Kansas hasn't lost a Big 12 game in Lawrence this season. Their one loss inside Allen Fieldhouse came just a few weeks ago when they fell to Kentucky.

They have had a couple close encounters versus Big 12 foes.

Both Iowa State and Oklahoma nearly pulled off the upsets. The Cyclones and Sooners held the Jayhawks to under 70 points. Bruce Weber believes that is what it would take to land a W on the road on Tuesday.

Kansas State scored 50 in the first half of the Sunflower Showdown in Manhattan, but they followed that up with 25 in the final frame in the narrow loss. Maintaining consistency for the full 40 minutes will be an emphasis this time around.

So will taking care of the ball.

Their in-state rivals are the scariest when they are in transition. It allows them to score quickly and find rhythm that often puts their opponents in binds and the raucous crowd can then feed off of it and make it even tougher.

Slowing down David McCormack's offensive rebounding will be another item to watch. He collected eight of them on that end in the first meeting between the two teams. The K-State bigs have to avoid foul trouble and box out in an aggressive manner.

Mark Smith lets his emotion fly and is loud after converting on tough layups. We have seen it all season. It cost them a point (one free throw was made of two) against Oklahoma State over the weekend when he was whistled for a technical foul.

He felt he deserved a foul after his physical score versus the Cowboys.

While he didn't get in anyone's face after the bucket, the referees still didn't give him the benefit of the doubt. Weber even pointed out that he wasn't disrespectful and didn't say anything vulgar, either.

"We got to show control and be smart," Weber said, "But at the same time, they're young men and having fun. If you're taunting, then please give them a 'T', but if you're yelling with emotion because you scored a layup, I don't know."

The head coach would rather see the officials give a warning on the first offense in regards to Smith's situation, rather than immediately resort to a technical foul and alter the game.

Weber plans to talk with the head of officials about it. It happened once in a blowout loss to Baylor and Weber let it go. This time after an overtime loss, he wants answers.

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Kansas State won the rebounding battle against Oklahoma State, which was a rare sight. Although the Wildcats had eight more offensive rebounds than the Cowboys, second chance points still went Oklahoma State's way, 8-7.

Obviously, K-State struggled to convert their extra opportunities. They've made strides, but if they want to compete with a strong rebounding team on the road like Kansas, they have to either limit the opponents' second chance points or produce more of their own.

Close losses continue to hinder the Wildcats and their possible chances to make the NCAA tournament. However, Kansas State's success this season has been tied to their backcourt, which usually bodes well in March.

"But we got to get there," Weber said. "That means we got to finish strong and find a way to get in down the stretch."

Weber shared that he's heard from some that the Big 12 could only have five or six teams chosen on Selection Sunday. If that were to happen, it'd be a shame, according to him. He views the Big 12 as perhaps the best conference in the nation.

A Big Ten coach called the K-State boss last week and stated that the league could have all 10 teams advance. Weber corrected him and responded that Oklahoma State was barred from admission.

The selection committee looks at several different metrics to decide who's worthy. If they went purely by the NET rankings (they don't), they'd see the Big 12 has nine teams in the top 60 and the only outlier being West Virginia at 69.

Kansas State currently sits at at No. 60 in the NET.