Manhattan ? A soft basketball team couldn’t have made it out of Bramlage Coliseum with an ounce of self-esteem remaining, much less a victory, Saturday afternoon.

The capacity crowd, filled with so many students, brought the energy to fuel the home team, the venom to rattle the visitors and all the tension that a snakepit is supposed to bring in college basketball.

As much as it looks like just another modern basketball venue when it’s empty, it certainly takes on a flavor fit for gladiators when Kansas University comes to town.

The crowd and a pair of hot-shooting Kansas State guards named Denis Clemente and Jacob Pullen combined forces in such a way that it would take a gutsy performance for Kansas to bounce back off the mat after Monday’s debacle in Mizzou Arena.

Kansas, exhibiting toughness that belied its inexperience, answered the challenge with an 85-74 victory against a K-State team that rode a six-game winning streak into the game.

“It was amazing,” Kansas freshman forward Marcus Morris said of the Bramlage atmosphere. “I didn’t expect it to be this good. It was amazing. That was something new to me. It was definitely amazing.”

So was Morris, and if anybody claims to have expected that from him in this game, that person is a liar.

“This might have been the hardest place I ever played,” Morris said.

It might also be the hardest he ever has played.

K-State built a 16-point lead with 8:35 left in the first half. By halftime, the Jayhawks cut it to one, 43-42, and Marcus Morris’ fingerprints were all over the comeback. In the final 7:28 of the first half, he contributed nine points, three assists, three rebounds and a steal. Just as important, he brought an aggressive spirit to the game that seemed to spread to teammates.

Morris finished with a career-high 15 points to go with seven rebounds, four assists, three steals and just one turnover. He played smart in the game’s final minutes, helping Kansas break the press. He was everything his press clippings said he would be coming into what has been a frustratingly inconsistent season, even by freshman standards.

Mario Little started in his place, and when Marcus Morris entered the game, he quickly missed a couple of shots and committed a foul. After pulling him from the game, coach Bill Self said the right words to transform him from a player trying not to mess up to a man on a mission.

“He came over to me and he said, ‘You’ve got to do something. If it’s on the offensive end, grabbing a rebound, getting a putback, you’ve got to do something.’ He said, ‘Next time you go in there, you’ve got to impact the game, you’ve got to do something.’ That’s all he kept saying, ‘Do something.’ … I felt as though he had a lot of confidence in me today.”

Self sounded confident that Morris could duplicate the performance.

“Marcus Morris is a really talented player,” Self said. “We’ve kind of been waiting for this. Today was almost like, ‘Hey, forget it, I’m just going to go play.’ I think he’s played safe up until this point. He’s played not to screw up. Today he went and made plays.”

He had a big game in a huge victory, a nice start.