Baylor lowly Baylor, of all teams stormed to a 25-point halftime lead and led by as many as 27 points in a convincing 85-77 men’s basketball victory over the Jayhawks.

The fans stormed the court after the improbable BU victory, the Bears’ 16th against six losses.

In losing its third ESPN Big Monday game in as three weeks, KU fell to 19-4 overall and 8-3 in the league.

“I’m not a big vocabulary man, but we were horrific,” KU point guard Kirk Hinrich said after scoring a career-high 26 points, 18 the second half as KU sliced the 27-point deficit to four points.

Earl Richardson/Journal-World Photo

Yes, the Jayhawks were awful early.

KU trailed 10-0 out of the blocks, and nobody knew quite why.

Remember, KU thought it had learned an important lesson in a 31-point loss earlier this year at Wake Forest.

“I was concerned before the game. I didn’t like some things I saw in the locker room. I challenged ’em because I didn’t like the whole attitude and feel of the locker room,” KU coach Roy Williams said. “I said, ‘Fellas, you have got to understand you’ve got to be ready to play. It’s their first Big Monday game. They led Texas at halftime.’

“We weren’t ready to play. I’ve very seldom had a team to not be ready to play like that. It was a complete breakdown. They totally kicked our butts every way they could be kicked.”

The Jayhawks, who hit just nine of 31 threes, were content to fire from the outside while turning the ball over the first 20 minutes in digging a 47-22 halftime hole.

It was KU’s biggest halftime deficit in the Roy Williams era, bigger than a 24-point margin at Nebraska in 1994.

“I’m totally stunned, embarrassed to play like we did the first half,” Williams said.

The Bears, who hit 55.9 percent of their first-half shots, were fired up by a comment KU senior Gregory apparently made to the Houston Chronicle last week.

Asked about KU’s Big Monday losses to Missouri and Iowa State, Gregory was quoted as saying: “It’s not like we lost to A&M and Baylor. We lost to two good teams.”

Gregory takes the blame for KU’s first-half problems, which included 11 turnovers and unsightly deficits of 23-6 and 37-16.

“I take full blame,” Gregory said. “I’m a senior and I did not come prepared to play. I did not lead tonight. We cannot keep putting ourselves in holes like this.

“You saw the kind of team we can be in coming back from a 27-point deficit. We just can’t get behind like that if we hope to win. We’re not going to be anything unless we stop doing this to ourselves.

“The comeback looked good for show,” added Gregory, who hit a career-best three threes in five tries and scored 17 points. “But why do this to ourselves?”

Gregory and Hinrich hit two threes apiece in a spectacular 26-6 KU run that sliced a 56-32 deficit to 62-58 at 5:58.

The Jayhawks never cut the gap below four points.

“I was trying to do whatever to get back in the game. I knew we could possibly come back,” Gregory said. “Once we cut it to four or five, we had nothing left.”

A key moment came when KU had the ball down by five points with four minutes left. Hinrich had a pass swiped by Greg Davis on the wing. Davis passed to DeMarcus Minor, who fed Wendell Greenleaf for one of his three threes at 3:11.

Greenleaf’s shot made it 72-64.

At 2:15, Terry Black put home one of his five monster slams as Baylor built its once-high lead of 27 (51-24) back to 11 (76-65) at 1:52.

KU brought it back to 81-77 on a three by Hinrich at 10.9, but not enough time remained for a comeback victory.

Williams obviously didn’t like all the threes.

KU last hoisted as many as 31 back in 1999 against Kentucky.

“We didn’t touch the rim in our first five possessions,” the coach said. “We completely lost our poise. We took bad shots. We had 14 threes the first half and it should have been 15 because Eric (Chenowith) took a long shot, too. I don’t think we’ve shot 14 threes the whole game this year and we did that the first half alone.”

Jeff Boschee missed 10 threes in a row after hitting his first.

“A lot of shots I took were pretty good shots. I couldn’t get them to fall,” Boschee said. “We just weren’t getting it done offensively or defensively.”

“Everyone and everything. It all went wrong. It was a terrible night,” center Chenowith said.

It was a miserable night for KU, which fell a game behind ISU in the Big 12 standings and is now tied with Oklahoma for second at 8-3.

“We showed some heart in coming back,” Chenowith said after his four-point, four-rebound effort. “But there really isn’t any good to come out of this.

“We made a heck of a comeback. I’m pleased the way the kids kept trying. But you can’t play like we played the first half and expect to win the basketball game,” Williams said.

And as far as KU’s Big Monday blues

“I think it’s a coincidence,” Gregory said. “I can’t explain it. I just know it has to change.

The Jayhawks will travel to Iowa State on Saturday for a noon tipoff.