This, that

Kansas, which won its 22nd straight game in Manhattan, last lost in the Little Apple, 58-57, Jan. 29, 1983. KU has won 29 in a row overall in the series, last losing, 68-64, Jan. 17, 1994, at Allen Fieldhouse. … The game was Kansas State’s first sellout at home since the KU game Feb. 8, 2003. … KU’s field-goal percentage of 53.1 was highest by a KSU foe this season. KU’s second-half mark of 63.2 percent is highest by a foe this season. … KU’s 74 points were the fewest scored in Manhattan since 69 in 1999. … KSU’s halftime deficit of 10 points tied a season high.

Buddies

KU freshman red-shirt center Matt Kleinmann, who attended Blue Valley West, is a friend of KSU’s Tyler Hughes, Kansas State’s sophomore center from Olathe North.

“We played AAU together a couple of years,” said Kleinmann, who, like Hughes, was a member of the Kansas City Premier Team. “He has a soft touch and is a mobile big guy.”

Hughes is the player who reportedly did his own version of the “Hook ‘Em Horns” gesture after last year’s 58-48 home victory over Texas.

“He has a sense of humor,” Kleinmann said. “I’m sure he did that in good fun. He is a character.”

Of what Hughes needs to become a force, KSU coach Jim Wooldridge said: “Time, just time. He has strength issues, endurance issues. The tall thin kid … we got him about 115, 118 pounds. He’s about 240 now. He’s built up endurance, but has a long way to go in that department.”

Hughes was not highly recruited.

“Tyler didn’t dominate in high school. We knew he was a project when we took him,” Wooldridge said. “Some have to adjust more than others. That’s where Tyler is.”

Danger in L.A.

USC sophomore Lodrick Stewart, the twin brother of KU transfer Rodrick Stewart, told the Los Angeles Times that Rodrick left USC for KU, in part, because Rodrick was worried about being targeted for retribution for a shooting death that occurred last September.

Lodrick told the paper he and Rodrick were friends with Matthew and James Wells, who have been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy in the fatal shooting of Idaho football player Eric McMillan.

“McMillan has a lot of family and friends in L.A. Even though we had nothing to do with it, they might be mad at us,” Lodrick said. “That’s why I just lay low. I’d be mad if I lost a family member or a loved one. That’s hard for anyone to take. So you might look to take that out on someone. L.A.’s a crazy place, a crazy place,” Lodrick told the Times.

Lodrick Stewart said neither he nor Rodrick had been threatened.

Of the Wells brothers, Stewart said: “They are family to us. They worked for our dad in his gym and were our strength coaches. It’s hard to take them two getting locked up like that. But my whole life, stuff like that has been going on.”