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Kansas University's men's basketball players had more than beef, pasta and rolls to digest at their pregame meal Monday afternoon at the Westminster Double Tree Hotel. The Jayhawks swallowed hard -- and nearly spit out their iced teas -- as they watched tape of the last 10 seconds of last year's KU-Colorado game in Boulder -- a one-point CU victory that snapped KU's 27-game winning streak against the Buffs and 12-game winning streak at Coors Events Center. "We watched the last possession where the fans ran onto the court. We were determined to not let it happen again," KU junior guard Keith Langford said after collecting 18 points, six assists and six rebounds in Monday's 77-62 revenge victory over the Buffs.

Here's a new twist to "The Streak" -- a close game. advertisement Kansas University's basketball team extended its winning streak over rival Kansas State to a whopping 27 games Wednesday night at Allen Fieldhouse, stopping the Wildcats, 73-67, in KU's first single-digit margin of victory in the series in 11 games. The Wildcats, who cut a 14-point deficit to four down the stretch, made Wednesday's affair the closest in The Streak in 19 games -- since a three-point KU victory in 1997 in Manhattan.

A grind-it-out victory Saturday over Texas A&M kept Kansas University's men's basketball team undefeated in conference play. But the No. 14-ranked Jayhawks' somewhat-scary 71-65 win didn't give the two-time defending Big 12 Conference champions confidence they'll be celebrating a third straight league crown this season. "Any win is good," said KU point guard Aaron Miles, who just missed a triple-double with 12 assists, 11 points and seven rebounds, "but we're not doing some of the things necessary for a championship-caliber basketball team."

Bill Self noticed something different about Allen Fieldhouse Sunday afternoon. And it wasn't the ice on the windows. It was the 2,000 or so seats that went unoccupied during his No. 12-ranked Jayhawks' 78-57 victory over unranked Colorado, a game played in the aftermath of a nasty early morning ice storm. "I thought, ‘The weather's bad, and I hope that's why,''' Self, the Jayhawks' coach, said of his initial reaction to all the unused tickets.

It doesn't seem to matter much who is basketball coach at Kansas University and/or Kansas State. The Jayhawks, as everybody in the Sunflower State knows by now, own the Wildcats in hoops. That was proven again Wednesday in KU's 78-70 victory over KSU -- the Jayhawks' 28th in a row over the 'Cats overall and 21st straight win in Manhattan. "I haven't thought about it much," first-year KU coach Bill Self said of picking up where predecessors Roy Williams and Larry Brown left off. "This makes for a much more pleasant 24 hours without having to answer any more questions about the streak."

Kansas University now has something in common with every other men's basketball team in the Big 12 Conference. A league loss. Iowa State took care of KU's perfect league mark, overcoming an eight-point halftime deficit to down the Jayhawks, 68-61, Saturday before 11,205 frenzied fans at Hilton Coliseum. "I would not say I'm shocked. A lot of people have come here and lost. It's not the first conference loss we (ever) have had," KU's Michael Lee said after watching guards Curtis Stinson and Jake Sullivan burn the Jayhawks for a combined 27 points the second half.

Kansas University point guard Aaron Miles screamed at Missouri's Jason Conley for hard-fouling one of his teammates. He barked at one of his own teammates -- freshman David Padgett -- for not chasing down a rebound. And Miles even yelled at himself, challenging himself to shrug off a painful ankle sprain and return to the floor just 3 1/2 minutes after heading to the locker room for treatment in the second half of Monday's 65-56 victory over Missouri at Allen Fieldhouse.

Kansas University's season-high 96-point scoring explosion might have surprised some of the fans Saturday in Allen Fieldhouse. Not the KU men's basketball players, however, who figured they were long overdue for a game just like their 96-77 rout of Texas Tech. "I thought it was just a matter of time we had an offensive game like that," KU freshman center David Padgett said after scoring 16 points — his career high against an NCAA Division One team. "I think the players all knew we were capable of that." The Jayhawks (15-4 overall, 7-1 Big 12 Conference) bettered their season scoring average by 22 points.

Bill Self's homecoming started out as a happy one. "For about 2 1/2 minutes ... until we were behind 6-0," Self, the former Oklahoma State player and assistant coach, said after his alma mater's basketball team hammered his Jayhawks, 80-60, Monday night at Gallagher-Iba Arena. The rout, which gave No. 10-ranked Oklahoma State (18-2 overall, 8-1 Big 12 Conference) sole possession of first place in the league, began just moments after Self received loud cheers during pregame introductions.

To say Kansas University's basketball team is in a mere slump would be a gross understatement. "We're going through some (expletive) right now, basically, these last two games," KU junior point guard Aaron Miles said, describing the Jayhawks' 74-55 loss Sunday to Nebraska at Devaney Center, a loss that followed Monday's 20-point defeat at Oklahoma State. "I'm not used to this. It means a lot, but it also means nothing if we don't respond to it, take these lessons and build from them." The No. 12-ranked -- but soon-to-plummet -- Jayhawks (15-6, 7-3 Big 12 Conference), will have to learn from several ignominies suffered this past week.

Bill Self's best coaching decision had nothing to do with X's and O's Wednesday night. According to his players, it had to do with his making a fashion statement -- bringing Kansas University's red uniforms out of mothballs — for what turned out to be a slump-busting 74-54 victory over Baylor at Allen Fieldhouse. "How smart is coach? Brilliant," freshman guard J.R. Giddens said of Self, who had the home team wear red for the first time in fieldhouse history. The Jayhawks, who wore red on the road once this year in a victory over Cal-Santa Barbara, regularly wore red at Hoch Auditorium.

Curtis Stinson put one hand over his throat, then followed it with another. Iowa State's 21-year-old freshman from the Bronx, N.Y., flashed the streetball "choke sign" at Kansas University's basketball players after hitting a jumper to give the Cyclones -- who had trailed by 17 points -- a five-point lead with three minutes left in Saturday's KU-ISU battle at Allen Fieldhouse. "I saw it. I thought it was silly," KU point guard Aaron Miles said. Silly indeed.

Lately, only one thing is for sure when Kansas University's men's basketball team plays on the road. The Jayhawks will lose — and lose in a blowout. Tenth-ranked Texas pasted No. 20-rated KU, 82-67, Monday night at Erwin Center for the Jayhawks' fourth straight Big 12 Conference road loss and third straight double-digit road blowout. KU had lost by 20 at Oklahoma State and by 19 at Nebraska. "It doesn't feel good, I can tell you that," KU junior guard Michael Lee said, walking dejectedly out of the arena after an 18-4 Texas run turned a narrow 52-48 second-half lead into a 70-52 advantage.

Wayne Simien always feels good about Kansas University's chances of winning on days a certain Jayhawk buries his first shot. "When Keith gets it going early, his confidence skyrockets, and he's tough to stop," Simien said after he and fellow junior Keith Langford erupted for 48 points -- 26 and 22 respectively -- in the Jayhawks' 79-58 men's basketball victory Sunday over Oklahoma at Allen Fieldhouse. "Keith kind of had his swagger tonight, getting to the hole, making plays. When he does that, you see the vocal energy he provides."

For Bill Self, who is new to Senior Night at Kansas University, it seemed like Wednesday's three senior speeches lasted longer than the KU-Nebraska game itself. "Our guys got pretty winded. There was some preaching going on out there," Self quipped of the filibusters of Brett Olson, Bryant Nash and Jeff Graves, which followed the Jayhawks' 78-67 rout of the Cornhuskers. "I think it was great those guys were able to express themselves." The No. 21-ranked Jayhawks (19-7 overall, 11-4 Big 12 Conference) talked a good game, played a great one and clinched the No. 3 seed for the Big 12 tournament.

David Padgett called it "an ugly shot, a lucky shot." His Kansas University men's basketball teammates and legion of Jayhawk fans would have to disagree. "It was an unbelievable shot, as big a shot as I've had a freshman make," KU coach Bill Self said of the 6-foot-11 freshman's tie-breaking eight-footer from the baseline with two seconds to play in the Jayhawks' 84-82 victory over Missouri on Sunday at Hearnes Center.