Iowa State Falls To No. 15 Kansas, 72-55

LAWRENCE, Kan. ? No. 15 Kansas downed Iowa State, 72-55 Wednesday night in Lawrence, Kan. ISU fell behind by as many as 17 points early, but fought back in the second half to cut the lead to five points before the Jayhawks went on a run to put the game away.

Craig Brackins posted his 11^th double-double and ninth 20-point/10-rebound game of the season with 20 points and 11 boards. Jamie Vanderbeken added a career-high 15 points behind a career-high five 3-pointers in the loss. ISU falls to 13-13 overall and 2-9 in Big 12 play.

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Final Stats

"I thought our guys competed and you really have to compete when start the game as poorly as we did," ISU head coach Greg McDermott said. "It's not like they forced us into a bunch of turnovers, we just missed shots."

Iowa State fell into a hole early, making just 2-of-16 shots to begin the game. By that time the Cyclones found themselves down 24-7 with just under nine minutes left in the opening period.

KU held a 32-15 lead with three minutes left before intermission before the Cyclones went on a mini run. ISU tallied eight-straight points, ignited by a Brackins shot down low and back-to-back treys from Bryan Petersen and Vanderbeken to cut the lead to 32-23 at the 1:40 mark of the first period. ISU had a chance to have the deficit below double digits before halftime, but KU's Cole Aldrich scored on a putback at the buzzer to make it a 36-25 Jayhawk lead at the break.

ISU shot just 29.0 percent (8-28) in the first half, but forced 10 KU turnovers to stay in the game. Brackins had nine points at the break.

KU's once 17-point lead quickly dwindled to five points (36-31) after the Cyclones scored the first six points of the second half. Vanderbeken hit a trey and Brackins scored on a pick and roll to quiet the Allen Fieldhouse crowd. Tyrel Reed and Sherron Collins answered the run by scoring a pair of hoops to push the KU lead back up to 41-31 with 16:30 left in the game.

After another Collins lay-in gave KU a 43-31 lead, ISU bounced right back with seven consecutive points behind a trey from Petersen and buckets from Brackins and Garrett, closing the gap to 43-38 with 12:22 remaining.

Aldrich then stepped up for the Jayhawks by scoring eight consecutive points to increase its lead to 51-38, reenergizing the crowd along the way. ISU went nearly six minutes without a point until Brackins buried a trey with 6:40 left in the game. Another Vanderbeken 3-pointer and a Brackins put-back allowed the Cyclones to once again cut the lead to single digits at 55-46 with 5:20 remaining in the game.

ISU cut it to nine points (62-53) with 2:13 left after Petersen knocked down a trey, but Aldrich answered on the other end to seal the victory.

Diante Garrett dished out five assists in the game. He now has 232 assists in his career to rank 20^th all-time in school history. ISU made 10 3-pointers as a team, its seventh double-digit 3-point shooting effort of the season. ISU forced a season-high 18 turnovers and tallied a season-high nine steals.

ISU plays host to Kansas State on Saturday (Feb. 21). Tipoff is set for 5 p.m.

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Team Stats

Craig Brackins

Jamie Vanderbeken

Bryan Petersen

Diante Garrett

Players Mentioned

Craig Brackins

Craig Brackins

Craig Brackins

Diante Garrett

Diante Garrett

Diante Garrett

Bryan Petersen

Bryan Petersen

Jamie Vanderbeken

Jamie Vanderbeken

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