Kansas vs. Iowa State: Score and Twitter Reaction from 2015 Regular Season

No team in all of college basketball has more of a stranglehold on its conference than Kansas, with 10 consecutive regular-season titles, but Iowa State took down the king Saturday night with an 86-81 victory.

The Jayhawks are the gold standard in the Big 12, but the Cyclones literally ran them off the floor in a critical conference victory. Iowa State ran sprints and suicides in the summer for January nights like this, and the transition game was the key to the outcome.

The Cyclones pushed the ball even after made Kansas baskets, and the pace and deafening crowd eventually took its toll on the Jayhawks in the second half.

Six Iowa State players scored in double figures as part of a balanced attack, but Naz Long led the way with 20 points and five rebounds. Georges Niang added 15 points, five assists and five rebounds, and Monte Morris tallied a double-double with 11 points, 10 assists, seven rebounds and three steals.

Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press

Frank Mason III led the way for the Kansas attack with 21 points, and Perry Ellis finished with an impressive double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

Kansas Basketball set the stage by noting that the Jayhawks are the one team in the entire Big 12 that has experienced some success in the daunting Hilton Coliseum:

One of the things opponents have to worry about when playing the Cyclones is the transition game, and the Jayhawks found that out the hard way in the early going. Brian Hamilton of Sports Illustrated commented on the Cyclones' early tempo:

The fast-paced start fired up the crowd early for a little "Hilton Magic." That atmosphere was something that Kansas coach Bill Self was worried about before the game, per Jordan Garretson of The Associated Press, via Yahoo Sports: "The games up there have always been very competitive. It's as good an atmosphere as we will play in this year."

Despite the initial transition attack from Iowa State, the biggest development of the opening 10 minutes was a critical foul, pointed out by Hamilton:

Things got even worse for the Jayhawks in the foul department later in the first half when Wayne Selden Jr. and Jamari Traylor both picked up their second fouls as well. That meant three starters were on the bench in foul trouble for Kansas before intermission, which forced Self to at least temporarily dip into the depth.

The bench players had trouble keeping up with Iowa State's pace, as Peter Bukowski of Sports Illustrated noted:

However, Self went back to his regulars in the last few minutes before halftime and cut into the lead. Iowa State led 36-33 at halftime in a high-tempo and entertaining game, as David Ubben of Fox Sports Southwest acknowledged:

Iowa State came out of the locker room exactly how the crowd was hoping it would, as Rustin Dodd of The Kansas City Star pointed out:

One turning point in the early run was a three-pointer from Long that was essentially launched from the parking lot outside of the gym. Hamilton described the scene after he drilled the transition three-pointer:

Kansas found itself in a danger zone with 14 minutes remaining, as Hamilton and Seth Davis of Sports Illustrated both noted. The free-throw disparity was certainly interesting, but it is worth pointing out that the Jayhawks were settling for far too many outside jumpers instead of attacking the lane:

Things got worse for the Jayhawks when point guard Mason had to leave the game with what appeared to be serious cramps. He actually fell to the floor after initially getting up, and it looked more serious than a typical cramp, as Ubben said:

Even without Mason, though, Kansas went on a run of its own to close the gap to 55-53 with just more than nine minutes remaining. Shockingly, the Jayhawks even got to the free-throw line during that stretch.

Perhaps the best news of all was that Mason returned to the game after a brief spell in the locker room.

Kansas' spurt to get back into the game energized the crowd and Iowa State, and it inspired back-to-back dunks for both teams. The problem for the Jayhawks was that they couldn't get back in transition, even after a made basket.

The Student Section and Jay Williams of ESPN certainly got caught up in the back-and-forth action and atmosphere:

Behind the transition game, Iowa State stretched the lead back to 63-55 at the under-eight minutes timeout. Rob Dauster of College Basketball Talk gave some credit to the Cyclones, while Dan Dakich of ESPN put much of the blame on Kansas:

Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv and Ubben pointed out that Jameel McKay acted as a spark plug during the run:

The teams traded baskets for a couple of minutes, and Iowa State took a 74-66 lead into the official TV timeout with just over two minutes left in the game. ESPN.com's Eamonn Brennan described the biggest problem for the Jayhawks:

Credit Kansas, though, for going small and putting pressure on the Cyclones' ball-handlers with some full-court defense. The Jayhawks cut the lead to four points with two minutes remaining and had the crowd on the edge of its seat.

The Cyclones did exactly what home teams are supposed to do, though, and responded with a mini-spurt of their own that stretched the lead back to 78-70 with just over a minute remaining. If the crowd thought it was time to let out a sigh of relief, it was mistaken, because Kansas clawed back to within three points with 29 seconds remaining.

Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press

However, Selden drove into the lane and picked up a critical offensive foul with 14 seconds remaining that virtually put the game away.

A couple of trips to the free-throw line later, Iowa State picked up a monumental home victory over Kansas, 86-81.

What’s Next?

Iowa State will look to continue the "Hilton Magic" in its next game Tuesday against Kansas State. However, things are about to get particularly difficult for this team with Big 12 title aspirations, as The Student Section highlighted:

It doesn't get any easier for Kansas, either, in the loaded Big 12. Next up is a game with Oklahoma at home Monday, and then it travels to Texas after that on Saturday. The good news for the Jayhawks is that they get another shot at the Cyclones, as ESPN's Fran Fraschilla pointed out:

That's also good news for college basketball fans everywhere.