“We really didn’t have anything to do with that streak,” Robinson said, of the Jayhawks’ well publicized 31-game winning streak their in-state rival.

The young Jayhawks certainly do now.

Kansas, which led by as many as 12 in the second half, was ineffective on offense and defense down the stretch.

Meanwhile the Wildcats, whose last victory over KU also came in Lawrence on Jan. 17, 1994, couldn’t miss.

Nick Krug/Journal-World Photo

After a Cartier Martin putback put K-State back in front, 48-47, for the first time since early in the game, the Wildcats closed the door on KU and its historical dominance with four consecutive jumpers.

“It hadn’t been going well up until now,” KSU coach Jim Wooldridge said of his week. “This is about the highest because of the improbablility of where we were Thursday morning coming out of (the Nebraska) game. And then this afternoon, down the stretch, we played poised and played about as good of a basketball game as we can play.”

Despite a career-high 20 points from freshman guard Mario Chalmers, the Jayhawks struggled mightily from the field, shooting just 32-percent.

That carried over into KU’s final possessions as Robinson couldn’t convert on two drives to the basket.

“We still don’t have a guy we consider a go-to guy. Russell is trying, but he wasn’t quite as effective offensively today,” Self said of Robinson, who scored 11 points and had four steals.

KSU, which hit 45-percent from the field, outscored the Jayhawks 41-29 in the last 20 minutes. Clent Stewart led the Wildcats with 15 points, while Cartier Martin added 14 as K-State outrebounded KU 40-33.

“This is sweet,” Stewart said. “This is a big day for the fans who came here, a big day for Kansas State University. It’s been so long.”

Brandon Rush, a day after having his eligibility restored by the NCAA after it reviewed with KU officials the circumstances regarding his application for the 2005 NBA draft, said he might have looked past the Wildcats.

Photo Gallery: KU v. KSU

“I underestimated them a little bit, seeing how they lost to Nebraska,” said Rush, who finished with 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting. “But that won’t happen again. We won’t underestimate anybody any more.”

Self insisted that his squad did not overlook the Wildcats, who suffered an emotional 57-42 loss to Nebraska on Wednesday — in which KSU hit just 11 field goals and Wooldridge called his most embarrassing as a player or coach.

“Just because we lost today, didn’t mean we took K-State lightly,” KU coach Bill Self said. “Give them credit. They came in here and beat us. We can talk about us playing poorly and all those things, which is accurate, but they had a lot to do with that.

“It is disappointing because we are a better team than what we played today,” Self continued. “I don’t want to say that we should blame it on our ineptness, because I thought they played very well.”

Self said his young squad shouldn’t have squandered several opportunities it had to close out the contest.

Despite Kansas State’s 15-first half turnovers or chilly 30-percent shooting, Kansas only led 26-18.

Kansas seemed to catch another break when KSU’s Martin, the Wildcats’ leading scorer,was whistled for his fourth foul with 13:45 left. After Rush knocked down a pair of free throws after the foul KU led 40-31.

But by the time the K-State junior checked back in the Wildcats had went on a 15-4 run to close to its deficit to 47-46.

Martin’s putback put the Wildcats back in front, and K-State never looked back.

“The pressure is usually on the home team in a situaton like that,” Self said of trailing in the final minutes. “They are playing with nothing to lose and we are playing like we are trying to protect something.

“Obviously, we didn’t make plays down the stretch and we didn’t get guys in position to make plays,” continued Self, whose squad was slowed by KSU’s spread-out 2-3 zone. “We made them look like they were a world class flex offense in the second half, which they were.”

The Jayhawks only have one day to soak in the significance of K-State’s streak stopping victory before they head to Columbia, Mo., for a game against another rival in Missouri.

“We’ll approach it like it’s Missouri,” Self said. “We don’t like them, they don’t like us much. But that would be the same we’d say about anyone being a rival. The K-State game, there’s no doubt we approached it that way.”

While Robinson might not have know what to say before about the streak, he admitted he was shocked when KU’s winning ways finally stopped.

“I am a little shocked,” Robinson said. “I just felt that we had control of the game. It was really devastating considering we just came off wins against Kentucky and Colorado and I was starting to feel like we were becoming a good team.

“Now all we can do is try to put it behind us and just move forward.”

Second Half Action

K-State’s Cartier Martin scored the first basket of the second half on a lay-up and the Wildcats have cut KU’s lead to just six.

Brandon Rush lost the ball and David Hoskins was fouled as he attmepted to dunk. The K-State guard hit one free throw to cut KSU’s deficit to five.

Mario Chalmers, who leads all scorers, came back the other way with a drive.

The freshman guard got into the lane again and was fouled. Chalmers hit both charities to give KU a 30-22 lead.

Sasha Kaun hit a tough shot in the lane and was fouled. The KU big man hit the free throw, and the Jayhawks tied their largest lead of the contest at 13.

Kaun added another basket as he threw down a monster dunk to put the Jayhawks up by 12.

Martin answered with a basket in the lane and was fouled. The KSU guard hit the free throw to cut the gap to nine.

Darnell Jackson knocked down a pair of free throws to put KU up 38-29 with a little more than 15 minutes to play.

KSU’s Dramane Diarra hit his first basket of the game by knocking down a midrange jumper.

Rush hit two free throws to give him seven points and increased KU’s lead to 40-31.

Chalmers drilled a three from the left corner to set his new career-high with 18 points and put KU up 43-31 with 13:03 to go.

Clent Stewart knocked down a three and KSU got a tip in to cut KU’s lead to seven.

KU answered with its own tip when Jeff Hawkins missed a long three but Rush flew in to tap the ball in with one hand.

Schyler Thomas hit a three and Stewart scored on a reverse for a 10-2 run for the Wildcats which cut KU’s lead to four, 45-41 with 9:21 to go.

A jumper by Diarra cut KU’s lead to one, 45-44, with a little more than six and a half minutes to go.

Robinson, who had his shot blocked on KU’s last possession as the shot clock wound down, hit a pair of free throws to put KU by three.

But Diarra hit his third basket of the second half to help the streaking Wildcats.

Back-to-back blocks by Rush and Kaun kept K-State from taking the lead, but a Martin putback on a Diarra miss finally gave the Wildcats the lead with 4:56 to play.

KU, which hadn’t trailed since 10-8, called a timeout as KSU is on a 17-4 run.

Rush missed the front end of a one-and-one and Stewart nailed a jumper in the lane to put K-State up by three.

A three by Robinson from the right side tied the game at 50.

K-State missed a three badly and so did Chalmers, but KU got to the loose ball with 3:21 to play.

Robinson missed a three, and Kaun missed a putback.

Stewart, who has 12 points in the second half, hit two free throws to put K-State back in front by two.

Robinson missed a three from the left side, and Martin hit a long jumper to put the Wildcats ahead by four with 2:24.

Chalmers hit two free throws to give him 20 and keep KU within a basket.

But Thomas hit another long range jumper.

Rush hit just one free throw to cut KSU’s lead to three, 56-53 with 1:35 to go.

Diarra hit another long one for K-State right in front of the three-point line.

Rush drove the lane and banked in a shot off the glass to cut KSU’s lead to three with under a minute to play.

K-State turned it over with 45 seconds left.

Robinson had his shot blocked and KSU’s Thomas missed his first free throw of the season. But Robinson missed another shot on a drive in the lane.

Akeem Wright missed the first of two free throws, but made the second with nine seconds to play to go up 59-55.

Chalmers, who had a career game, missed a three-pointer and KU’s 31-game win streak is over.

Halftime

Kansas took a big lead thanks to an early 14-0 run fueled by freshman guard Mario Chalmers, who leads the Jayhawks with 10 first half points.

But the Jayhawks, much like Kansas State, also suffered through a scoring slump at the end of the half.

Kansas, which shot only 38.5-percent, committed 11 turnovers. Kansas State was even worse taking care of the ball and shooting the rock. The Wildcats hit just 7-of-23 field goals for 30.4-percent and had 15 turnovers.

Guard Russell Robinson added seven points for the Jayahwks, which were outrebounded 21-15. Chalmers also had three assists and three steals.

K-State was led by guard David Hoskins, who tallied just four points.

First Half Action

Kansas won the tip and guard Mario Chalmers drilled a three-pointer from the right side to give KU its first lead.

David Hoskins answered for K-State with a putback.

Kansas second shot was also a triple as Russell Robinson knocked it down from the left side.

Cartier Martin tied the game on a long three from the left wing.

Tyler Hughes, an Olathe North product gave the Wildcats their first lead, but Sasha Kaun came right back to knot the game with a little under 16 minutes to go into the first TV timeout.

The Jayhawks turned the ball back with a three-second call.

Christian Moody couldn’t convert on a pick-and-roll, but the Jayhawks kept possession.

K-State didn’t even get a shot off as the shot-clock expired. K-State has four turnovers, KU has three.

But a Jayhawk turnover led to a break-away dunk by K-State’s Lance Harris who put the Wildcats back on top with 12 1/2 minutes to go in the half.

Chalmers, who has seven of KU’s first 14 points, had back-to-back steals and back-to back baskets — including a dunk to put KU back on top 14-10.

The Jayhawks went on a 14-0 run to take control of a game they trailed early.

Clent Stewart gave KSU its first basket in more than five mintues on a three from the right side.

But KU’s Julian Wright answered with a quick move and score in the lane.

K-State, which has 13 turnovers and one field goal in eight minutes, got a free throw by Harris to cut the score to 24-14 with 3:28 to go in the half.

Kansas has hit 10-of -24 field goals while the Wildcats are shooting just 25-percent ( 5-of-20).

KSU’s Hoskins hit a jumper in the lane to cut its deficit to single digits.

A pair of free throws by Chalmers increased KU’s lead back to 10.

Mario Taybron scored on a nice lay-in underneath the rim for KSU.

Chalmers missed an off-balance three at the buzzer and KU went into the lockerroom with a 26-18 halftime lead.

Kansas started forwards C.J. Giles, Christian Moody, and Brandon Rush and guards Mario Chalmers and Russell Robinson.

Kansas State countered with forward Dramane Diarra and guards Cartier Martin, David Hoskins, Clent Stewart, and Lance Harris.