Texas-Kansas Preview

Kansas coach Bill Self isn't too concerned that his team has lost two of its last three games because he thinks there's a simple solution for a turnaround.

Returning to Allen Fieldhouse could be all the Jayhawks need for that spark.

Third-ranked Kansas goes for a 34th straight win in Lawrence on Saturday in this Big 12 matchup with Texas.

The Jayhawks (15-3, 4-2) tumbled out of the top spot in the AP poll as their 13-game winning streak was snapped with a 74-63 loss at then-No. 11 West Virginia on Jan. 12. They dropped their second straight road contest, 86-67 to Oklahoma State on Tuesday.

"The big thing is you don't go from being a really good team to a bad team overnight. You have bad days," Self said. "You're never going to look good on what you run or whatever if you don't have energy and certain intangibles.

"There's a lot of things we need to tighten up and paying attention to detail. The ball is sticking a little bit now. We're not sharing it quite a bit as we did earlier."

Kansas has nine assists in each of its last two losses while dishing out 17 in a 70-63 win over TCU last Saturday. While that extended its home winning streak to 35 games, Kansas has won 33 of those at Allen Fieldhouse and Self is 199-9 there.

The Jayhawks have won four straight and 11 of 12 on campus against Texas (12-6, 4-2), including a 69-64 victory Feb. 28.

Perry Ellis had 28 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks in that meeting. The senior has totaled 23 points and 12 boards over the last two games overall.

Wayne Selden Jr. is averaging 9.5 points on 37.8 percent shooting over the last four games after he totaled 45 points on 18 of 33 from the floor during the two previous games.

Kansas has won three straight against Texas with limited production from Selden, who has averaged 7.7 points on 35.0 percent shooting in those games.

Texas has taken its last three meetings with ranked opponents after losing its first attempt to then-No. 25 Texas A&M on Nov. 25. Two of those victories have come during the team's current three-game win streak.

The Longhorns stunned sixth-ranked West Virginia 56-49 on Wednesday, holding the Mountaineers to 31.1 percent shooting and 3 of 21 from beyond the arc.

"We've been using a pretty good amount of full-court press in conference play and our guys have taken to it more and more," first-year coach Shaka Smart said. "At VCU, we practiced full-court pressure all the time. It took a couple of years, but we got really good at it. I did think, at times, the press was able to allow us to be the aggressors."

The Longhorns will need a better performance from Isaiah Taylor, the team leader with 16.4 points per game who enters his first matchup with Kansas. The junior guard missed all eight of his field-goal attempts and finished with four points against West Virginia.

He was averaging 22.2 points on 50.7 percent from the floor over his five previous games.

Javan Felix scored 17 points Wednesday after totaling 19 on 7-for-24 shooting the last two contests. He's struggled mightily his past two against Kansas, scoring no points and missing all 10 shots from the field.