.
It was the Jayhawks' 43rd victory over their state rivals in the last 46 meetings of the 272-game series.
Tyshawn Taylor had 13 points for the Jayhawks, who had their 21st straight conference-opening victory.
McGruder had 15 points and Samuels had 12 for Kansas State, which was only 5 for 20 from 3-point range.
The Wildcats came in second in the nation averaging 28.8 free throws but were only eight of 16 from the line on Wednesday.
