Milan Momcilovic scored 18 points and No. 5 Iowa State shook off a slow start to defeat No. 9 Kansas on Saturday, 74-56, snapping the Jayhawks’ eight-game winning streak.
The Cyclones (22-3, 9-3 Big 12), coming off Tuesday’s 62-55 loss at TCU, began a five-game stretch in which they played four ranked teams by taking control of this game in the first half despite struggling to make shots in the opening minutes.
Iowa State led 37-27 at halftime, then went on a 20-7 run in the opening 5 1/2 minutes of the second half, a stretch in which the Cyclones made six consecutive 3-pointers.
Their defense held Kansas (19-6, 9-3) to 31.6% shooting from the field in the second half, including 1 of 8 on 3-pointers. The Jayhawks shot 37.3% for the game while committing 13 turnovers, 10 of them coming in the first half.
Tamin Lipsey, Joshua Jefferson, Blake Buchanan and Jamarion Bateman each had 11 points for Iowa State.
Melvin Council Jr. led the Jayhawks with 15 points. Flory Bidunga had 11.
Kansas freshman Darryn Peterson started after missing Monday’s 82-78 win over top-ranked Arizona. He had 10 points in 24 minutes.
Kansas’ winning streak started with an 84-63 victory over Iowa State on Jan. 13 and included wins over BYU, Texas Tech and Arizona.
The Cyclones made just one of their first 10 shots to open the game, but, because of their defense, were down only 6-2 in that stretch. Once the offense got going, Iowa State went on a 20-2 run over a span of five minutes later in the first half to take a 36-22 lead with 1:37 to play.
Saturday’s game was the seventh top-10 game in the series between the Cyclones and Jayhawks, with the teams splitting the previous six.
Next, Kansas visits Oklahoma State on Wednesday, and Iowa State hosts No. 3 Houston on Monday.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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