“I told everybody that when I started hitting shots they’d come in bunches. It just happened,” said Morningstar, KU’s 6-foot-3 senior from Lawrence, who has drilled 21 of his last 35 threes.

Overall, he’s made 22 of 42 in Big 12 play for 52.4 percent, well ahead of Cory Joseph’s 48.8 percent mark from beyond the arc.

“I was in a slump for a while,” Morningstar said. “It wasn’t because of anything other than I was not making shots. After I missed a bunch, maybe I started thinking about it too much. That’s all a slump is. Eventually, you shoot your way out of it. I found my way to shoot out of it. Now I’m just trying to do whatever I can to make the team better and win games.”

Morningstar enters Saturday’s 3 p.m. tipoff at Lloyd Noble Center with an 8.2 scoring mark off 53.5 percent shooting in league games. He has 52 assists against seven turnovers, a staggering differential that coach Bill Self referred to as a “joke.”

It’s by far the best assist-to-turnover ratio in the league, ahead of Nebraska’s Lance Jeter (64 assists, 30 turnovers).

Morningstar’s eyes brightened when asked if his play in Big 12 games gives him an outside shot for second-team all-conference mention.

“I have not thought of that at all. I have absolutely no idea how that goes down,” Morningstar said. “If we can win these next three games and hope Texas slips up in one of them, we can keep our Big 12 thing going (six straight league titles). That’s what we are playing for now. It’s the Big 12 title.”

The Jayhawks enter Saturday’s game 26-2 overall and 11-2 in conference play, compared to Texas’ 24-4, 12-1 mark.

Oklahoma, meanwhile, enters at 12-15, 4-9. The Sooners have dropped six in a row since opening 4-3.

“It’s a challenge,” Sooner coach Jeff Capel said of keeping his players focused as they try to gain momentum going into next season.

OU, which has just one senior on the roster in Cade Davis, is hoping to avoid a repeat of 2009-10, when the Sooners dropped nine straight games to close a 13-18 season.

“It’s something we have to really try to make sure we’re building for the future, not just for right now. We are playing for something bigger than just this season,” Capel said.

“To respect the game, to respect our program, to play the game and prepare the right way all the time, we are trying to develop really good habits that will sustain us through anything, whether we go through adversity, whether we go through success. It’s one of the things we are trying to teach right now,” he added.

The Sooners, who suffered a 61-47 loss at Texas A&M on Wednesday (they’ve also lost to Kansas State, Nebraska, Missouri, Texas and Oklahoma State in February), haven’t shown much firepower in averaging 66.0 points a game.

Andrew Fitzgerald, a 6-8 sophomore from Baltimore, and Davis, 6-5 from Elk City, Okla., lead the team at 13.3 and 13.0 points a game respectively. Steven Pledger, a 6-4 sophomore from Chesapeake, Va., averages 11.4 points a game. Cameron Clark, a 6-6 freshman from Sherman, Texas, and Carl Blair, a 6-2 sophomore from Houston, check in at 9.6 and 7.6 ppg respectively.

“It’s a complete opposite,” Davis told the Daily Oklahoman, comparing last year’s slide to this year’s. “Through streaks of losses throughout the year, I don’t think there’s been any point in time guys have said, ‘This season is over with, we might as throw in the towel.’ We’ve kept fighting.”

The fall has been rapid in Norman.

OU opened last season ranked in the top 20 in the preseason.

“We’re still working hard,” Pledger told the Oklahoman. “Last year when we got on that losing streak, everyone was down. No one wanted to work anymore. People kind of gave up. There’s definitely a big difference.”

Noted Fitzgerald: “Last year we had a lot of individuals who went through their own thing, a lot of attitudes. This is a complete different vibe this year. We’re so young. Everyone is still hungry to win.”

The Jayhawks have won six straight over OU dating to 2006. The Sooners are 11-3 overall at home this season.

“I would say this … seeing them early in the season to now, Jeff has done a great job,” Self said. “They are a different team than they were when the season started. They’ve lost some close games of late. Their record is no indication of how they’ve improved.”

“I love Cade Davis. He can get on a roll and make shots,” Self said. “Fitzgerald has become a very good back-to-the-basket guy. The thing they do is mix defenses. They don’t give up easy baskets.”

Favoring OSU

Self, a native of Edmond, Okla., who played basketball at Oklahoma State, was asked if he disliked the Sooners growing up.

“Yeah, absolutely. I think it’s hard to grow up in a state where you go to the rival school and not feel that way, especially if you play collegiate sports. Without a doubt that’s the case,” Self said. “We grew up in Oklahoma feeling the same way about the Sooners that people here feel about the Tigers or Wildcats. It’s par for the course.”

OU sliced a 15-point halftime deficit to 55-50 before ultimately falling, 77-62, last Saturday at Kansas State.

“We’ve gotten better,” Capel told the Oklahoman. “We’re just in a very tough conference and played a very tough non-conference schedule, which probably wasn’t the best thing for this group or guys gaining a lot of confidence (early)… We’ve done a lot of good things. Unfortunately it hasn’t correlated into as many wins as we would like.”

Film sessions

During the losing streak, Capel has shown his players film of positive plays during games.

“Sometimes a guy has to be reminded, especially when you’re being beat up,” Capel said. “That’s what losing feels like. You’re beat up. You don’t feel good. But for the most part our guys feel good about the effort they’re giving. It’s just mistakes we have to clean up.”

Stats, facts

KU, which has won six in a row over OU, leads the series, 135-64. … KU is 47-40 against OU in Norman, 15-15 in Noble Center. … KU has won the last two meetings at Noble and is 2-1 in the facility under Self. … Since the inception of the Big 12, Kansas is 14-4 against Oklahoma — 12-2 in regular-season play and 2-2 in the Big 12 championship.