Moments That Popped: Kansas 84, No. 2 Iowa State 63

If you've been wondering how good Kansas can be when it plays at its ceiling, Tuesday night gave you a pretty good look at it.

After one of the best first halves the Jayhawks have played in years, unranked Kansas held on strong and then cruised to an 84-63 win over 2nd-ranked Iowa State at Allen Fieldhouse.

The loss was hte first of the year for Iowa State. And the win was as big as any in recent memory for the home team, which improved to 12-5 on the season and 2-2 in Big 12 play.

Kansas led the entire way and never wavered while playing from in front. The Jayhawks played hard, fast, physical and with purpose. Not to mention a true sense of urgency.

Said Iowa State head coach T.J. Otzelberger after the game: "That was an absolute beatdown tonight, from the start."

Senior Tre White, who drained 5-of-7 3-pointers (KU shot 12-of-24 from 3-point range on the night) and finished with 19 points to lead a balanced effort by KU's offense. White said on the radio, before Tuesday's game, that the Jayhawks held a players-only meeting and took care of some things that needed to be said.

It certainly looked like whatever words were uttered in that meeting carried over onto the court in this one, one of the Jayhawks' biggest Big 12 wins in recent seasons.

Next up, KU will look to build a little momentum when it hosts Baylor at AFH on Friday night. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. on FOX.

Here's a look back at some of Tuesday's action.

LIKES

• History repeating - You might remember last year's home game against Iowa State, when Dajuan Harris Jr., dove in the backcourt to save a ball from going out of bounds, which led to Shak Moore throwing a half-court lob to KJ Adams that took the roof off of the place in a 69-52 KU win over No. 8 Iowa State. Well, it wasn't exactly the same thing on Tuesday night, but it sure had a lot of the same energy. After Iowa State poked the ball away and raced to catch up with it near mid-court, Elmarko Jackson dove on the floor to save the possession and a quick skip pass from Jamari McDowell to Tre White in the opposite corner led to White burying a 3-pointer to add to KU's early lead. The place went nuts, no one more so than KU coach Bill Self, who threw out three big, animated points right at Jackson to make sure everyone knew who made that play. Energy and effort like that has been missing in recent weeks. Good to see it return.

• Bigs start HUGE - KU big men Bryson Tiller and Flory Bidunga have had a tendency to disappear or at least fade to the background during a handful of KU games this season. But those two showed they were ready for this one right from the jump, scoring a pair of buckets each in the game's first 3 minutes, including a highlight-reel catch and lob finish by Bidunga on a pass from Melvin Council Jr. The buckets put Kansas up 8-2 and helped KU capitalize on great energy from the fans inside Allen Fieldhouse.

• DP tries to print a poster - He missed the dunk and missed another one later in the game, but both efforts, especially the first one early featured Darryn Peterson the high-flier trying to show just how good his hops and killer instinct are. It was a welcomed sight for a fan base that has spent the past couple of months waiting for and tracking DP's explosiveness. And it could be a great sign that he's starting to feel even better with his body moving forward. Peterson played 28 minutes and, for the most part, followed the normal flow of game usage, putting to bed — at least for now — any concerns about his availability. That's four straight games played and four straight starts for Peterson, who struggled to get on the floor during the first couple of months of the season. He scored 16 points on 6-of-15 shooting with 2 3-pointers and 5 rebounds.

• The answer - No, Allen Iverson wasn't in the house on Tuesday night. Nor were any KU professors, handing out secrets about upcoming tests. But KU still had a pretty big answer in this one, using a 10-0 run midway through the second half to turn a 55-44 lead that was trending toward getting a little too tight into a 65-44 lead that sent Iowa State into a timeout with 8:26 to play and put Kansas back in complete control.

DISLIKES

• Defensive rebounding woes – still - The Jayhawks gave up 11 first-half offensive rebounds to the Cyclones and the only good thing you could say about that is that the visitors only got 5 points off of those second-chance opportunities. Talk about lucky. Had ISU converted on even half of those, the Jayhawks may never have built their massive first-half lead and the Cyclones would not have had near as far to go in their second-half comeback attempt. KU was better at times on the defensive glass but still had far too many possessions that ended without KU cleaning up the miss and clearing the possession. It will remain a work in progress and should be Priority No. 1 the rest of the way.

• Early fouls - After starting out so strong, KU big man Bryson Tiller hit the brakes on his night by committing his second foul with 10:04 to play in the first half. The foul, which was the result of a pump fake by an Iowa State player in the paint, sent Tiller to the bench and he never quite regained his edge after that. Tiller didn't play the rest of the half and finished the night with 8 points and 4 rebounds in 22 minutes. He was great in getting aggressive in playing big. Now he's got to pair that with being smart and avoiding foul trouble so he can be out there and do all the good things for longer. All in all, though, it was a good step forward for a player the Jayhawks have asked to play bigger and more physical for much of the season.

WHAT THE?

• Bad whistle - Not in terms of the final foul count. Just in terms of one possession early in the 2nd half when an Iowa State player was injured and referee Brooks Wells stopped the game despite KU having the ball and attacking on offense. The whistle, which was booed like mad, took away a Tre White 3-pointer. Luckily for the Jayhawks, Darryn Peterson followed up the wild sequence by hitting a 3-pointer of his own on the ensuing possession, much to the delight of the angry Allen Fieldhouse crowd.