The No. 9-ranked Kansas Jayhawks men’s basketball team is set to play in-state rival Kansas State on Saturday. Both teams are coming off losses: K-State fell to Texas Tech on Tuesday and KU stumbled at Iowa State on Wednesday.

The most frustrating thing about this defeat for K-State is that the Wildcats played well enough to win for much of the afternoon. But they fell behind 14-0 in the opening moments and were unable to cut the deficit closer than six the rest of the way.

The Jayhawks led by as many as 16 on Saturday, never trailing in an 84-74 win over the Wildcats. From the time it was 20-4 until the final buzzer, the No. 9 Jayhawks played cool, calm and collected, answering each K-State run with timely buckets.

The No. 9 Kansas Jayhawks won the Sunflower Showdown in dominant fashion with an 84-74 victory over the Kansas State Wildcats in the latest edition of the Sunflower Showdown on Saturday.

Kansas basketball had a chance to continue to move higher in the top 10 with a win this week against Iowa State. But did the Jayhawks earn a win?

Kansas basketball never trailed and ran its winning streak against Kansas State basketball in Allen Fieldhouse to 19 games in the Sunflower Showdown.

The game tips off at Allen Fieldhouse, where Kansas will look to right the ship after a recent stretch of inconsistency. A win over Kansas State could steady the course for Bill Self’s squad as they push toward the heart of Big 12 play.

Kansas State travels to Lawrence for the first round of the 2025 Sunflower Showdown looking to end an 18-game drought at Allen Fieldhouse.