- - Kansas steamrolls No. 2 Iowa State to hand Cyclones first loss of the season

Jack Baer January 14, 2026 at 3:07 AM

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Tre White made nearly half of Kansas' 3s in an impressive showing against No. 2 Iowa State. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel) ()

No. 2 Iowa State took its first loss of the season against Kansas on Tuesday, by enough points that it could very well count for two.

The unranked Jayhawks bulldozed the Cyclones 84-63 at The Phog, in the kind of way that an uninformed observer would just assume they were the second-best team in the country. Tre White led all scorers with 19 points on 6-of-13 shooting with 10 rebounds (6 offensive) and 3 assists, while star freshman Darryn Peterson had 16 points.

Melvin Council Jr. also had 15 points and 7 rebounds, along with the early wake-up call.

BOOM pic.twitter.com/ylRHBk65fe

— Kansas Men’s Basketball (@KUHoops) January 14, 2026

Kansas was up double digits midway through the fourth quarter and up by 21 at halftime. Iowa State made a push early in the second half, but the deficit never slipped below double-digits.

From the :

"I thought the intensity was great. I hoped we showed some toughness," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "Other than that seven minutes to start the second half, we played great the whole time. We shared it, were aggressive, and our defense was above what it has been."

The Cyclones were cold across the floor on offense as well as mistake-prone, with leading scorer and All-America candidate Joshua Jefferson posting only 12 points on 4-of-14 shooting with 8 rebounds and 5 turnovers. Meanwhile, Kansas shot 50.8% from the field and 50% from 3-point range, with only 9 turnovers.

Iowa State going down narrows the list of undefeated men's Division I teams down to four: No. 1 Arizona, No. 8 Nebraska, No. 10 Vanderbilt and Miami (OH). The previously dominant Michigan received its first loss only two days earlier at home against Wisconsin.

It had been a rough go lately for Kansas, falling out of the AP Top 25 this week after losses to unranked UCF and West Virginia in its past three games. Had they lost Tuesday, it would have been their first 1-3 start in conference play since the 1987-88 season.

Instead, Tuesday was a reminder they still have the talent to be dangerous.

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Source: “AOL Sports”