Any number of times over the last few seasons, Bill Self’s Kansas Jayhawks might sputter early and be on the verge of fading out of a game.
Then, presto, an iron-willed leader — see: Frank Mason and Devonté Graham — would stabilize the situation and typically even spark a rally and … all good.
Plenty of those scenes had unfolded right here at Hilton Coliseum, where eight of the previous nine games between KU and Iowa State had been decided by eight or fewer points or in overtime and where the Jayhawks by Self’s assessment played “awful” a year ago but gritted out an 83-77 victory.