Patches of purple — as in 2,000 vacant seats — populated Bramlage Coliseum during the Kansas-Kansas State men’s basketball game Wednesday in Manhattan.

The majority of the 11,103 fans who did attend, except for about 1,000 KU fans, cheered wildly for the home team in hopes the Wildcats’ 20-game home losing streak to KU would end.

“Everybody was booing us,” KU freshman J.R. Giddens said.

A loud KSU student section, which stormed in about an hour before tipoff, chanted “Richmond, Richmond,” at the Jayhawks as they warmed up.

Richmond defeated KU, 69-68, Jan. 22 in Allen Fieldhouse.

“They were throwing out their voices before the game, yelling at us,” Giddens said. “I know for some of my teammates, the K-State fans got us excited. We decided, ‘OK, we’re going to see how loud they are at the final buzzer.'”

When the game ended, KSU’s fans were silent. KU extended its amazing win streak over the Wildcats to 21 straight games in Manhattan and 28 overall with a 78-70 victory.

“Their fans were good,” Giddens said. “They were supportive of their team and it was a great atmosphere. That’s one thing about being a freshman … I’ve never seen all these buildings, and it’s really interesting for me. I’m blessed to get a chance to experience so many new things my freshman year.”

Giddens was giddy after scoring five points with a rebound and assist in 21 minutes.

Kansas University junior Wayne Simien, front, passes the ball while falling after a rebound as freshman J.R. Giddens watches. KU beat Kansas State, 78-70, Wednesday at Manhattan.

“It was good, great, like Tony the Tiger says,” Giddens said, drawing out the word ‘great.’

Fellow freshman David Padgett contributed eight points off 4-of-5 shooting with four rebounds.

“So far, that’s probably the toughest environment we’ve played in,” Padgett said. “It was a good atmosphere. The students impressed me.

“We were anxious to play. I felt really good physically. My foot was not bothering me at all. I was lucky to get some easy baskets.”

Nine Jayhawks scored in the first half on a night KU totaled 24 assists against eight turnovers — the kind of play that has kept KU (5-0 league, 13-3 overall) atop the Big 12 Conference.

“Aaron did a very good job of taking care of the ball,” Padgett said of Aaron Miles, who had 12 assists and just one turnover in 38 minutes. “Everybody did a good job of sharing the ball.”

A negative during the K-State win was rebounding. The Wildcats grabbed 22 offensive rebounds and outboarded KU, 45-33.

“They had a lot of offensive rebounds,” junior Wayne Simien said. “We’ve got to do a better job of keeping teams off the boards.”

• Only 15 can dress: KU senior walk-on Brett Olson didn’t suit up for Wednesday’s game because of a rule that only 15 players can dress for games.

KU has 16 players on its roster, so Olson and Stephen Vinson will trade off the rest of the Big 12 season.

“He said they wouldn’t let him suit up because his grades are too good,” fellow walk-on Christian Moody quipped of Olson, who has a perfect 4.0 grade-point average in college.

KU senior associate AD Larry Keating came across the Big 12 rule that only 15 players can dress for games when checking about another matter. Keating spoke to league officials, who confirmed the Jayhawks should suit 15 players the rest of the year. KU will dress 16 if the Jayhawks, as expected, receive a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The Jayhawks play Iowa State at 3 p.m. Saturday at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa.