Kansas head coach Bill Self directs his player to get back on defense during the second half on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025 at Allen Fieldhouse. Photo by Nick Krug

The Kansas men’s basketball team already beat its rival Kansas State once, but it wasn’t a particularly dominant display.

The Jayhawks jumped out to a 14-0 lead but basically traded baskets with the Wildcats for the remaining 36 minutes of game time on Jan. 18 at Allen Fieldhouse, even letting K-State draw within single digits on a few occasions in the second half.

Perhaps something changed during K-State coach Jerome Tang’s second timeout four minutes into that Sunflower Showdown, because since losing to KU 84-74 on that day, the Wildcats have by some metrics been one of the best teams in the country. Previously 7-10 on the season, and mired in such a disappointing campaign that transfer forward Coleman Hawkins had to answer questions after the KU loss about his decision to join the Wildcats in the portal in the first place, K-State suffered one more narrow loss but then reeled off four straight victories.

Most recently, the Wildcats embarrassed then-No. 3 Iowa State at Hilton Coliseum on Saturday, then rallied from an early 15-point deficit on the road to beat Arizona State by one point in a wild game on Tuesday night.

“They’re playing with great energy,” KU coach Bill Self said on Thursday. “I think defensively, you look at them against Iowa State in particular, I thought they just locked them down with their quickness. Obviously they’re playing at a high level offensively. Everybody’s playing well, but I would say Hawkins and obviously (Dug) McDaniel (are) probably key in that. They look fast to me.”

Bart Torvik’s college basketball analytics website ranks Kansas State as the No. 2 team in the country since Jan. 19, just behind Houston. KU is No. 12 in the same time frame, which has featured three solid wins and two stunning losses.

The two teams will rekindle their rivalry once again on Saturday at 1 p.m. inside Bramlage Coliseum.

The Jayhawks have a slight rest advantage after they beat Iowa State at home on Big Monday — Self also rested five of his experienced players on Wednesday as the remainder of the team practiced — while the Wildcats had to come back from the Valley of the Sun on Tuesday night.

“It gives you a little more time to rest but right now we feel like we can’t rest,” guard Zeke Mayo said on Thursday. “We’re in a situation where we have to win a handful of games in order to even be in a conversation for the Big 12. We got a day off but by no means does that mean we come in here today and tomorrow and just relax a little bit.”

The Manhattan edition of the Sunflower Showdown has been kind to K-State each of the last two seasons, with Tang’s bunch claiming consecutive victories over the Jayhawks, both in overtime.

“Everybody wants to feel like they’re KU’s biggest rival, and so they’re always going to have a big atmosphere and make it a very large game,” center Hunter Dickinson said on Jan. 18.

Self suggested that Hawkins presents a challenging matchup for the Jayhawks. He certainly did in the prior meeting, when despite shooting 5-for-14 from the field he finished three rebounds short of a triple-double. During the Wildcats’ streak, he has continued to round into form offensively and is now averaging 13.2 points per game in conference play to go with 6.9 rebounds and 4.8 assists.

Marksman Brendan Hausen is 17-for-37 (45.9%) from beyond the arc since the KU game and McDaniel scored a season-high 20 points against Iowa State as part of a string of improved offensive showings. In general, K-State’s starting lineup of Hausen, Hawkins, McDaniel, Max Jones and David N’Guessan has been well-rounded in recent days.

K-State has also tied its opponents on the glass or outrebounded them in each game of its winning streak.

“It’s going to be pretty lit down there in K-State, Manhattan, so we got to prepare for that,” KU point guard Dajuan Harris Jr. said, “and we know they’re going to come for our necks there, you know they always play good there.”

Kansas State Wildcats (11-11, 5-6 Big 12) vs. No. 16 Kansas Jayhawks (16-6, 7-4 Big 12)

• Bramlage Coliseum, Manhattan, 1 p.m.

• Broadcast: ESPN

• Radio: Jayhawk Radio Network (in Lawrence, KLWN AM 1320 / K269GB FM 101.7 / KMXN FM 92.9)

Keep an eye out

Back in the fold: Part of the reason why Hawkins was such a bad matchup for the Jayhawks in the first edition of the Sunflower Showdown was the absence of KJ Adams, who at the time had just separated his shoulder three days earlier. K-State plays two big men with a frontcourt of Hawkins and N’Guessan, and the fifth-year senior Hawkins drew Flory Bidunga, a freshman making his first career start, into foul trouble with savvy moves in the post. With Zach Clemence also hurt, KU had to go to an awkward four-guard lineup with AJ Storr defending Hawkins. There will likely be no need for that on Saturday, and Adams, who has the athleticism to defend Hawkins both on the perimeter and in the post, has returned to his usual workload of 30-plus minutes. Self said of Hawkins, “There’s nothing that says that he can’t get 20 and 10, but I think our ability to guard him one-on-one has been improved with KJ out there.”

Creeping up: Self has said he wants to keep Adams, Harris and Dickinson playing around 30 minutes per game or fewer. For some time he held true to that plan in nonconference play, and even in Big 12 competition Bidunga has done well enough for Self to reduce Adams’ minutes to 28.5 per game. But Dickinson is now playing 32.9 minutes, and Harris 34.1, including 36.5 in his last six appearances (a period that also includes an ankle injury). The notion of keeping Harris better rested to allow him to exert himself at maximum capacity on defense whenever he’s in the game has fallen by the wayside a bit in recent days, especially with fellow point guard Shakeel Moore still dealing with occasional soreness from his foot injury.

First five: On that note, the starting lineup of Harris, Adams and Dickinson with Mayo and Rylan Griffen improved to 6-0 on the season with KU’s victory over ISU on Monday. Griffen is the most recent addition after primarily coming off the bench for a span of about two months. The wing hasn’t always had his shooting touch, even as his play has improved overall in recent weeks, but he’s clearly impressed Self enough to eke out a spot for which there’s been plenty of competition this year. Could he and fellow transfer AJ Storr (eight points on Monday) be rounding into form at last? Self said he thought they both showed good effort on defense against the Cyclones.

Off-kilter observation

Besides once being teammates at Michigan, Dickinson and McDaniel also faced off in high school, when they both played in the Washington, D.C., area, McDaniel at Paul VI in Chantilly, Virginia, and Dickinson at DeMatha Catholic in Hyattsville, Maryland.