Now he knows all about being a bit player on reality TV.

Cochran, the Huskers’ leading scorer through the first 12 games with a 14.5-point scoring average, was blanked in a 96-57 loss to the No. 1 Jayhawks on Wednesday at Allen Fieldhouse.

“If Duke’s not the toughest game you’d ever have to play, I don’t know what would be,” said the 6-foot-1 guard from Minden, Iowa. “But after tonight I know what would be. They (the Jayhawks) bumped up for No. 1 in the country for a reason.”

Against KU (13-1 overall, 2-0 Big 12), Cochran was limited to three field-goal attempts two from three-point range in 20 minutes. Cochran, who had scored in double figures in the first 12 games, didn’t attempt a shot in the second half. He had made at least one three-pointer in 35 consecutive games.

“I haven’t had a team do that to me,” said Cochran, who has 213 career three-pointers to top NU’s charts and rank fourth in the Big 12. “Not that I’m a Michael Jordan-type scorer, but they took me out of the game. They didn’t allow me to do anything. They picked me up at halfcourt and they didn’t leave. There could have been a fire next to me and they wouldn’t have left.”

Cochran had ice on his bare left foot following the lopsided loss. He shrugged off the injury, as did his coach.

“They did a good job defending him,” said second-year NU coach Barry Collier, citing the defensive effort by KU guards Kirk Hinrich and Jeff Boschee.

How about Cochran’s bum foot?

“That’d be a good question for him,” Collier said. “He was hurt with Hinrich and Boschee.”

An opening 25-4 run also hurt the Huskers (7-6, 0-2). NU, which missed eight consecutive shots during that stretch, never recovered and trailed 57-24 at halftime.

“We were getting some decent shots, but they were really advancing the ball down the floor quickly like we thought they would,” said Collier, who called his first timeout with 15:41 left in the first half and KU up 16-4. “We got beat by a much better, seasoned team.”

Late in the second half, the flashcards used by NU’s three assistants to call in plays because of the deafening fieldhouse crowd were serving as armrests for the aides. Later, the flashcards were tucked under the coaches’ folding chairs.

“You coach possession by possession, whether you’re up or down you still want to coach those guys,” said Collier, whose Huskers are 0-5 on the road this season. “We are frustrated because we did some good things, but the ball didn’t go in the basket or we didn’t get a rebound.”

Junior Brennon Clemmons and senior John Robinson scored 16 points apiece to lead the Cornhuskers. The two combined to shoot 12-of-20 from the field. The rest of the squad was 10-for-45.

“You always play hard wherever you go,” said Clemmons, a 6-2 guard from Indianapolis. “I don’t think we let down. It might not have looked like it, but I think we played hard. We just didn’t lay flat and let them do whatever they want. They’re good. They’re good.”

Clemmons, third on the team with an 8.9-point scoring average, left impressed.

“They move it up quick,” Clemmons said of the Jayhawks. “By the time we turn around at halfcourt, they’re all ready down there, really waiting on us. Playing against them you have to get back and run hard every possession whether you score or don’t score. They play above the rim.”

NU hadn’t played a No. 1 team since facing the top-ranked Jayhawks in 1997. The Huskers lost twice to KU that year, including an 82-77 overtime setback in Lawrence.

Cochran compared the 2001-02 Jayhawks to that ’97 team.

“As a fan of basketball and a fan of the Big 12, I hope they go a long way,” Cochran said. “I could see them doing that because they’re so good at the guards and their postmen (juniors Drew Gooden and Nick Collison) are probably future career NBA players.”