That somebody is tiny Oklahoma State point guard John Lucas, who is starting to garner support for Big 12 Player of the Year.

“John Lucas looks like he’s starting to establish himself,” ESPN analyst Dick Vitale gushed Monday night after watching the 5-foot-11, 152-pound Baylor transfer burn Kansas University for 14 points off 5-of-5 shooting during the first half of the Pokes’ 80-60 victory.

Lucas, who finished with 21 points off 7-of-9 shooting, averages 14.2 points and 4.8 assists per game for the Cowboys, who improved to 18-2 overall and 8-1 in Big 12 Conference play, compared to KU’s 15-5, 7-2 marks.

“He played exceptionally well,” KU junior guard Michael Lee said of the Houston native.

“He made some big shots when they needed them. He got the ball to the right players. He did everything he’s supposed to do.”

KU’s Wayne Simien, who figures to be a factor in POY voting if KU wins the league, impressed with 25 points in the lopsided defeat.

”’Dub’ competed hard. Without Dub, it would have been a 30-point game,” KU coach Bill Self said.

As far as KU’s overall play Monday … Vitale wasn’t impressed by a team that was outrebounded, 43-26.

“Kansas seemed to really come out flat,” Vitale said of the Jayhawks, who trailed by 18 points after 7 1/2 minutes. “Obviously, you can’t do that here (Gallagher-Iba).”

Self agreed.

“We were a noncompetitive team,” he said. “We never made them sweat at all. When it got a little hot early, it’s when we all went our own ways. When it goes against you, you’ve got to be tough, hone in and execute. We had one guy play (Simien). Our other guys … we didn’t come to fight.

“When you don’t come to fight, you

get seven offensive rebounds (to OSU’s 15) and are 5-of-15 from the line.”

6Sports video: Kansas lackluster in away game

The Jayhawks appeared rattled after OSU hit nine of its first 10 shots from all sorts of depths and angles.

“That will happen sometimes,” KU freshman center David Padgett of the opposition coming out on fire in their own gym. “We didn’t play as good a defense as we should have.”

“They came out and hit some incredible shots,” Simien said, “but they also were scoring off our turnovers.”

The Jayhawks, who had an off day Tuesday, will now have four days to prepare for Sunday’s 12:30 p.m. contest at Nebraska.

Overall, KU is 4-3 this season in true away games, losing at Oklahoma State, Iowa State and Nevada and winning at Kansas State, Texas A&M, TCU and Colorado.

“We’ve just got to go fix our mistakes and realize we need to come out more focused on the road,” Lee said.

The Jayhawks are not conceding the league title after winning it outright the past two years, but realize it’ll be tough to catch Oklahoma State.

The Cowboys play Baylor, Nebraska, Texas and Texas A&M at home and will travel to Oklahoma, Missouri and Baylor.

KU has games at Nebraska, Texas and Missouri and home contests versus Iowa State, Baylor, Oklahoma and Nebraska.

Texas, which had one loss in the league entering Tuesday’s Baylor game, travels to Iowa State, Oklahoma and Okie State and meets A&M, KU and Texas Tech at home.

“I’ve not studied all the schedules,” Self said, “I’d say the OSU-Texas game (on March 1 at OSU) will be a big game. We’re not out of it by any means but we’re going to have to be awfully impressive the rest of the way, awfully impressive.”

“It’s going to be close, obviously,” Lee said. “We knew it’d be close.”

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Unsettling loss: J.R. Giddens, who scored 12 points off 4-of-6 three-point shooting, was dismayed by the loss which took place just down the road from his hometown of Oklahoma City.

“We weren’t playing defense and they were scoring, and then we were playing defense and they were making threes off the glass and other shots off the glass,” Giddens said. “It’s frustrating because you are trying to win the ballgame. They won and they were the better team.

“When you play from behind, you can’t try for the home run. You’ve got to take your lumps and try to make it happen one play at a time, cut it down little by little. We couldn’t get any consistent runs going and that was the difference.”

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Henry leans toward hoops: C.J. Henry, the son of former KU standout Carl Henry, says he is leaning toward playing both college basketball and baseball and not signing with a major league baseball team right out of high school.

Henry, a 6-3 junior from Putnam City High in Oklahoma, is considered one of the top hoops prospects in the country, but also may be taken in the first round of the baseball draft.

“It really all depends where I go in the draft,” Henry told Shay Wildeboor of rivals.com

Henry, who averages 23 points a game, is considering KU, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kentucky, Louisville and others.

“I have taken an unofficial visit to Kansas, and it seems like a really good place. It is something my dad and I have talked about in the past. The fact that he played for Kansas could greatly influence my decision.”

He said he planned on making an official visit to KU at a yet-to-be determined date.