It was a barn-burner in Tulsa. Roy's Boys rebounded from a loss at Oregon last weekend by making the Golden Hurricane their first road victom of the season, thereby avoiding its first 3-4 start since 1971. No matter how many times Kansas tried to pull away, the Golden Hurricane kept pulling back into the game.

The Jayhawks looked to take control of the game for good with just over four minutes remaining, converting a Tulsa turnover into an Aaron Miles three-pointer, pushing the lead to nine.

On KU's next possession, they milked the shot clock, put up a shot and grabbed the rebound - twice. They ran nearly 90 vital seconds off the clock to essentially seal the game. Tulsa kept at it, picking their fouls and putting up good shots. The TU late comeback was helped tremendously by the resurfacing of KU's free throw woes. Keith Langford missed four in a row.

However, the team as whole stepped up and refused to let the game slip away, regaining their footing - both on the floor and at the line - in time to seal the win.

There were three lead changes in the first three minutes. Kansas has held that lead, but the two teams matched each other shot for shot ever since as they slug it out toe-to-toe. As suddenly as the teams got hot they got cold again, as they were stuck on 12-11 for several minutes. A Keith Langford put-back around the 12-minute mark broke the dual drought and put KU up by three.

Despite leading for nearly the entire first half, Kansas gave up six straight Golden Hurricane points - including a 35-foot buzzer beater - to go into the lockers down by four. The Jayhawks are shooting just 37 percent from the floor, and went 4-for-7 from the fould line.

Even though Kansas held most of the lead, the two teams traded baskets evenly through the entire half: KU's largest lead was a mere six points. There were about half a dozen lead changes, and just as many ties.

Trying to regain the lead early in the second half, Kansas put up a pair of three-pointers, but missed both. Tulsa, however, picked up where they left off, hitting their sixth bomb of the game. Four minutes into the second frame and eight straight Kansas later and Kansas had pulled ahead.

Kansas continued that run to 12-0 to build a second-half lead they would not relinquish. Their shooting steadily warmed up, ending at over 46 percent for the game. On the other side of the court, Tulsa exploited the Jayhawks' traditional Achilles heel by hitting eight of their 12 three-pointers.

Final numbers: Nick Collison led all scoring with 26 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Wayne Simien and Keith Langford each added 19. Aaron Miles put in a strong performance, notching 15 points and dishing eight assists. After that, Kirk Hinrich and Michael Lee each contributed four points, and Jeff Graves added two.

Kansas outrebounded Tulsa 41-32, but shot 46 percent to Tulsa's 51. Where the hosts had success from long-range, the visitors struggled, hitting only three of their 13 three-point attempts.

Up next for Kansas is a home date with Emporia State. Tip off will be 7 p.m., on Saturday, Dec. 14. The game will be carried on the Jayhawk Television Network.

For full coverage of today's game, read tomorrow's Lawrence Journal-World, and see KUSports.com.