Keith Langford knifed past a pair of teammates and reporters, leaned in and smacked fellow sophomore Michael Lee on the fleshy part of Lee’s right arm Monday night in a crowded visitor’s locker room at Hilton Coliseum.

Seconds later, Aaron Miles snuck by and administered a similar whack to his Kansas basketball teammate.

What’s up with that?

Is Lee’s right wing like the Blarney Stone or something?

A good luck charm?

Not quite.

“It’s a little game we play. If you lie you get hit. Every time you lie you get hit,” Lee said after scoring four points and grabbing two rebounds in Kansas’ 83-54 rout of Iowa State.

Lie? Not Lee. At least not this evening. He spoke the truth after the Jayhawks’ 21st consecutive victory in Big 12 Conference play.

“This is a positive because any time you can get a win on the road and open the conference under the conditions we are in, that’s real good,” Lee said.

“I think we showed we do have some depth and guys capable of stepping up when needed.”

Lee, a 6-foot-3 sophomore, played 14 productive minutes and 6-6 junior Bryant Nash eight as KU coach Roy Williams basically used seven players in the Jayhawks’ first game without the injured Wayne Simien and the absent Moulaye Niang, who returned to Senegal for his dad’s funeral.

Lee hit a three-pointer and a free throw, while Nash had a slam-dunk follow basket and four free throws, good for six points.

“Nick told us it was a big game and we’ve got to come out and play hard,” Lee said of the pre-game speech of senior Nick Collison, who poured in a career-high 31 points off 11-of-15 shooting.

The Jayhawks’ effort showed mainly on the defensive end, where each of KU’s starters shut down their Iowa State counterparts while building a 22-2 lead.

“I wrote on the board, ‘Sense of urgency on the backboards and defensive end.’ We had it on the defensive end,” Williams said after KU held the Cyclones to 36.7 percent shooting.

“It was Kirk (Hinrich), Aaron, Keith, Michael Lee, all of ’em,” the coach added, noting ISU point guard Tim Barnes, who was guarded by Miles, missed seven of eight shots and shooting guard Adam Haluska, hounded by Langford, missed five of six.

Hinrich pestered high-scoring Jake Sullivan into a 6-for-17 outing (1-of-9 first half), while Collison dominated Jackson Vroman, who made three of six shots. Jeff Graves, meanwhile, started for Simien, had four steals in 32 minutes.

“It was important we stay out of foul trouble,” Williams said. “It was the key to the game and our pressure defensively. We had to make sure we didn’t foul needlessly.”

KU committed just 11 fouls to ISU’s 18 on a night no Jayhawk had more than three fouls. Collison and Graves led the way with four steals, while Hinrich and Miles had two apiece.

“I do think we can be a really good defensive team,” Williams said. “I’ve said all year I do think this club has a chance to be better defensively than last year’s club. Wayne is a very solid defender. To lose him and still be able to do it … Aaron, Keith and Kirk have had games this year where they’ve been sensational defensively.”

KU, in fact, has been phenomenal defensively of late, evidenced by the halftime scores in KU’s seven-game win streak.

Kansas led Iowa State, 39-21, at the break. In previous games, KU led UMKC, 44-17; UNC Asheville 46-22; Cal, 42-24; UCLA 48-25 and Emporia State, 64-23. KU trailed Tulsa, 40-36, before rallying for an 89-80 win.

It seemed like senior guard Hinrich led the defensive charge, foiling Sullivan early and often.

“I think I played just ‘fair’ defensively,” KU’s senior guard said.

Funny, nobody whacked him on the arm after that statement.

“Kirk was really good,” Williams said.

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Nose set at surgery center: Langford had surgery Tuesday morning to set his broken nose at Lawrence Surgery Center. All went well and Langford isn’t expected to miss any playing time. He’s been fitted for a protective mask and has said he will likely will be wearing one in future games to protect the nose.