Like the hysterical movie hero who calms down and collects himself after a slap across the face, Kansas Coach Bill Self felt like saying, "Thanks, Nebraska, we needed that."

Fifth-ranked Kansas played perhaps its worst 20 minutes of the season last night at the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City, falling nine points behind a Nebraska team it had beaten 19 of the last 20 times they’d played. But Brandon Rush helped key a 14-4 getaway in the second half and the Jayhawks held on for a 64-54 victory that might help them keep their cool in tight spots down the road.

"I told our guys that we needed this. We needed to be behind in the first half," Self said. "You don’t ever like it when your team doesn’t perform. But how many teams have done well in the NCAA Tournament that haven’t been behind?"

Kansas (29-3), a 15-point favorite, had 12 turnovers and only eight field goals in a ragged and sloppy first half and trailed 27-22 at intermission. The hugely partisan crowd in Kansas City’s new Sprint Center sat in stunned silence as Nebraska gathered momentum and confidence and began to look almost dominant.

But Kansas’ Darnell Jackson scored the first basket of the second half, then Mario Chalmers made a long 3-pointer to launch the comeback. Nebraska (19-12) never recovered.

Rush hit a reverse layup during the take-charge run opening the second half, drew a foul, and made the free throw that gave the Jayhawks a one-point lead. A few minutes later Rush capped the 15-4 run with an uncontested 3-pointer for a 37-31 lead with 14:16 left.

"In the second half we played our type of game," said Rush. "We just wanted to get out and pressure and get a lot of fastbreak points."

● Texas A&M 63, Kansas St. 60: Dominique Kirk hit five 3-pointers and had 19 points, and Josh Carter hit two free throws with 7 seconds left that helped Texas A&M hold off third-seeded Kansas State 63-60 last night.

Texas A&M (24-9) shot 50 percent - a huge improvement from its first-round game against Iowa State - and didn’t let anyone besides Michael Beasley do much of anything, winning its second straight conference tournament game after going 1-11 the previous 11 years.

Bryan Davis had 11 points, Carter added 10 and Kirk was 5-of-6 from 3-point range for Texas A&M. The Aggies move on to today’s semifinals against Kansas.

Beasley had 25 points and nine rebounds, but Bill Walker (10 points) was the only other double-figures scorer for Kansas State (20-11), which should still get into the NCAA Tournament despite the loss.

Texas A&M’s big front line gave Beasley some trouble in the teams’ first meeting on Jan. 19. But, thanks to some creative substituting by Kansas State coach Frank Martin, Beasley still finished with 21 points and the Wildcats ran away with a 75-54 win over the then-No. 10 Aggies.

Beasley again got two fouls in the first half, but not until the 1:29 mark - and after he had his way with the Aggies.

Texas A&M started with Joseph Jones on Beasley, tried Davis for a spell, then Chinemelu Elonu. No one could slow him down.

The Big 12 player of the year used his quickness to get around the two slower post players and pulled up for jumpers before they could react, getting 14 points by halftime.

The Aggies did a better job of containing Beasley early in the second half, holding him scoreless for nearly 7 minutes. Beasley did spark a late Kansas State run with a 3-point play and scored on a hard drive with just under a minute left to get the Wildcats within 61-60, but missed on a runner with 9 seconds left.

Kansas State still had a chance after Carter made two free throws, but Kansas State’s Clent Stewart threw up a wild 3-pointer. The Wildcats got the rebound and kicked it out to Jacob Pullen, but his 3-pointer hit front rim and bounced out.

● (6) Texas 66, Oklahoma St. 59: Damion James had 23 points and 11 rebounds and D. J. Augustin powered a crucial second-half run for Texas.

Augustin, the quick and crafty point guard who led the conference in assists and was second in scoring, finished with 24 points for the Longhorns (27-5). He had eight points and an assist in a 14-0 run at the start of the second half.

Top-seeded Texas, the regular-season co-champions with Kansas, will meet Oklahoma in today’s semifinals.

Ibrahima Thomas had 19 points for Oklahoma State (17-15), which led 33-32 at halftime.

● Oklahoma 54, Colorado 49: Tony Crocker had 12 points and Oklahoma survived an off day from all-conference forward Blake Griffin.

Oklahoma (22-10) got off to a fast start, stalled, then needed a late run to hold off the pesky Buffaloes. Longar Longar had 11 points and nine rebounds but turned it over seven times.

Colorado (12-20), as it did in the first round against Baylor, turned the game into a grind, passing at least a dozen times, milking the shot clock on nearly every possession. The tactic turned it into a defensive battle.

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