New No. 1 Kansas and No. 2 Oklahoma meet right away

There were no sly grins, no wandering eyes, nothing but intense focus on the man three inches in front of them. He had a nice tip in, was 2-3 from the field and 3-4 from the line, had 6 rebounds, and 3 blocked shots.

Baylor, which hosts Oklahoma State on Tuesday, will get another chance at Kansas in a home matchup on February 23. Oklahoma will likely be No. 2 in the polls if it can preserve its unbeaten record by defeating fellow Big 12 contender Iowa State on Saturday night in Norman. No current KU players were on the roster at that time.

Kansas: Monday night could bring the fifth No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup in Kansas basketball history.

1 – Hunter Mickelson will never be confused for Wilt Chamberlain, but he could be KU’s most important big man the rest of the way. He previously covered the Big Ten for the Chicago Sun-Times. They were 11 of 19 in this one.

Junior G Wayne Selden Jr.is coming off a 24-point performance against Baylor (1/2) where he was 5-for-6 from 3-point range. Seniors know how to win in tough environments, and if Oklahoma wants to beat Kansas senior leadership is what they will need. That trend was not going to end on Saturday, not with Wayne Selden locked in, not with the 3-point barrage continuing, and not with Allen Fieldhouse buzzing for the start of conference play.

2 – Perry Ellis, once again, was among the Jayhawks’ leading scorers (17) and rebounders (6) in this one, but it was his aggressive play that stood out the most. Since falling to the Aggies, 80-61, two weeks ago, the Bears have won back-to-back games against New Mexico State and Texas Southern. Freshman F Carlton Bragg Jr.

I have a bold prediction: Kansas won’t lose many games in which it scores 1.3 points per possession. It’s time for Big 12 conference play, and we have a top-25 matchup right out of the gates. The last opponent to score 100-plus points against the Bears was Kansas in 2008. The Sooners are shooting 45.3 percent on threes as a team – just slightly behind Kansas’ 46 percent – and they are one of three teams to rank in the top 10 nationally in offensive and defensive efficiency.

The Bears’ best offense came at the free throw line, where they made 25 of a season-high 31 attempts. Why Baylor Will Win Taurean Prince has been up and down the past few games.

2 – The Jayhawks gave up 32 points in the paint, which included far too many drives to the bucket for layups.

Kansas also committed 23 fouls and had two players with four fouls and three others with three.

At the very heart of it all will be Selden and his Kansas backcourt mates, Frank Mason III and Devonte’ Graham.

Hield, who averaged 17.4 points per game as a junior, leads an Oklahoma team that has emerged unscathed after 12 games, piling up victories against Memphis, Villanova and Iowa State. (1) celebrates a Holy Cross turnover during the first half, Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015 at Allen Fieldhouse.

Cheick Diallo showed off a bit of everything in his arsenal. The freshman forward’s potential is unquestioned.

You could say that Kansas coach Bill Self missed on Oklahoma senior Buddy Hield, the reigning Big 12 player of the year. There’s still time for him to make an impact, but if he’s going to, it’s going to have to start in practice because there just aren’t minutes for a guy who makes that many mistakes at this point in the season.