Rest assured, Roy Williams never will forget his 400th victory as Kansas University’s men’s basketball coach.

The Jayhawk fans and players made sure of that Wednesday — 16,300 faithful turning out on a snowy night and giving the 52-year-old, 15th-year mentor a thunderous ovation during a timeout with 3:53 remaining in the Jayhawks’ 98-70 waxing of Wyoming.

“I’m human. It made me feel good,” Williams said of the cheers, which started after a congratulatory banner appeared in the student section in the north end zone and a message flashed on the main scoreboard.

“This summer, it’s something where I’ll sit back and think about what a cool night it was,” Williams added after improving to 400-96 overall.

He’ll recall it as a “cool” night, not just because of the temperatures and snow falling outside.

His players outdid the fans, taking turns hugging Williams during the late timeout. Sophomore Keith Langford used the opportunity to take his left hand, place it on Williams’ head and muss the coach’s gray hair.

“His hair was all fine and nice. I wanted to see what it looked like all fuzzy,” Langford said with a grin after his 16-point outing. “In the locker room, he said he’d have to comb his hair because of me, which made me feel good.

“I was really happy for him. It’s not every day somebody wins 400 games,” added Langford, who in the first half put home a vicious dunk off a Kirk Hinrich lob pass from just a couple strides past halfcourt.

“It didn’t bother me in the least,” Williams said of Langford’s hair-messing actions. “If kids have fun with it, it’s fine with me.”

The most fun of all came after the final buzzer, when the Jayhawks surrounded Williams and presented the game ball to him.

“Congratulations on behalf of the team. We’re proud of you, coach,” Hinrich said after No. 12-ranked KU’s 12th win in 15 games. Wyoming fell to 12-3.

“I thanked ’em in the locker room for giving me the game ball,” Williams said. “Nick Collison said it wasn’t the greatest production ever. I said, ‘I’d rather have you be great basketball players than producers.'”

Power forwards Collison and Jeff Graves looked great Wednesday in recording double-doubles. Collison scored 28 points and grabbed 11 boards; Graves had 14 points and 10 rebounds with three steals and three blocks in 26 minutes.

In the first half, KU used a 27-8 run to turn a 7-7 deadlock into a 34-15 rout.

“The first 15 minutes is as well as we’ve played defensively,” Williams said. “The second half we kept attacking. We didn’t play as smart.”

Collison scored 17 points off 7-of-9 shooting with six rebounds the first half, while Graves had six points and four rebounds, plus a steal in the first six minutes.

Hinrich scored 14 of his 19 points in the first half off 4-of-6 three-point shooting. He scored eight straight points midway through the 27-8 surge.

“Defensively we challenged them tonight,” Williams said, “because I think Wyoming’s offense is set for Richardson (Donta, 29 points, 11-of-18 shooting) to get some shots or to get it to any of their post players. Defensively, Jeff Graves got a couple of steals when they tried to throw it into the post. He was able to block some shots and rebounded well.”

The 6-foot-9, 269-pound Graves seemed to set the tone early, diving for loose balls and contesting shots.

“I feel like it was my best game,” Graves said, “in terms of moving my feet and being active. It’s feeling real good right now.”

And the Jayhawks were feeling great for their coach, the fourth fastest to reach 400 wins in college basketball history.

“We didn’t dwell on it too much,” Collison said, “but we wanted him to get it tonight. It’s a great feat, and hopefully he’ll win a lot more.”

How about 400 more, coach?

“Let’s see, I’m 52 now,” Williams said. “I’ll be 67. I don’t know if I can last that long. I think I’ll try to find a spot on the first tee when I’m 67. For sure I’m not willing to stop at 400.”

His chance at 401 comes Saturday against Kansas State. Tipoff is 7 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse.