Kansas City, Mo. ? Keith Langford is not only injured.

He’s mighty sick, too.

“Keith’s had a tough-luck week. Yes, he’s bummin’ right now,” Kansas University coach Bill Self said after his Jayhawks blitzed Kansas State, 80-67, in a Big 12 Conference tournament quarterfinal Friday at Kemper Arena.

The Jayhawks won the game without senior guard Langford, who watched the game while hooked up to an IV at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.

He was bed-ridden not because of the bruised left ankle that has required three to four treatments a day since Sunday’s loss at Missouri, but because of a nasty flu bug and case of dehydration.

“I feel bad for him,” said Self, who talked to Langford twice Friday, the last time at 3 p.m. right before heading to the game. “I said, ‘Keep a good attitude.’ He said, ‘You better win today; I’ll be there tomorrow.”’

Yes, Langford hopes to be on hand for today’s 3:20 p.m. semifinal against Oklahoma State.

If he shows up, it’ll be as a spectator, however.

He has been in and out of the hospital since coming down with a flu bug Wednesday.

Kansas State's Jeremiah Massey (15) ventures inside against Kansas' Wayne Simien (23), Michael Lee (25) and Alex Galindo in the Jayhawks' 80-67 victory. KU beat the Wildcats in a Big 12 Conference tournament quarterfinal Friday in Kansas City, Mo.

“I think Keith could probably play (today) with his foot,” Self said. “I don’t think he will be able to play with his stomach. He’s been laid up for three days now. He got hit pretty hard. We hope he’ll be here, but I don’t think it’ll be in a playing capacity.”

The Jayhawks had several players step up big in Langford’s absence Friday.

Wayne Simien had 28 points and 14 rebounds in 39 minutes, and Aaron Miles had 18 points and four assists in 35 minutes.

J.R. Giddens scored 14 points off 3-of-11 three-point shooting, while Michael Lee contributed a career-best 11 rebounds to go with six points and five assists. Jeff Hawkins and Alex Galindo had eight and five points respectively for a team that hit 10 of 25 threes and outscrapped KSU on the boards, 42-26.

“It was a great collective effort from our guards,” Simien said. “Jeff Hawkins stepped up; Aaron was great, and Mike Lee was just terrific on the boards. All those guys stepped up in Keith’s absence. It was definitely needed.

“The absence of Keith is something we didn’t want to happen, but we had to adjust accordingly.”

Lee had nine boards the second half as KU finally put away a scrappy KSU team, which fell to 17-12.

“As a guard, a 6-2 guard, having 11 rebounds, that’s great,” point guard Miles said of Lee. “He kept some other balls alive if he didn’t get them. He was great, terrific.”

Lee’s previous rebound high was eight, set two other times.

“I feel sorry for Keith. I wish he was here for us,” Lee said. “But he’s not here, and Keith is a person who doesn’t want you to feel sorry for him. He wants you to step up without him. Everybody has to step up like we did today.

“Right before I started getting rebounds, coach said we needed to change our body language, get a mean streak,” Lee said of a second-half timeout. “I tried to get to the glass after that.

Lee had three offensive rebounds.

“Since Keith was not here, I could get my hands on some balls,” Lee said. “When Keith is in the game, I don’t crash the (offensive) boards. I go back. I feel I am able to slide through some people and go get the ball.

“But it wasn’t all me. Wayne occupies a lot of space in there.”

Kansas' Alex Galindo (2) gets a hand and a body on Kansas State's Jeremiah Massey. Galindo was called for a foul on the play.

Kansas State, which trailed by as many as 15 points the first half (23-8), lagged just 60-57, at 5:55.

That’s when Giddens opened a back-breaking 10-1 run with a deep three. Miles and Simien contributed two points apiece, and Galindo hit a three in the run that gave KU a 70-58 lead at 2:59.

“It was a great win for us,” said Self, whose team won its 31st straight against its in-state rival. “We haven’t played unbelievably well the majority of the time the last three weeks or so. We needed to come out and win this game, and we knew it’d be a grind-it-out game.”

Yet KU did look pretty in swishing 10 threes in 25 tries.

“I knew we would shoot a lot of threes,” Self said. “I didn’t know it’d be that many. Basically, we tried to get the ball to Wayne, but we shot a three, which isn’t a bad formula if you make 40 percent of them, which we did.”

All in all, it was a fairly productive night without Langford, who missed the first game in his KU career.

“Of course, Keith could have been very effective the way they spread their zone out,” Self said. “Fortunately, a lot of guys stepped up. Mike Lee found a way to impact the game today without making shots, and that’s a sign of a good player to do that. J.R. came out very aggressive. Those guys will probably be our two primary options with Keith out, and Aaron, too, stepping up and making plays.”

When will Langford be able to try to make plays again?

“I don’t see how he could play (today),” Self said. “The doctors said he’s weak with no food. But Keith said, ‘I’ll be there.’ He will be OK (for next week’s NCAAs).”