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Kansas needs overtime to defeat Iowa State

Jan 13, 2007 - 10:50 PM AMES, Iowa (Ticker) -- Iowa State coach Greg McDermott almost certainly will be having his players spend more time on their free-throw shooting in practice now.

In large part because of a woeful performance at the line, the Cyclones came up just short in their hopes of upsetting Kansas, falling to the sixth-ranked Jayhawks in overtime, 68-64, in a Big 12 Conference contest.

Brandon Rush collected 12 points and nine rebounds and made several key plays in overtime for the Jayhawks (15-2, 2-0 Big 12), who won their ninth straight game.

But Kansas' triumph almost certainly would not have occurred had Iowa State (11-6, 2-1) not misfired on 11 of its 19 free-throw attempts.

"Our free-throw shooting was poor," McDermott said. "We need to commit ourselves to getting better than that. Anytime you lose a close game, you look at the little things that hurt you. Our margin of error is really small."

The Jayhawks trailed, 63-61, before Rush scored on an alley-oop dunk with just under two minutes to play in the extra session. The sophomore guard gave Kansas the lead for good, 65-63, on a steal and dunk with 46 seconds to go.

Cyclones guard Corey McIntosh was whistled for traveling on the next possession, and Mario Chalmers sank two free throws for a 67-63 edge with 21 seconds remaining.

Mike Taylor had a chance to halve the deficit for Iowa State but only could split a pair from the line with 9.4 seconds left, and Julian Wright iced the game by making 1-of-2 free throws with 5.9 to play.

Taylor scored 21 points but made just 3-of-8 free throws for the hosts.

"It was a great college basketball game, but someone has to lose," McDermott said. "Our guys battled and defensively we executed the plan really well. We played Kansas and only committed 10 turnovers."

The Cyclones connected on 10-of-29 3-pointers while the Jayhawks made just 2-of-11 from the arc. Kansas converted only 14-of-24 free throws, but Chalmers sank all five of his attempts.

Iowa State took a 58-55 lead with 1:10 left in regulation on a 3-pointer by freshman Dodie Dunson, but Rush tied it with a shot from the arc with 54 seconds to play.

Jiri Hubalek missed a shot with 29 seconds to go but Kansas was unable to win it in regulation, with Chalmers misfiring on a 3-pointer and Russell Robinson failing to sink a follow shot.