Illinois State hung tough with No. 2 Kansas for a half, holding the Jayhawks to a season-low 33 points at intermission, before falling, 80-61, on Thursday night at Allen Fieldhouse.
Kansas, 7-0, shrugged off a lackluster first half by hitting seven of its first eight shots after halftime to hand the Redbirds, 1-1, their first loss of the season.
Drew Gooden scored 17 points and Kenny Gregory, Luke Axtell and Eric Chenowith each scored 11 points for the Jayhawks. And with six rebounds, Chenowith missed a double-double for the first time in four games.
Shawn Jeppson led Illinois State with 14 points.
The Redbirds, who hadn't played a team ranked this high since beating Larry Bird's top-ranked Indiana State in 1977, shot only 8-of-31 from the field in the first half. But Kansas had problems of its own, making just 12-of-30 and leading only 33-25.
Then Gooden's free throw ignited a 27-13 run the first 9:10 of the second half and the Jayhawks took a 60-38 lead on Gooden's short jumper.
At one point in the ragged first half, a disgusted Kansas coach Roy Williams pulled all his starters off the court and inserted second-teamers, who turned a one-point deficit into a five-point lead during their four minutes.
Then midway through the second half, Williams called time because the Jayhawks had only four players on the court.
Illinois State cut the lead to 67-54 with a 12-5 run later in the half. But the Jayhawks quickly made it 77-56 with a 10-8 spree capped by Chenowith's two free throws.
The Jayhawks, who shot over 50 percent in each of their first six games, wound up hitting 29-of-59 for 49 percent. The Redbirds were 20-of-60.
It's the seventh time in Williams' 12 seasons the Jayhawks have started 7-0.
