Kansas passed the exam, 58-57, Thursday night in its first true road game of the season, with the No. 5 Jayhawks showing their defensive grittiness.

No one on the floor could match Jalen Wilson’s guts in the final seconds. The No. 14 Red Raiders had just called a timeout with 5.9 seconds to go. Wilson drew Terrence Shannon Jr. for his defensive assignment, and Beard certainly wanted the ball in Shannon’s hands, considering the sophomore had scored 13 of his overall 20 points in the second half.

Not only did Wilson stick with Shannon as he attacked off the bounce from the top of the key, KU’s star redshirt freshman rose up to block the jumper from outside of the right elbow and then chased down the defensive rebound to seal the victory.

The man who carried KU offensively, junior guard Ochai Agbaji, marveled at Wilson’s clutch defense.

“Shoot, at game point when we need a stop the most throughout the game, I think that’s the hardest thing to do, come up and make a big block,” Agbaji said. “Usually you just want to disrupt their shot, not foul them or anything. But he made a great play on the ball.”

It was just over a week ago that Wilson fouled on a Creighton 3-pointer late in the Jayhawks’ home win on Dec. 8. A misstep or an extended hand too far and Wilson could’ve fouled Shannon, giving him potential go-ahead free throws.

Not this time, though.

KU’s best defender, senior Marcus Garrett, of course, appreciated what he saw from Wilson in the waning seconds of the Big 12 opener.

“That was a great play by Jalen,” Garrett said. “I feel like we’re all competitors. Everybody wanted to compete. Everybody wanted to make the game-winning play on defense, too. J-Wil was actually able to make the play.”

There might not be a more mentally tough player on the roster than Wilson. It was not a good night for the 6-foot-8 wing from Denton, Texas. At least not until the game was on the line.

To make that type of defensive effort after scoring just seven points to go with three rebounds in 29 minutes says a great deal about Wilson’s competitiveness and desire to win.

A changeup to a 2-3 zone in the second half kept the Red Raiders from getting too many easy points at the foul line, but Bill Self isn’t the type of coach to play zone defense with a game on the line.

The Jayhawks went small in the final seconds and played man-to-man, a move that allowed Wilson to shine.

“I thought Jalen did a really good job on Shannon, forced him right and made him take a hard shot there late,” Self said.

With Wilson’s help — his late 3-pointer lifted the Jayhawks past Creighton, and he scored a crucial basket inside late versus Kentucky — KU is making a habit of winning tight games, improving to 4-0 in ones that are decided by four or fewer points.

The Jayhawks aren’t dominant defensively like they were a year ago, but their defense helped them win what at times looked like a rock fight at Texas Tech.

“Definitely down the stretch I feel like we locked in,” Garrett said, while also calling himself out for Tech hitting a pair of 3-pointers over him with KU in a 2-3 zone. “I felt like we guarded. We sat down and guarded our man better this game.”

Self sees the defense improving, too, even though he’s far from raving about it at this juncture.

“I think that we’re OK defensively on the perimeter,” Self said afterward. “I think that our pivot position can become a better defender as far as discouraging and keeping guys from attacking the rim.”

Self made sure to point out he wasn’t saying David McCormack and Mitch Lightfoot are bad inside, just that he’d like more from them because it would improve the team’s defense — a very polite way of putting it.

“We’re not great at guarding the ball at times. But we seem to be getting a little bit better at it,” Self went on. “And they’re not easy to guard, because (Red Raiders guard Mac) McClung and Shannon can really put their head down and drive it. But I thought for the most part we did a pretty nice job.”

After all, Tech only shot 6-for-23 on 3-pointers and 20-for-62 from the floor overall.

Self couldn’t help but notice the Red Raiders’ 32.3% field goal percentage on their home court.

“That means we were at least doing some things right,” he said.