Bragging rights: Brandon Rush said the worst thing about Wednesday’s loss to Kansas State is not the ending of Kansas University’s 24-game win streak in Manhattan.

“It’s just them talking,” Rush said of the Wildcats.

Freshman Michael Beasley on Wednesday backed up his summertime prediction that KSU would end The Streak this season.

“Now we’re going to hear it from them non-stop. Now they think they can come and beat us in our own house,” Rush said.

KU will meet the Cats in a rematch on March 1 at Allen Fieldhouse. That will be with ESPN’s Gameday crew in town.

“When is that game, March? I can’t wait,” Rush said.

Rush said there wasn’t much trash talking during the game.

“Beasley was just saying funny things,” Rush said. “It wasn’t bad at all.”

Second half woes: Rush, who was shadowed by Dominique Sutton, had 15 points, off 6-of-10 shooting, but had just three points the second half, hoisting just three shots.

“He did a good job on defense. Pullen (Jacob, 20 points) had a good game, too,” Rush said. “They’re a good team. They’ve got two of the best players in the country, and other guys are good, too.”

Rebound woes: Foul-plagued Darrell Arthur had 12 points off 5-of-12 shooting with seven boards.

“We couldn’t get rebounds. They had too many offensive rebounds,” Arthur said of the ‘Cats, who had 16 offensive boards and 34 total to KU’s 30 boards. “We’ve got to do a better job of that.”

Question of his own: Bill Walker asked TV and print reporters a question before leaving the postgame interview room:

“I want to ask all of your something. Raise your hand if you thought we could win today?”

Some media did raise their hands.

Wild atmosphere: KSU students began lining up outside Bramlage Coliseum at 5 a.m. Wednesday for the big game. They were allowed into the arena at 5 p.m. for the 7 p.m. tipoff.

“It was cold, really cold,” one student in the front row said during a pre-game pep rally that did not feature any coaches this year.

Boo, boo: KU red-shirt Brady Morningstar was the first Jayhawk to take to the court for pre-game warmups at 5:44 p.m., the KSU student section booing him loudly. Morningstar had no reaction and began shooting baskets with one of the Bramlage Coliseum ballboys.

Jeremy Case, Brennan Bechard and Sasha Kaun were next onto the court, the crowd booing much louder.

They chanted, “Screech” at Kaun for his hairstyle reminiscent of a character on “Saved By the Bell.”

Russell Robinson was first to break a smile when he jogged onto the court to a chorus of boos and a sign that had a picture of Robinson next to an alien saying, “Take Me to Your Leader.”

This, that: KU had its 28-game regular season win streak snapped. KU had won 11 straight on the road. … Rush grabbed the 500th rebound of his career. … Next game is Saturday at Colorado (2:30 p.m. Central).

More on streaks: Entering Wednesday’s game, here were the longest winning streaks on an opponent’s floor in NCAA Division I history: UCLA at Cal-Berkeley (25 games, 1961-85, one of the games was played in Oakland, not on campus), KU at Kansas State (24, 1984-2007), Rhode Island at Maine (23, 1927-57), UConn at New Hampshire (17, 1951-68), South Carolina at Citadel (15, 1945-88).

Candid ‘Cat: K-State freshman Walker, who is one of the media’s favorites because of his honesty and friendly demeanor, in an interview with Sports Illustrated.com was willing to discuss an incident in which he urinated into a towel during a timeout late in an overtime loss to Oregon at Bramlage.

“It was either that or leave the court. And I was trying to win that game, so I did what had to be done,” Walker said. The full interview is available at http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/si_blogs/basketball/ncaa/2008/01/q-with-kansas-states-bill-walker.html

Debuts: Head coach Frank Martin on Wednesday became the first first-year Kansas State coach to win his first game at home against Kansas since E.A. Knoth did it twice in 1921.