For a guy who, literally, was perfect for the first 39 minutes of Sunday’s game, John Lucas thought his best looks against Kansas University came on the only two shots he missed.

That’s basketball for you.

Eighth-ranked KU’s 81-79 victory over No. 4 Oklahoma State instantly can be cemented as one the best shows in Allen Fieldhouse’s 50-year history. But the outcome was inches from drastically being different, when Lucas’s last shot just before the buzzer clanked off the front iron, allowing KU to hold on.

Lucas still can’t believe it wasn’t a swish.

“It felt terrific,” Lucas said. “I thought it was money. Game over.”

If anyone knew that feeling Sunday, it was he. Lucas was 9-of-9 from the field going into the final minute, but a missed shot from inside the lane with just more than a minute left, coupled with the missed trey at the end, made his spectacular day finish on a sour note. He still led the Cowboys with 22 points on 9-of-11 shooting, playing all 40 minutes.

His postgame comments all went back to the three points that got away, though, no matter how automatic his first 22 were.

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“I was going for the win,” Lucas said. “I had a great look, I had separation, I had my feet set … it just didn’t go in.”

It was fitting the classic clash came down to such a shot.

The two best squads in the Big 12 Conference were fighting for the driver’s seat in the league race, and though both teams had multi-possession leads in the second half, the game never did seem decided.

“That was a great college basketball game,” said coach Eddie Sutton, whose Cowboys dropped to 20-5 overall and 10-4 in the Big 12. “It’s too bad when you play like that, somebody has to lose.”

Kansas stormed back from the seven-point deficit to force a tie at 78 with 1:31 left. To counter, OSU gave the rock to Lucas, and the senior immediately cut through the lane with ease, finding himself with an open look from about eight feet to give the Cowboys the lead.

It didn’t fall.

“I can’t believe I missed that,” Lucas said. “I shoot that shot at least a thousand times a day.”

He got a chance at redemption, though, after KU’s Aaron Miles sank one of two free throws to put KU up two. The last shot was drawn up for Lucas or Joey Graham — who finished with 19 points — but Lucas took charge when a defensive switch by KU allowed him just enough space to get a clean shot off.

“We want John to shoot it,” Sutton said. “When the ball was airborne, it looked like it was going to go in.”

But it didn’t fall. The struggle for Lucas’ rebound was irrelevant after the clock struck zero, and KU players stormed center court to celebrate the victory.

A few feet away from the mob, Lucas picked up the deserted basketball, set his feet at the same spot and tried the game-winning three-pointer one more time before heading into the locker room.

The result: a clean swish, and a reminder of how close Sunday’s game really was.