No. 9 Jayhawks searching for 14th straight home win over Sooners
Kansas coach Bill Self believes Iowa State and Oklahoma possess the Big 12's best offenses.
After the 11th-ranked Jayhawks couldn't solve the Cyclones, Self hopes his squad can contain guard Buddy Hield and win a 14th straight home meeting with the No. 19 Sooners on Monday night.
Kansas (14-3, 3-1) allowed then-No. 11 Iowa State to shoot 50.8 percent and get out easily on the break in an 86-81 loss Saturday that seemed much worse than the final score would indicate. It marked the most points the Jayhawks allowed this season and the second-best shooting percentage for any opponent.
"We had it down for 27 points they had in transition," Self said. "We didn't do a good job at that at all. They outplayed us, but that was the biggest difference in the game."
Frank Mason III finished with a game-high 21 points and Perry Ellis added 19 and 11 rebounds, but Self isn't concerned with his team's ability to score. He's focused on how Kansas plans to stop the Sooners (12-5, 3-2) with one day in between games.
The Jayhawks rank ninth in the 10-team league in points allowed per game at 64.1.
"It's a quick turnaround," Self said. "Now the real fun begins trying to get your team back (after) a deflating loss. We'll have to be good because I think (Oklahoma) and Iowa State are the two best offensive teams in our league, and we saw how we guarded one of the two. We'll have to make some adjustments and, hopefully, be turned up more defensively on Monday."
Oklahoma shot 55.8 percent to snap a two-game skid with Saturday's 82-65 rout of rival Oklahoma State. The Sooners' 73.0 points per game rank third in the Big 12, and Hield has been a major reason they've been so efficient offensively.
Hield hit all 10 of his field-goal attempts -- including four from 3-point range -- and finished with 27 points against the Cowboys. He's averaging 26.3 in his last three while shooting 62.8 percent overall and 12 of 20 from behind the arc.
The junior attributes his recent success to his routine of arriving at the gym early on game days to shoot.
"If I don't do it, I don't feel comfortable," Hield said. "I just shoot until I feel comfortable and then I go sit down in the locker room and crack jokes with the boys. I rest for about 30 minutes and then I come back and shoot again."
Hield came in early with Ryan Spangler, who finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
"I think in the three games that we've won (in conference play), we've come out and hit them first and were tougher for the whole game," Spangler said. "In the two games we've lost, they hit us first and we weren't able to catch up. That was our goal, to hit them first and maintain it the whole game."
The Sooners couldn't get much going early in the last meeting with the Jayhawks, falling 83-75 on Feb. 24 at Allen Fieldhouse despite Hield's 16 points. They've lost their last five trips to Lawrence by an average of 17.2 points and haven't won there since 1993.
Hield has shot just 39.0 percent from the field and six of 22 from 3-point range in four career games against the Jayhawks.
