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Kansas ruled the Big 12 conference for decades, winning the regular season 21 times since 1997, but that dominance has ended.

The Jayhawks have dropped three of their last five and slipped into a tie for fifth in the Big 12 standings after an 81-73 loss at Kansas State on Saturday. After dropping one spot to No. 17 in the AP poll, Kansas (16-7, 7-5) can stop the slide when it hosts Colorado on Tuesday night in Lawrence, Kan.

Kansas lost to its in-state rival after a convincing 69-52 win over then-No. 8 Iowa State. The Jayhawks have been plagued by inconsistency, which is a startling contrast from the team that was ranked No. 1 at the start of the season and had notable wins over North Carolina, Michigan State and Duke.

“It’s just confusing,” KJ Adams Jr. said after the loss to the Wildcats. “I’ve never been in a situation here where I answer, ‘I don’t know, I don’t know,’ but we are going to have to figure it out as a team.”

Kansas has nine players averaging 14.5 minutes or more, but the scoring is top-heavy, led by Hunter Dickinson (16.5 points per game) and Zeke Mayo (15.1 ppg). Dajuan Harris Jr. is third on the team at 9.6 points per game.

Kansas can start to find answers against a school it has dominated since the Big 8 Conference days. The Jayhawks have won 20 of the last 21 games against the Buffaloes, with the only loss coming in 2013 two years after Colorado moved to the Pac-12 Conference.

The Jayhawks won the last meeting, 72-58, in Lawrence on Dec. 7, 2019.

Colorado’s return to the Big 12 has not been easy. The Buffaloes (9-14, 0-12) have lost 12 in a row but played No. 5 Houston tough Saturday before losing by 10 points. It was the fourth game they’ve played against a top-five team, and three games were against Big 12 opponents.

“Our guys battled. I can’t fault them at all for their fight and their effort,” coach Tad Boyle said. “I thought our defense in the first half was terrific, the rotations. We really, really battled. We’ve got to build on the positives.”

Colorado is closing in on its worst start to a conference season, which came in 1985-86 when it finished 0-14 in the Big 8. The Buffaloes have yet to win in 2025.

One factor in the tough start is the turnover to the roster. Colorado had experience last season when it won two games in the NCAA Tournament and had three players — Tristan da Silva, Cody Williams and KJ Simpson — drafted in June.

Julian Hammond III is the only player on this team who was a regular on last year’s squad that went 26-11.

Hammond leads the Buffaloes at 13.7 ppg and is the only one scoring in double figures. Andrej Jakimovski (9.7 points), Trevor Baskin (8.5 points) and Elijah Malone (7.9) follow Hammond.

–Field Level Media