In just under 24 hours, the No. 9 Kansas Jayhawks will be taking on the No. 5 Iowa State Cyclones, in what will be a rematch of when the two sides met in mid-January. That night launched an eight-game winning streak for Kansas when they took down the then second-ranked Cyclones in an 84-63 blowout.
Since then, Kansas has taken down three other ranked teams and has propelled itself to its highest AP ranking all season.
Iowa State, meanwhile, has gone 5-2 over its last seven games, with losses coming to Cincinnati and TCU, with zero games played against ranked teams.
Power rankings give Kansas a season-high mark
Earlier today, Kyle Boone of CBS Sports released his power rankings, and the Jayhawks were pushed all the way to the No. 2 slot, the highest of any Big 12 school and only behind Michigan.
“KU's won eight-straight after an 11-5 start to its season -- with wins over three ranked teams (BYU, Texas Tech and Arizona) in its last four outings. The Jayhawks have completely flipped their season after a slow start and are just one game out of first place in the Big 12.”
T.J. Otzelberger’s squad was ranked 16th in the country.
Of course, the game is not played on paper, and if it were, then the Jayhawks probably would not be in as good a place as they are now. Kansas was an underdog when No. 2 Iowa State came to Allen Fieldhouse in January. When the Jayhawks traveled to take on No. 13 Texas Tech, Kansas was an underdog, and even this past Monday, when the Jayhawks hosted the No. 1 Arizona Wildcats, Kansas was an underdog. In all three of course, the Jayhawks won.
When Bill Self and the Otzelberger first squared off, Kansas’ success was predicated on an elite offense that notched a 51% field goal rate, and a 12-24 mark from beyond the arc, with a sharp 19 assists, constantly keeping the ball moving.
It is unlikely Kansas will be able to keep up the same momentum on the offensive end, as Iowa State allows the nation’s ninth-lowest points per game average in the country, allowing just 64.9 points per contest.
However, it has hardly been Kansas’ offense that has kept them in games, rather an outstanding defense that allows 67.8 points per game (31st in the nation), despite the fact that Kansas has already faced eight teams ranked inside the AP Top 25.
Tipoff is set for Saturday afternoon at 12 p.m. CT with streaming available on ABC.