The Jayhawks, who dropped their fourth straight game to the Cyclones, 79-77, on Monday night at Allen Fieldhouse, venture to Ames, Iowa a week from Saturday.

Are four straight losses to Iowa State enough?

“It is for me,” KU coach Roy Williams said. “I have to congratulate them. It doesn’t do me any good to sit and badmouth it (streak). We’ve got to frickin’ go to work and do a better job.”

KU, Williams says, must do a better job of defending the perimeter in the wake of ISU’s 11-of-17 three-point shooting effort. Kantrail Horton and Jamaal Tinsley combined for seven threes in 10 tries, many from beyond NBA three-point range.

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“We have got to get a hand up regardless of how far they are out,” Williams said. “We have to make them shoot it over our hands. If it’s a bad shooter then you don’t have to do that. (But) you look down the guys who were taking those shots are guys we talked about in the scouting report that would take them.

“When we play them again hopefully we will get a hand up on some of those shots and hopefully they won’t make them.”

One problem, however, is if the Jayhawks stick too closely to Tinsley and Horton, they may blaze by KU defenders, who are not blessed with the foot speed of ISU’s dazzling duo.

“The lack of foot speed … you don’t have as much confidence getting up on people,” Williams said. “We’ve had players before like Jacque Vaughn who could guard anybody as close as they wanted and feel they would still not get beat.

“They were able to get a hand up. You have to understand your own ability and speed and give them space so they don’t beat you on the drive. Still … you have to get a hand up.”

Even when Cyclones like Horton (four of four threes) are 24 feet from the goal, the Jayhawks, who may sag a bit to prevent the drive, must hike up a hand when they see the shooter ready to fire.

“Horton is tough to guard because he can shoot well from the outside. Also he turns the corner and can take it to the basket,” Williams said. “The first play of the game he takes it to the basket. We were there, but he’s so strong he absorbed contact and still made the layup.”

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With six minutes left, Horton let the shot clock run down, then unleashed a 24-footer over Gregory that swished and gave ISU a 68-59 lead.

“I knew the shot clock was down under five to seven seconds,” Gregory said. “I thought he’d penetrate some because he was so far out. He went ahead and pulled it and made a great shot I guess.”

Offense didn’t click

Gregory was a bit alarmed at KU’s play on offense until the last 4 1/2 minutes when the Jayhawks chipped into the Cyclones’ 11-point lead.

“It seemed the majority of the game we couldn’t get in the flow. We weren’t setting very good screens. The chemistry was terrible,” Gregory said. “We missed a lot of easy shots again like we did at Missouri (in 75-66 loss on Jan. 29).

“Give them credit defensively. When we tried to penetrate it was crowded in the lane. It was tough to penetrate.”

Moves didn’t work out

The end of the first half didn’t work out for KU as a missed layup by Gregory and three-pointer by Horton on the other end resulted in a 46-35 ISU halftime lead instead of a 43-37 margin.

“This game is so screwy. We get a rebound with 15 seconds to play and I stood to call a time out,” Williams said. “One of their players was down on the floor. We got the ball in the open court. I didn’t call a time out, Kenny gets a layup but misses a layup. They come down and make a three.

“Another great coaching move … I took Luke (Axtell) out and put Mario (Kinsey) in because Mario is so good on the ball defense. Mario goes flying by Horton and he shoots a three and it goes in.”

Williams felt it seemed logical to insert Kinsey for Axtell with six seconds to play in the half.

“Mario had already played the first half some because Jeff (Boschee) was in foul trouble. He does have very good foot speed. I talked to Mario yesterday about being able to guard somebody and keep the ball in front of you, be able to bother the dribble and if they shoot it get a hand up. They make a three over Mario because he kept sliding. Horton made a good move and ran right by him. Still they had to make a shot. It was a good play on their part.”

Okie State here Saturday

KU will next meet Oklahoma State at 3 p.m. Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse. Williams and athletics director Bob Frederick have discussed the possibility of asking the fans to applaud the Cowboys during introductions. Two members of OSU’s team and eight others were killed in a recent plane crash in Colorado.

“We’ve talked about a moment of silence and did talk about specific things about asking our students to not shake newspapers and ignore the visiting team during introductions,” Williams said on his Hawk Talk radio show. “At the same time we discussed giving them some ovation when their lineup is introduced. We want to make sure to talk to Oklahoma State and make sure they are comfortable with anything we are doing. There are ongoing discussions so at this point there is nothing definite about what we might do.”