Darrell Arthur, who had been slowed by a lung virus this week, had eight points off 4-of-5 shooting in 17 minutes.

"He felt good. He played six minutes the second half. I should have played him more," Kansas University coach Bill Self said. "He should be rested enough to play 20 tomorrow."

¢ Lots of fouls: It's hard to believe, but center Sasha Kaun picked up three fouls in a 14-second span, heading to the bench with his fourth foul with 9:02 left.

"Did that set any records?" Self cracked.

"It's definitely the first time that has happened to me," Kaun said. "Bad timing; wrong place, wrong time."

He did not return to the game, but not because of injury. He sported a shiner under his left eye after the game.

"I got kicked diving for a loose ball," he said after getting booted by Kansas State's Luis Colon. "But I'm fine. It was more foul trouble."

Self said Kaun was not on the bench late because of his sometimes spotty foul shooting.

"They didn't have a big guy in, and our other guys were playing a little better. We were going with press offense," Self said.

¢ Perfect against new KSU coach: The Jayhawks were asked if they're surprised KU went 3-0 against Bob Huggins this season.

"Not shocked, but we didn't think about that," said Sherron Collins, who scored 10 points with six assists in 23 minutes. "We took it game to game three times. They're very talented. How they played today, they were an NCAA Tournament team."

"Why not?" Russell Robinson said of KU sweeping the new KSU coach. "We were focused and came out with the right mind-set all three games."

"There's a lot of talk about it with people (fans). For us, it's just another game," Kaun said.

"It was our team, players, coaches, everybody. The coaches did a lot of scouting of the plays they run. They've got a good team. I think they deserve to be in (the NCAA Tournament)," Brandon Rush noted.

"We fought hard. They were all hard-fought games," Mario Chalmers said.

¢ Bad end to half: Self was a bit concerned when Akeem Wright made a steal and ripped a slam dunk at the first-half buzzer. That cut KU's nine-point lead to 35-28.

"We gave them two points on a terrible play," Self said. "We won the game. We did enough today to get it done."

¢ Nice tap out: Darnell Jackson, whose two free throws with 3:57 left gave KU a 58-49 lead, went high to bat an offensive rebound off a missed free throw by Chalmers with 36 seconds left, KU up, 62-55.

"Darnell's play was as good a hustle play on a rebound as we've had all year," Self said.

¢ Title town: A lot is at stake for KU against Texas today. "If we are able to win, it'd be our fifth championship in four years - three league titles and two conference (tournament) titles. That's be good. We'd like to be able to go and do that," Self said.

Photo Gallery

Big 12 Tourney: KU vs K-State

¢ Distractions aplenty: Self on the difficulty of players maintaining focus in the postseason: "So many things can throw your focus off. It can be agents, runners, media requests, friends' requests, girlfriends, family members, tickets, cell phones. All of a sudden you try to be something to a lot of people. The next thing you know, you lost it. We've got to keep the guys level-headed."

¢ Faces in crowd: Wichita State coach Mark Turgeon was on hand to cheer the Jayhawks. NBA executives Danny Ainge and Kevin McHale attended, as did dozens of scouts.

¢ Clarke scores 30: Rotnei Clarke, a junior guard from Verdigris High, scored 32 points off 9-of-30 shooting in a 58-53 Class 3A state semifinal loss to Oklahoma City Millwood on Friday night. Clark is considering KU, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Tulsa and many others.