Kansas guard Dajuan Harris Jr. (3) gets down on the floor for a steal from Iowa State guard Keshon Gilbert (10) during the first half on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025 at Allen Fieldhouse. Photo by Nick Krug

When Kansas lost to Iowa State on Jan. 15, KU coach Bill Self remarked on the Cyclones’ ability to snag “75% of every 50/50 ball.”

Monday night’s rematch went the Jayhawks’ way, and so too did one particularly pivotal loose ball.

With a minute and a half remaining in the first half, and KU up 31-19, ISU’s reserve big man Brandton Chatfield disrupted a one-handed pass by KU center Hunter Dickinson, creating a live-ball turnover and a chance for Cyclones guard Keshon Gilbert to sprint down the floor.

But AJ Storr got down the court faster than Gilbert in transition to block his path and Dickinson took the opportunity to slap the ball away. KU guard Dajuan Harris Jr. came out of nowhere, sliding to the floor to snag it with his left hand, keep it from going out of bounds and in one fluid motion flip it to Dickinson while still on the ground.

Dickinson flipped the ball to David Coit, who by the time he reached the “U” of the KU logo at halfcourt was already winding up to throw a 45-foot alley-oop to KJ Adams. Adams, as usual, was in the perfect position to leap for an energizing two-handed dunk.

“That may have been the play of the year for us,” KU coach Bill Self said on postgame radio.

The sequence, which involved all five Jayhawks, completed a potential four-point swing in the dying minutes of the first half, and KU ultimately went into the locker room with a 16-point advantage that the Jayhawks turned into a 17-point final margin of victory.

ISU coach T.J. Otzelberger agreed with a reporter’s suggestion postgame that the play in some sense typified the night for the Cyclones: “It seems like there’s some optimism and then right away they make a big play,” he said.

He said he thought his team did well overall in terms of hustle but that Adams’ slam exemplified the Jayhawks’ ability to punish teams on the fast break.

“You make a great defensive play and then it turns into a turnover, which turns into transition points for them,” Otzelberger said. “There’s probably not a place or a team or a program that does a better job than what Kansas does in transition if you have a turnover, and how they turn it into points. We had very few turnovers, very few live-ball turnovers, and you feel like every one that we had turns into a layup, a dunk on the other end. It’s really a credit to the pace that they play at and what they demand.”

He also called Harris an “elite competitor, winner, he’s a guy you want on your team, no question about it.”

Harris said he was aware that “usually when we play Iowa State it’s always whoever’s the first one to get on the floor” that gets a loose ball.

“I just wanted to make a play and get on the floor,” he said. “I honestly thought that was AJ behind me when Diggy (Coit) threw that, but it was KJ. Either way it was a great pass.”

Even as he acknowledged the impressive nature of the sequence, Self said postgame he wasn’t sure how the game would look overall in terms of KU’s effort on 50/50 plays, but doled out some praise.

“I thought we did a better job with the exception of defensive rebounding,” Self said, as KU conceded 17 offensive rebounds to the Cyclones. “I thought we had more active hands tonight … I do think we made some plays that were indicative of being tough with the ball, and maybe even if we didn’t get a 50/50 ball, we may have kept them from getting it where in the past I think they got them the first time we played them.”

In the end, KU countered ISU’s 17-point victory on Jan. 15 with one of its own.

Kansas forward KJ Adams Jr. (24) gets up for a lob jam against Iowa State guard Tamin Lipsey (3) during the first half on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025 at Allen Fieldhouse. Photo by Nick Krug