photo by: AP Photo/Matthew Putney

Kansas forward Flory Bidunga (40) passes the ball from the floor as Iowa State guard Tamin Lipsey (3) steals it for a turnover during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026, in Ames, Iowa.

AMES, Iowa — A day on which both No. 9 Kansas and No. 5 Iowa State were wearing throwback uniforms seemed like an appropriate occasion for an old-fashioned rock fight.

The Jayhawks and Cyclones delivered that style of play for about 13 minutes on Saturday afternoon at Hilton Coliseum — before one team figured out how to play effective offense and the other didn’t.

ISU embarked on a 20-2 run over five minutes and four seconds to go ahead by double digits. The Cyclones threw in a 6-for-6 start from beyond the arc in the second half for good measure and dispatched KU, 74-56.

“I thought the things that you have to do to win away from home: the toughness, take away the arc because that was definitely an emphasis, take care of the basketball, no live-ball turnovers — if you look at the first half, they beat us on offensive (rebounding to set up) 3s and scoring off live-ball turnovers as much as anything,” head coach Bill Self said. “We didn’t do near enough to make up for our deficiencies there.”

The loss, the Jayhawks’ fourth in a row in Ames, brought an end to KU’s eight-game winning streak, which had begun with a victory over ISU at Allen Fieldhouse at Jan. 13.

“Give them credit,” Self said. “That game today, it mirrored the game in Lawrence. It was us in Lawrence (applying pressure and forcing mistakes). Today it was them doing that, and we didn’t handle it very well at all.”

It also dealt a significant blow to the KU’s chances of competing for the Big 12 regular-season title.

“It was bound to happen,” guard Melvin Council Jr. said of the loss. “We wasn’t really prepared like that. But it’s OK that we got more games left, and hopefully we come back and start our winning streak back up again.”

Council scored 15 points in an efficient showing, including three early 3s, and Flory Bidunga posted an 11-point, 13-rebound double-double. But in his return from illness, Darryn Peterson was limited to 10 points in 24 minutes, and the Jayhawks were undone by the eight offensive rebounds they conceded and 10 turnovers they committed in the first half.

After a quiet start, Milan Momcilovic scored four second-half 3s and finished with 18 points for the Cyclones. Jamarion Batemon, Blake Buchanan, Joshua Jefferson and Tamin Lipsey added 11 each in a balanced effort.

The Jayhawks scored the first two buckets of the game on a lob dunk by Bidunga and stepback jumper by Peterson before Momcilovic muscled his way in for a tough shot inside to give Iowa State its first points at the 16:35 mark.

Neither offense accomplished much of note over the first seven minutes of the game, and the Jayhawks were hampered by ISU’s attempts to trap various players in the corners. With KU mired in a lengthy drought, Buchanan tied the game at 6-6 when he put back Lipsey’s missed layup in transition. A foul on Jamari McDowell sent the game to the under-12 timeout with a combined 12 points between the two teams, KU 3-for-8 and ISU 3-for-14 from the field.

Killyan Toure got the Cyclones their first 3-pointer and first lead immediately after the break. Peterson ended KU’s scoring drought of nearly five minutes with a 3 of his own, and Batemon and Council traded a couple more.

The Jayhawks briefly took the lead when Council hit again from deep. Momcilovic responded with a fadeaway over Elmarko Jackson, but Council made his third 3 in three attempts and then completed another lob to Bidunga.

ISU had a response in the form of the versatile forward Jefferson, who completed a three-point play before Batemon banked in another layup. Dominykas Pleta added a putback.

Bidunga briefly paused the onslaught, but the Cyclones were undaunted. A stretch that included multiple backcourt violations allowed ISU to extend the run all the way to 17-2 before KU committed its ninth turnover of the first half and prompted a timeout by Self inside of two minutes to go.

Buchanan made it 36-22 before Bryson Tiller got on the board with a pair of free throws. Jackson pulled up for a 3-pointer that went down as the final score of the half and ISU took a 37-27 lead into the break.

Thanks to its substantial advantages in turnover and rebounding margins, ISU attempted 14 more shots in the first half than KU.

Momcilovic, one of the nation’s best outside shooters, who did not make a 3-pointer in the first half, knocked down two early in the second, once after rounding a screen and once on a stepback move to avoid Bidunga. Lipsey added another to extend ISU’s lead to 17 just two minutes into the second half.

Toure’s off-balance attempt from beyond the arc with 12:38 to go was ISU’s first missed 3-pointer of the period. At that point the Cyclones led 59-38, and then Momcilovic made another 3 immediately afterward anyway.

“That would be a formula for disaster wherever you’re playing away from home,” Self said of the Cyclones’ start to the second half.

Jackson had some success leading the offense in an unusually long stretch on the bench for Council midway through the second period.

“Really just getting downhill first and foremost and trying to create for my teammates,” Jackson said, “and then just taking what the defense offers me.”

KU battled to get back down just 65-50 on a dunk by Council with eight minutes left, but then promptly allowed a 3-pointer to Nate Heise.

Kohl Rosario scored his first points of conference play with a pair of free throws to make it 68-54. Council banked in a close-range shot soon afterward to give KU some hope, but as the Jayhawks rode with a lineup heavy on reserves — with Peterson coming back from illness and Tre White having missed practice throughout the week due to oral surgery — Jayden Dawson missed a 3-point attempt that could have brought the game within single digits.

“It’s disappointing that we left out of here not putting game pressure on them,” Self said. “Because you can come up here and play great and not win, but certainly we didn’t put any game pressure on them that was significant at all, I didn’t feel like.”

Buchanan’s dunk with two minutes remaining essentially put the game to rest.

The Jayhawks, who fell to 19-6 and 9-3 in Big 12 play, will play a second straight road game on Wednesday when they travel to face Oklahoma State (16-9, 4-8) at Gallagher-Iba Arena at 8 p.m. The Cowboys lost at home 95-92 to TCU in overtime on Saturday.

“God, I hope we react like men, because in February when you play conference games and you play away from home, there’s a great chance even the best teams leave unhappy,” Self said. “We just can’t let one become two.”

Box score