Oklahoma State has chance to achieve rare feat of back-to-back wins at Allen Fieldhouse

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We all know that losing at Allen Fieldhouse is a rarity for the Kansas University men’s basketball team, but Saturday’s opponent, ninth-ranked Oklahoma State, has an opportunity to do something even more rare than just beat the Jayhawks.

The Cowboys (14-2) have a chance to beat No. 15 Kansas (12-4) on its home floor for the second time in a row, when the two preseason Big 12 Conference favorites square off in a highly anticipated showdown at 3 p.m. on CBS.

Behind a breakout game from guard Marcus Smart, the Cowboys’ upended Kansas at home a season ago, 85-80 on Feb. 2. The loss was the first in a three-game losing streak for the Jayhawks, who snapped out of the funk and went on to win their ninth consecutive Big 12 title even with the hiccup along the way.

A quick check of the KU basketball media guide shows that the last team to accomplish back-to-back wins in Allen Fieldhouse was Iowa State, in 2000 and 2001 (shown above). To find the unlikely feat before that, you have to go back to 1989 and 1990, when Missouri knocked off the Jayhawks twice in a row in Allen Fieldhouse.

In the 116-year history of Kansas basketball, the Jayhawks have lost back-to-back games or worse at home just 34 times. Not surprisingly, most of those losing streaks came against conference foes, with Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State all knocking off the Jayhawks in back-to-back trips to Lawrence at least once.

Still, very few of those teams did it more than once and the fact that it has only happened 34 times in nearly 3,000 games is just another remarkable element of the storied tradition of Kansas basketball.

A few more facts about KU’s rare home losing streaks:

• Missouri’s stretch of 10 straight victories in Lawrence from 1917-1922 is the longest in history.

• Kentucky won five straight in Lawrence from 1975-83; Oklahoma State, Nebraska and Mizzou all have won four straight games in Lawrence; Nebraska and K-State also enjoyed a stretch of three straight victories.

• Indiana, Kentucky, Louisville and Notre Dame are the only non-conference programs to win back-to-back games or better in Lawrence.

• A couple of teams, who, like Oklahoma State, are currently sitting on the potential to start a winning streak include: Oral Roberts, which last won in Lawrence in 2006 and has not been back; Vanderbilt, which last won in Lawrence in 1972 and has not been back; Duke, which won in overtime in Lawrence in 1988 and has not been back; Iowa, which won in Lawrence in 1998 and has not been back; Louisville, which won in Lawrence in 1992 and has not been back; Nevada, which won in Lawrence in 2005 and has not been back; North Carolina, which won in Lawrence in 1960, has not been back and won’t be coming back as long as Roy Williams is still the Tar Heels’ head coach; Northwestern, which won in Lawrence in 1964 and has not been back; and, of course, San Diego State, which won in Lawrence earlier this season.

• Current Big 12 Teams and their total victories in Allen Fieldhouse all-time: Baylor (0), Iowa State (9), Kansas State (18), Oklahoma (7), Oklahoma State (9), Texas (1), Texas Tech (0), TCU (0) and West Virginia (0).