AMES, Iowa (AP) — If junior Dean Wade can shoot anywhere near as well as he did on Friday night, Kansas State just might have a chance in the Big 12 after all.

Wade poured in a career-high 34 points, Kamau Stokes added 23 and Kansas State opened conference play by pounding Iowa State 91-75 for its first win in Ames since 2011.

Barry Brown Jr. had 21 points for the Wildcats (11-2, 1-0 Big 12), who shot 13 of 26 from 3-point range to snap Iowa State’s nine-game winning streak.

It was all keyed by the 6-foot-10 Wade, who was 6 of 8 on 3s and 13 of 16 overall.

“Once you hit one, you feel a little bit more confident in the second one and so on and so forth,” Wade said. “Coaches keep telling me to shoot it…so I was taking their advice and shooting it.”

After a blistering first half that saw K-State jump ahead 53-50, the Wildcats put away the Cyclones (9-3, 0-1) by tightening up their defense — while Iowa State slacked off on that end.

Iowa State missed 10 of its first 11 shots in the second half, and Kansas State — picked just eighth in the preseason league poll — jumped ahead by 12 on a Xavier Sneed 3.

Wade’s 3, his sixth of the night, made it 75-60 with just fewer than 10 minutes to go. He also grabbed eight boards for the Wildcats, who had dropped their previous four meetings against the Cyclones.

“If you’re going to win road games, you have to have someone step up and be special,” K-State coach Bruce Weber said of Wade. “He was in that zone.”

Lindell Wigginton scored 23 points in his Big 12 debut to lead Iowa State, which committed 13 turnovers and shot just 23 percent in the second half after hitting 68 percent of its shots in the opening frame.

“Disappointing, unacceptable performance,” Iowa State coach Steve Prohm said. “Our youth and inexperienced showed too.”

THE BIG PICTURE

Kansas State: Given how brutal the Big 12 figures to be in 2018, opening with a road win — even against rebuilding Iowa State — is big for the Wildcats. And although Wade likely won’t shoot as well as he did on Friday in the future, having a big man that can stretch defenses should continue to open things up for K-State’s talented backcourt. “Dean is a threat every night, and teams are going to have to key on him,” Brown said.

Iowa State: The Cyclones can’t expect to play defense like they did on Friday night and win much in the Big 12. That’s often an issue for teams relying on as many youngsters as Iowa State is.

WHAT A HALF!

The first half produced some gaudy numbers, including six lead changes and eight ties. Iowa State shot 17 of 25 from the field and yet still trailed by three. Stokes and Wade combined for 39 points in the first 20 minutes on 13-of-18 shooting, and Wigginton scored 15 points while hitting all five of his shots.

NOTES

Solomon Young scored 16 points, Nick Weiler-Babb had 14 with seven rebounds and Cameron Lard scored 13 points with nine rebounds. …Wade’s previous career best was 25 points in a win over Oral Roberts in late November. …Iowa State’s last loss was a 74-58 home defeat to Milwaukee — a result that felt eerily similar to this one. …K-State closed the game by outscoring the Cyclones 58-36.

HE SAID IT

“We didn’t bring a lot of energy. We didn’t buy in on the defensive end and we were just going one-on-one on offense,” Wigginton said about Iowa State’s sluggish start to the second half

UP NEXT

The Cyclones hosts Texas on New Year’s Day.

Kansas State opens its Big 12 home schedule against West Virginia on Jan. 1.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — First-round draft pick Patrick Mahomes II will make his NFL debut at quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs when they play an otherwise meaningless game against the Denver Broncos on Sunday.

Chiefs coach Andy Reid said Wednesday that the former Texas Tech star would start in Denver.

The Chiefs locked up the AFC West with a 29-13 victory over the Dolphins last weekend, and cannot improve their playoff positioning against the Broncos. So, it makes sense for starting quarterback Alex Smith and many of the other regulars to get a week off before the playoffs.

Reid declined to say who else might sit out, but he did say there will be enough starters around his young quarterback to ensure Mahomes gets a fair chance to succeed.

PHOENIX (AP) — Bill Snyder stood on a makeshift stage in the middle of a baseball stadium with a roof, a sparkling trophy at his side depicting a football sailing through cactus uprights.

If this was the end of his storied coaching career at Kansas State, it sure was a great way to go out.

Alex Delton ran for 158 yards and accounted for four touchdowns, leading the Wildcats to a 35-17 Cactus Bowl victory over UCLA on Tuesday night in what could be Snyder’s final game.

“We’ve got so many people to be proud of at Kansas State University and it starts with our players, quite obviously,” Snyder said.

Delton replaced Skylar Thompson late in the first quarter and scored on runs of 68 yards, 3 yards and 1 yard. Alex Barnes added 117 yards and a touchdown for the Wildcats, who rushed for 345 yards.

Kansas State (8-5) struggled in the first half against UCLA’s potent offense, but shut down the Bruins in the second to give Snyder his 210th — and possibly last — win with the Wildcats.

UCLA (6-7) played without top NFL prospect Josh Rosen, who’s recovering from a concussion, and built a 10-point halftime lead without its star quarterback.

The Bruins’ offensive success didn’t carry over into the second half and their defense had a hard time containing Delton, saddling interim coach Jedd Fisch with a loss in his last game before Chip Kelly takes over the program.

“We handled a ton of adversity this year and a ton of change,” Fisch said. “After the (USC) week, they continued to play as hard as possible.”

Snyder turned around one of the nation’s worst programs after taking over in 1989, leading the Wildcats to eight straight bowl appearances after un-retiring in 2008.

He says he has not decided whether he will return for a 27th season or retire again to spend time with his family.

The 78-year-old coach made a quarterback change in the first quarter of the Cactus Bowl after Thompson threw an interception. Delton had an immediate impact, bursting up the middle for a 68-yard touchdown run.

Snyder opted to go for it on fourth-and-goal from the 1 in the third quarter, and Delton came through again, bulling his way through a massive pile — with some help from his teammates.

Kansas State’s Denzel Goolsby recovered Bolu Olorunfunmi’s fumble at the Bruins 24-yard line on the next play from scrimmage, and Delton hit Dominique Heath for an 8-yard touchdown to give the Wildcats the lead.

“That was possibly the play of the ballgame,” Snyder said.

UCLA turned it over on downs — after a successful fake punt — and Kansas State turned its fourth-down try into a touchdown, with Alex Barnes putting the Wildcats up 28-17 with a 41-yard run.

Kansas State ended UCLA’s comeback hopes with an eight-minute drive capped by Delton’s final TD run.

“They wore us down,” Fisch said.

Rosen, expected to leave for the NFL after his junior year, was in uniform and warmed up before the game, but Devon Modster trotted out to the huddle.

The Bruins still had their big-play game going even without Rosen, building a 17-7 halftime lead on two long TD passes by Modster.

UCLA’s offensive roll ended with halftime. The Bruins had 100 total yards and three first downs in the second half.

“I just threw too many incomplete passes,” said Modster, who threw for 295 yards. “That’s pretty much it.”

THE TAKEAWAY

If this was the final game of Snyder’s career, the Wildcats sent him out on a high note with a dominant second-half performance.

UCLA’s defense, a sore spot all season, had no answer for Delton, and its offense could have used Rosen in the second half.

ROSEN’S DECISION

Reports surfaced this week that Rosen wouldn’t play in the bowl game, possibly to protect himself from injury. Fisch shot that notion down quickly.

“I want to be clear on this: Josh wanted to play,” he said. “Josh was unable to play because of the fact that he had two concussions within a four-week span in November, and our physicians didn’t feel comfortable putting him out there and putting him at risk for a possibility of a third concussion.”

UP NEXT

Kansas State: The Wildcats should be in good shape on offense next season whether Snyder returns or not. Kansas State has no seniors on its two-deep roster on offense, though there are five on defense.

UCLA: Kelly will likely have to replace Rosen when he takes over, but will have plenty of firepower returning. He’s also a top recruiter, so the Bruins should be well-stocked with talent.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — The Denver Broncos will start Paxton Lynch in their season finale against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Coach Vance Joseph made the announcement Tuesday. He said the top priority for the Broncos (5-10) is to beat the Chiefs (9-6), who won the AFC West for the second straight season and could treat Sunday’s game in Denver like a bye.

Joseph said it doesn’t matter if Lynch is facing backups, he still wants to get another look at the team’s 2016 first-round draft pick who has only started three NFL games and just one this season.

Lynch sprained his left ankle in his only start, on Nov. 26 at Oakland, and spent the fourth quarter sobbing on the bench while Trevor Siemian engineered two touchdown drives in the Broncos’ 21-14 loss.

General manager John Elway wanted Lynch to play last week at Washington but he was deemed unready, so Brock Osweiler got the nod in Denver’s 27-11 loss to the Redskins.

LANDOVER, Md. (AP) — As his mind wandered to whether it was his final home game as the Washington’s starting quarterback, Kirk Cousins had a bigger concern early against the Denver Broncos and their top-ranked defense.

“After the first couple of possessions, I didn’t know if we were going to get 100 yards on them,” Cousins said.

Cousins and the Redskins rebounded from losing 2 yards on their first two drives to put up 386 yards and three touchdowns against the Broncos in a 27-11 rout Sunday. Cousins was 19 of 37 with TD passes to Jamison Crowder , Josh Doctson and Vernon Davis and an interception, and managed the game well.

“It just came down to protecting, making the throws, making the catches and converting,” said Cousins, the first quarterback in Washington history with three seasons of 25 or more TD passes and needs 65 yards for his third in a row with 4,000-plus yards. “It was an imperfect game, certainly, but when you have a defense playing at such a high level, it kept us in the game and kept giving us a chance, and then we finally got rolling and made enough plays to pull away.”

Washington’s 386 offensive yards are third most by a Denver opponent this season, behind only Philadelphia and New England. The Broncos came in giving up an average of 276.8 yards a game.

The Redskins (7-8) came 78 seconds from not allowing a touchdown for a second consecutive game for the first time since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger. Washington, which allowed a combined 68 points in its previous two games, forced three turnovers.

“That’s the name of the game,” said linebacker Zach Vigil, who recovered a fumble. “The more turnovers a defense can get and get the ball back to the offense, just gives you a great opportunity to win the game.”

After a week of uncertainty, Brock Osweiler started at QB over Paxton Lynch for the Broncos (5-10) and was 22 of 38 for 193 yards with a fumble and an interception .

“I’ve been a backup in this league, I’ve been a starter in this league,” Osweiler said. “I know how to prepare with no reps and I know how to prepare with all the reps. So was it ideal? No. But is it an excuse? Absolutely not.”

C.J. Anderson scored a late touchdown and was the game’s leading rusher with 16 yards on 88 carries.

KERRIGAN’S MILESTONE

Linebacker Ryan Kerrigan sacked Osweiler twice and has 11 this season, becoming the first Redskins player with 10 or more in consecutive seasons since Dexter Manley and Charles Mann in 1985 and 1986. His 69 1-2 sacks are tied for fourth since entering the NFL in 2011, behind only Von Miller, J.J. Watt and Cameron Wake.

WHAT’S HE THINKING?

Rookie receiver Isaiah McKenzie made a memorable blunder late in the first half that likely cost Denver three points. With the Broncos out of timeouts, McKenzie caught the ball near the sideline inside the Washington 30-yard line and kicker Brandon McManus’ field goal range. But he didn’t go out of bounds, and Osweiler and other offensive teammates were visibly upset not to get another snap.

Coach Vance Joseph called McKenzie over after the play and gave him an earful while putting his arm around the 22-year-old.

“I should’ve got out of bounds,” McKenzie said. “I just caught the ball and mentally was like, ‘Make a play.’ And unfortunately I didn’t make the right decision.”

INJURIES

Broncos: WRs Emmanuel Sanders (ankle) and Cody Latimer (thigh) were inactive.

Redskins: NT Ziggy Hood left with a dislocated right elbow early in the second quarter. Coach Jay Gruden said Hood would have an MRI. … Rookie WR Robert Davis was knocked out with a concussion. CB Kendall Fuller was pulled from the game for a potential concussion late in the second quarter, but was cleared. … LB Zach Brown missed his second consecutive game with various injuries, including Achilles tendon and toe.

UP NEXT

Broncos: Host Kansas City next Sunday.

Redskins: Finish at the New York Giants next Sunday.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Andy Reid addressed the Kansas City Chiefs in a jubilant locker room dressed from head-to-toe in a Santa Claus suit, which not only fit him perfectly but was also perfectly fitting.

The Chiefs had just given their fans quite a present.

Alex Smith threw for 304 yards and a touchdown in another steady performance, Kareem Hunt ran for 91 yards and a score, and the Chiefs beat the Miami Dolphins 29-13 on Sunday to clinch back-to-back AFC West titles for the first time in franchise history.

“Just phenomenal,” Reid said, likely smiling beneath his fluffy white beard. “But we’re not going to sit on this. We’re not done yet. We’re going to enjoy the holiday and get right back at it.”

Tyreek Hill had six catches for 109 yards, and Harrison Butker converted five field goals, as the Chiefs (9-6) dashed what faint postseason hope the Dolphins (6-9) still harbored.

“It’s hard to win football games only kicking field goals,” Dolphins quarterback Jay Cutler said. “A couple fumbles, couple of missed opportunities here, a penalty when we’re driving — it’s those types of things that’ll hurt you.”

Cutler threw for 286 yards and a touchdown, but a big chunk of that came on a 65-yard toss to Jakeem Grant late in the first half. Otherwise, Miami went 0 for 8 on third down and struggled against a Chiefs defense that has been stingy and opportunistic the past two weeks.

That’s coincided with the return of Marcus Peters from his disciplinary suspension.

The Chiefs’ star cornerback had two interceptions and forced a fumble against the Chargers last week, a win that pushed them to the brink of the playoffs. He recovered a fumble and forced another on Sunday, giving Peters a hand in five turnovers the past two weeks.

“He’s always around the ball,” said Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson, who forced the first fumble. “Marcus is always playing with fire, this whole year.”

Both turnovers led to points, but they weren’t the Dolphins’ only costly miscues.

They also were nailed for defensive holding four times, all of which came on three scoring drives for Kansas City. And the Dolphins inability to get off the field on third down, after holding opponents to 8 for 39 the past two games, was similarly deflating.

“Got in a couple situations that we couldn’t use some of the things that we had planned,” Miami coach Adam Gase said. “We just need to find a way to be consistent and get them off the field.”

Still, the Dolphins had the ball trailing 17-13 late in the first half, the outcome and their longshot playoff hopes were still in the balance. But they soon went three-and-out and the Chiefs added a field goal to make it 20-13 at the break, then another to start the second half.

Even when the Dolphins made a crucial stop on fourth down to get the ball back later in the third quarter, they squandered the opportunity. Peters stripped Kenny Stills to give the Chiefs the ball, and Butker hit his fourth chip-shot field goal for a 26-13 lead with 12:19 to go.

That gave a sparse crowd that turned out on Christmas Eve, braving slick roads from an overnight snowfall and frigid wind chills at kickoff, plenty of time to celebrate a division title.

Turn their thoughts toward a home playoff game in the new year, too.

“It’s a great feeling,” Hunt said. “We’ve got these fans that are going to go crazy for the playoff game, and we get to play in Arrowhead Stadium one more time.”

FROZEN FIELD

There was no tarp on the field overnight, so a crew of workers used shovels to remove about an inch of snow by hand. The footing turned out to be fine, but Smith thought the cold weather gave Kansas City an advantage. “We have a lot of experience playing in cold weather,” he said. “All the little things, the snaps, they’re that much harder, and I think all the reps do help.”

STATS AND STREAKS

Chiefs TE Travis Kelce had four catches for 47 yards and a score , and has a catch in 63 straight games. … Chiefs coach Andy Reid improved to 5-1 against Miami. … Dolphins WR Jarvis Landry had five catches for 51 yards, giving him a league-best 103 catches this season. … The Dolphins had won seven of their last 10 against Kansas City. Their last loss at Arrowhead Stadium was in 2002.

INJURY NOTES

Dolphins DT Vincent Taylor hurt his knee on the opening kickoff, while CB Alterraun Verner went down with a hamstring injury later in the half. Miami DE Andre Branch played despite a knee injury.

UP NEXT

Dolphins conclude their season against the Bills next Sunday.

Chiefs head to Denver on Sunday to finish their regular season.

Listen as the ‘Voice of the Chiefs’ Mitch Holthus recaps last week’s big AFC West win over San Diego and previews Sunday’s game with the Dolphins.

The Holthus Hotline airs Saturday at 6:30 a.m. during the Chiefs season.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Frank Mason III is mere months removed from his sensational Kansas career, and this time he sat courtside in his new arena as an NBA rookie ready to watch as a fan and offer some thoughts and encouragement to his old Jayhawks teammates who remain dear friends.

Mason provided a simple postgame message: Keep winning. Be aggressive on both ends of the floor.

“It’s Frank,” Devonte’ Graham said, “we’re in his building.”

Udoka Azubuike certainly took charge on offense, scoring his team’s initial 10 points and dunking seven times on the way to 24 points as No. 14 Kansas ran away from Stanford early for a 75-54 victory Thursday night.

Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk and Graham each added 14 points as the Jayhawks won their third straight game following defeats to Stanford’s Pac-12 foes Washington and Arizona State.

Playing at the NBA Kings second-year Golden 1 Center with several Sacramento players sitting courtside, Kansas (10-2) had eight dunks and six 3-pointers in the first half alone while shooting 62.5 percent. Both programs wrapped up nonconference play with the second matchup of a four-game series between the schools.

Michael Humphrey had 20 points and seven rebounds for the cold-shooting Cardinal (6-7) as Stanford coach Jerod Haase faced his former school where he starred from 1995-97 under then-Kansas coach Roy Williams.

Azubuike upped his season dunk total to 49, shot 12 for 15 and came into the game ranked second in NCAA Division I field-goal shooting percentage at 77.6 — and raised that to 77.9. He is 88 of 113 over his initial 12 games.

The 7-foot center dunked off the opening tip for his 43rd of the season and quickly slammed home another as he led Stanford all by himself, 10-8, to begin the game. The other Kansas players then got involved and the Jayhawks used a 21-4 run to build a 31-15 advantage — shooting 13 for 18 for 72.2 percent.

Mason, last season’s AP National Player of the Year and now shining with the Kings, was courtside along with some of his Sacramento teammates like Buddy Hield.

And Kansas drew quite a crowd to California’s capital city, where fans cheered “Let’s go, Jayhawks!”

“I couldn’t believe it. It’s the nicest building I’ve ever been in. I’ve never been in a building nicer than this,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “… It was a home game for us, it kind of felt like a home game.”

Jayhawks leading scorer Lagerald Vick, averaging 17.5 points per game coming into the night, contributed 13 points while playing with foul trouble.

The Jayhawks are 10-3 in the series but had lost two of the last three, winning 89-74 last Dec. 3 at Allen Fieldhouse. Stanford beat Kansas in the 2014 NCAA Tournament to reach the Sweet Sixteen.

The Cardinal weren’t bothered by the pro-Kansas crowd.

“We want to play in arenas like this,” Reid Travis said. “That gave us energy coming into the game I just wish we could have sustained it a little more.”

TRAVIS STRUGGLES

Travis, Stanford’s leading scorer, dealt with foul trouble and was held to a season-low 12 points after coming in with a 22.2 scoring average as Stanford shot 34.4 percent.

“I was a little disappointed in myself not having more success finding guys and still attacking that pressure,” Travis said. “We’re disappointed. We feel like we had a great game plan in place.”

OKPALA RETURNS

Stanford freshman forward Kezie Okpala was cleared to play for the first time after he made academic progress in the first quarter. Initially, he hadn’t met Stanford’s requirements out of high school and wasn’t allowed to play because his grade from advanced placement calculus didn’t meet the Stanford threshold.

He hit a 3-pointer during his second time on the court and finished with six points in 28 minutes.

BIG PICTURE

Kansas: Graham (1,276) passed Haase (1,264) for 33rd place on Kansas’ career scoring list. The Jayhawks improved to 10-2 — or better — for the third straight year and posted at least 10 nonconference victories for the fourth consecutive season and 13th time in Self’s 15 seasons at the university. … Kansas is 3-0 at neutral sites and 4-1 away from Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks played in their third NBA venue already this season.

Stanford: The Cardinal, who faced their third ranked opponent this season, dropped to 0-11 against AP Top-25 teams during Haase’s two seasons. Stanford hasn’t beaten a ranked opponent since topping No. 11 Oregon on Feb. 13, 2016, at Maples Pavilion.

UP NEXT

Kansas: Opens Big 12 season at Texas on Dec. 29.

Stanford: Hosts rival California on Dec. 30 to open Pac-12 competition.

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Barry Brown Jr. seemed to do everything for Kansas State when the game against Washington State was on the line.

Brown scored the last six points during a 10-0 run in the closing minutes that lifted Kansas State to a 68-65 come-from-behind victory over the Cougars on Wednesday night at the Spokane Arena.

Brown finished with 23 points and six rebounds. Makol Mawien added 15 points and nine boards for Kansas State (10-2), which has won six of its past seven games.

“Down the stretch we really executed,” Kansas State coach Bruce Weber said. “The most important thing is we got stops when we needed stops, and rebounds.”

“It was a good win for our guys,” Weber said.

Carter Skaggs had 24 points and Malachi Flynn 23 for Washington State (7-4), which overcame a dreadful first half to take the lead in the second half.

“This team has come a long way after getting picked last in the conference,” Washington State coach Ernie Kent said.

“As much as we took control, that veteran team grinded out the game,” Kent said of the Wildcats.

Neither team shot well. Kansas State finished at 42 percent shooting while Washington State shot 38 percent.

Mawien scored eight points as Kansas State jumped to a 21-9 lead.

The Wildcats led 35-25 at halftime, after holding Washington State to 29-percent shooting (9-of-31). Kansas State wasn’t much better, shooting 39 percent in the first.

Skaggs had 13 first half points for Washington State.

Washington State found its shooting range in the second half.

Skaggs hit a pair of 3-pointers as Washington State opened the second half with an 11-4 run to cut its deficit to 39-36.

Flynn’s layup and free throw gave Washington State its first lead at 49-47 with 10 minutes left. Flynn sank a pair of 3-pointers to give the Cougars a 57-49 lead.

“We handled ourselves well to get back in the game,” Kent said.

But the Wildcats closed with a 19-8 run to win.

“They closed it and we didn’t,” Kent said.

Brown made six straight points as Kansas State cut the deficit to 63-62 with 1:26 left.

Brown’s dunk put the Wildcats ahead 64-63 with 51 seconds left.

Flynn missed a long jumper and Kansas State rebounded. Brown hit a pair of free throws and the Cougars missed another long jumper.

THREE’S HARD TO GET

Kansas State hit just 4 of 24 from 3-point range.

THE BOARDS

The Wildcats won the rebound battle 43-37, and outscored the Cougars in the paint 38-24.

BIG PICTURE

Kansas State: Former Kansas State president Kirk Schulz is now president of Washington State. The Wildcats have scored at least 80 points six times this season. Against Tulsa, Xavier Sneed led the Wildcats in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. Four starters average at least 12.5 points per game.

Washington State: The Cougars are something of a question mark. They opened with six straight wins, then lost three in a row before beating IUPUI last weekend. The Cougars are outscoring opponents by an average of 42-35 in the second half this season.

UP NEXT

Kansas State plays at Iowa State on Dec. 29 in their Big 12 opener.