MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) – Svi Mykhailiuk had 22 points to lead four Kansas players in double-figures, and the seventh-ranked Jayhawks beat Kansas State 70-56 on Monday night to retain sole possession of the Big 12 lead.

Devonte Graham added 16 points and Malik Newman had 13 for the Jayhawks (18-4, 7-2), who celebrated the Kansas Day holiday with their seventh straight victory over their biggest conference rival.

It was the first time in four meetings that the outcome was decided by more than three points.

Dean Wade had 20 points and eight rebounds, and Xavier Sneed scored 10 for the Wildcats (16-6, 5-4), who had their four-game winning streak snapped. Leading scorer Barry Brown was held to nine points – about half his season average – on 4-of-16 shooting and 0 for 4 from the 3-point arc.

The Jayhawks raced to a 15-4 lead in the opening minutes, seizing control by hitting 12 of their first 14 shots. But the turnovers began to mount – they had 12 by the break – and that allowed the Wildcats to whittle into the lead midway through the half.

Kansas State missed its final 11 field-goal attempts, though, and trailed 40-27 at the break.

The same rim that seemed to have a lid on it for the Wildcats was just as vexing for Kansas, which missed its first 11 shots out of halftime. It wasn’t until Mykhailiuk knocked down his third 3 of the game with 12:42 left that the Jayhawks finally converted from the field.

The Wildcats had problems of their own: Sneed, one of their leading scorers, spent a long stretch on the sideline as trainers tried to work out a cramp in his left leg.

Kansas State got the lead down to single digits several times down the stretch, ultimately closing within 59-50 when little-used guard Mike McGuirl scored with 4 1/2 minutes to go.

Newman answered with a basket at the other end, and Mykhailiuk swished another 3-pointer from right in front of his own bench as the Jayhawks puffed up their cushion one more time.

BIG PICTURE

Kansas coach Bill Self has bemoaned his team’s inability to “step on an opponent’s throat” when it gets a big lead. The Jayhawks failed to put away Kansas State after building an early 15-point advantage, but they did show some ability to put a game away in the closing minutes.

Kansas State took the Jayhawks to the buzzer at Allen Fieldhouse, and will no doubt rue another round of missed chances in the return game. The Wildcats shut down the Jayhawks most of the second half, but they were unable to pull even at any point.

UP NEXT

Kansas plays Oklahoma State on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.

Kansas State heads to No. 15 West Virginia on Saturday.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Chiefs have announced the retirement of assistant head coach Brad Childress and promoted Mike Kafka to quarterbacks coach as part of a series of changes to coach Andy Reid’s staff.

The 61-year-old Childress was head coach of the Minnesota Vikings from 2006-10. He first worked in the NFL as a coach over 30 years ago.

Longtime assistant Tommy Brasher, who had spent the past year working on special projects, also announced his retirement in a statement Monday. Brasher spent more than 50 years in coaching.

The Chief announced that longtime linebackers coach Gary Gibbs would not return.

Mark DeLeone will take over inside linebackers with Mike Smith handling outside linebackers. Corey Matthaei will help with the offensive line, Joe Bleymaier will assist with quarterbacks and Terry Bradden will serve as a defensive quality control coach.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Royals have signed Alcides Escobar to a $2.5 million contract for next season, keeping their longtime shortstop on the roster after reaching free agency this offseason.

The sides agreed to the framework of a deal last week, but it wasn’t announced until Monday.

Escobar, who has spent the past seven seasons with Kansas City, also can earn up to $1.5 million in performance bonuses based on plate appearances. He is expected to start the season at shortstop but will be pushed by touted prospect Raul Mondesi Jr. throughout the spring.

Escobar hit .250 with six homers, 54 RBIs and a career-high 102 strikeouts last season. He won a gold glove and was voted an All-Star in 2015, when he helped the Royals win the World Series.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Austin Reaves hit seven 3-pointers in the first half and scored all of his career-high 23 points before halftime to lead No. 17 Wichita State over Tulsa 90-71 on Sunday.

Reaves, a sophomore reserve, made his first seven 3-point attempts. He finished 7 of 11 from outside the arc.

Shaquille Morris scored 20 points for Wichita State (17-4, 7-2 American Athletic Conference), while Darral Willis had 15 and Zach Brown added 10.

Corey Henderson, a transfer from Wichita State, scored 28 points for Tulsa (11-10, 4-5), hitting five 3s. Junior Etou finished with 18 points and nine rebounds for the Golden Hurricane. Sterling Taplin scored 12.

Wichita State ended the game on a 24-9 run.

Reaves blew past his season high (12) and career high (15) in scoring with time to spare in the first half. His sixth 3-pointer splashed in with 5:08 to play in the half, and he sank his seventh 3 with 4:31 on the clock, giving the Shockers a 33-27 lead.

BIG PICTURE

Tulsa: The Golden Hurricane had more than a week to prepare for an upset bid but could not keep up with the Shockers after losing the first matchup this season by just three points.

Wichita State: The Shockers pulled away for a second straight comfortable win before playing two road games.

UP NEXT

Tulsa: The Golden Hurricane host SMU on Thursday.

Wichita State: The Shockers visit Temple on Thursday.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas has white-knuckled its way to the top of the Big 12.

It took hopping out of conference play to finally breeze to a comfortable win.

Svi Mykhailiuk poured in 24 points, Malik Newman added 15 and the fifth-ranked Jayhawks built a big lead on Texas A&M in the first half before sustaining it most of the way in a 79-68 victory Saturday.

Lagerald Vick added 10 points, and Udoka Azubuike had a couple of rim-rattling dunks, as the Jayhawks (17-4) — so accustomed to sweating out down-to-the-wire games this season — won their fourth straight in the Big 12/SEC Challenge and 10th in a row over the Aggies.

“Oh, we sweated,” Mykhailiuk said, smiling.

Just not a whole lot. The Jayhawks built a 45-27 halftime advantage, kept the gap nearly that wide in the second half and managed to breathe easy in the final minute for a change.

“It wasn’t as easy,” Jayhawks coach Bill Self said, “as I would have hoped.”

Tyler Davis had 18 points and nine rebounds to lead Texas A&M (13-8), which began the season 11-1 with wins over Big 12 foes West Virginia and Oklahoma State. But after ascending to No. 5 in the AP poll, coach Billy Kennedy’s club has lost seven of its last nine in a calamitous freefall.

“I really think Kansas played as well as any team we’ve played all year, the way they shared the ball,” Kennedy said. “I think the Mykhailiuk kid, he made some special 3s, and giving up 10 3s in the first half was really hard to overcome against a good team.”

Robert Williams added 11 points, nine boards and four blocks for the Aggies, whose only win over Kansas in 22 tries came in 2007, before they bolted the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference.

The Jayhawks took control with a 10-0 run midway through the first half, stretching a 20-18 lead into a 30-18 advantage behind the kind of 3-point barrage that has become so common this season.

At one point, they had hit nine of their first 13 from beyond the arc.

Mykhailiuk had three in the first half, part of his 17 points in 17 minutes, as the Jayhawks shot 53 percent from the field and took a 45-27 lead into the break against one of the nation’s best defenses.

“It seemed like every back-breaking play, we’d get a bad bounce and they’d hit a 3,” Kennedy said. “Every bounce, every play, they made it, and that’s the mark of a good team.”

Kansas kept the pace hot in the second half, creating run-outs every time the Aggies missed a shot — and there were plenty of them. And even when they were forced to set up offense, the Jayhawks managed to get high percentage shots, including a rim-shaking dunk by Azubuike early on.

Azubuike had barreled through Davis before slamming it home, then straddled the Aggies’ big man as he dropped back to the floor. He gave him a mean mug, too, that earned him a technical foul.

The Aggies finally clawed within 72-62 on free throws by Davis with 4:40 to go, but Marcus Garrett scored on a driving layup and Azubuike added a baby hook to restore the Jayhawks’ advantage.

The Aggies never managed to get within single-digits down the stretch.

DOKE’S TECHNICAL

Self was not happy with Azubuike’s technical foul, which he called “selfish.” The play also took some of the fire out of the big guy, who had a big first half but was quiet in the second. Azubuike ended up with eight points, six boards and four blocks in 22 minutes.

BIG PICTURE

Texas A&M tried to establish its size in the paint, but the Jayhawks made up for their lack of size with scrappiness. The Aggies’ guards were outhustled to seemingly every loose ball, and that put too much pressure on Davis and Williams to make things happen in a game that hardly suited their style.

Kansas bounced back nicely from a late collapse at Oklahoma, showing a bit more moxie than the Jayhawks have in recent weeks. They had a 15-2 edge on fast-break points, and they hung with the bigger Aggies on the boards in a positive sign for a team that has struggled to rebound.

UP NEXT

Texas A&M plays Arkansas on Tuesday night.

Kansas visits Kansas State on Monday night.

MANHATTAN, Kansas (AP) — Over the last week or so, Kansas State fans have taken to social media and used the hashtag of #DeanWolf to support the star forward Dean Wade as he’s led the charge during Kansas State’s three game winning streak.

In the final minutes against Georgia on Saturday the hashtag #DeanWolf came alive and so did the Wildcats.

Wade scored six of his 20 points as Kansas State outscored Georgia 12-2 in the final 6:11, winning 56-51 in Bramlage Coliseum in the annual challenge between teams from the Southeastern Conference and the Big 12.

For this Kansas State team, games like they had against Georgia were ones that they had seen before. A back-and-forth contest that would see the Wildcats eventually fade down the stretch but in this game, the team showed the maturity and experience.

“I think we have matured a lot, at the end of games we do not panic like we used to,” Wade said. “We are playing strong and confident. Getting a little more experience just helps our confidence and maturity a lot.”

It was a ground out affair for the Wildcats (16-5) who were held well below their season average 77.1 points per contest. Wade picked up his 20 points on 7 of 17 shooting including hitting some clutch second-half baskets down the stretch to help extend the Wildcats lead.

Georgia (12-8) was led in scoring by Yante Maten with 14 points on 6-11 shooting.

Bulldogs took the lead early in the second half and used tough defense, tough shot making, and solid rebounding as they trounced the Wildcats in that category with a 38-27 edge, including 12 on the offensive end alone.

With the Wildcats beginning their climb back into the ballgame, the Bulldog offense stalled as they went 1 of 11 from the field and didn’t pick up their first basket until Derek Ogbeide scored on a layup with 34 seconds left in the ballgame.

BIG PICTURE

Kansas State: Kansas State showed that they can win those “grind out” games as they scored well below their 83.3 points per game they averaged in the last three contests.

Georgia: The Bulldogs struggles continue as they now have lost five of their last six with the lone victory coming against LSU.

THEY SAID IT: “He is a player who can shoot the three and drive it. He can score mid-range off a fade away or a pull-up and is a very good passer. Because he has good shooters around him it is usually one-on-one so he is able to finish a lot of plays.” — Georgia coach Mark Fox on Wade.

POLL IMPLICATIONS: Kansas State could be in a position to have their first ranking since January of 2017.

STATS AND STREAKS: The win by Kansas State makes them 3-2 all-time in the Big 12-SEC Challenge.

UP NEXT

Georgia: The Bulldogs host Florida on Tuesday.

Kansas State: The Wildcats host Kansas on Monday.