LAWRENCE, Kan. -- A recent run of road sores for Kansas began to get into the head of Kansas junior guard Wayne Selden.
He acknowledged going into a game Saturday night against Kentucky thinking about three consecutive road defeats, which were suffered by 14-plus points on average.
The thoughts hardly ruined Selden's approach. He netted a career-best 33 points on 12-of-20 shooting from the field, including six 3-pointers that often came at critical moments, as the No. 4 Jayhawks outlasted the No 20 Wildcats 90-84 in overtime at Allen Fieldhouse.
"We needed to get back out there, get aggressive and be tougher than we were the last few games," Selden said. "I feel like I had a little more in my head before the game, just thinking about the game. I usually don't do that, but we've been coming out flat and we were more enthusiastic."
The Jayhawks (17-4) needed every bit of that enthusiasm to preserve a home-court win streak that climbed to 35 as part of the one-day Big 12/SEC Challenge, a rare January deviation from conference play.
The Wildcats (16-5) were in it all the way behind sophomore guard Tyler Ulis, who contributed 26 points and eight assists.
No basket by Selden was bigger than a thunderous dunk he made on a drive with 3:46 left in overtime. That hoop launched a 7-0 flurry by the Jayhawks to gain an 85-78 advantage.
"I thought Wayne was as smart offensively as maybe he's been all year," Kansas coach Bill Self said, "because he didn't settle. If Wayne shoots 20 shots in a game, you'd think it would be 20 3s. He made some timely 3s, but some drives he made at the rim were huge for us."
Kentucky, which had trouble once Kansas changed into a triangle-and-two gimmick defense, went scoreless for almost three minutes in overtime before freshman guard Jamal Murray made a free throw with 46.9 seconds left.
"When we're in the guts of the game, we're just learning now the plays you have to make and more importantly, the plays you don't make," Kentucky coach John Calipari said. "Give credit to Kansas. They didn't let go of the ropes and they fought. ...
"I'm still hacked off that we lost. ... When you have a chance to win like we did, and you choke it, every play is a winning play."
Self downplayed the value of the win because it came during the heart of the Big 12 schedule.
"To me, it was a fun game," Self said. "It was obviously great to win, but it wasn't a win at all costs deal."'
Kansas was able to close the game out from the foul line, though the Jayhawks made just 63.8 percent of their free throws for the game, going 30 of 47.
Junior guard Frank Mason added 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists for the Jayhawks. Sophomore guard Devonte Graham had 11 points.
Junior forward Perry Ellis, the Jayhawks' leading scorer, battled foul trouble in the first half but managed 10 points and nine rebounds as Kansas avenged a 32-point loss to the Wildcats in last year's Champions Classic.
"I felt like we never took a step back and never got rattled," Selden said. "They led for a lot of the game, but we knew we were going to come back and that helped us make stops down the stretch."
Ulis paced Kentucky with 26 points and eight assists. Freshman guard Jamal Murray added 15 points and six boards. Senior forward Alex Poythress had 13 points and eight rebounds but was one of four Wildcats who fouled out.
Selden's guarded 3-pointer from the corner with 49 seconds remaining gave the Jayhawks a 75-74 lead in regulation, though Kentucky regained a 76-75 edge on a bucket by Murray with 31 seconds left.
Ellis made one of two free throws with nine seconds remaining. Then the Wildcats turned the ball over and a desperation half-court shot by Mason barely missed, sending the game into OT.
Kentucky missed the first nine 3-pointers it attempted in the second half. The Wildcats were also tagged with 33 fouls, while getting outrebounded 42-31.
"We just got to learn how to play without fouling," Poythress said. "That's something we've been doing all year, and it hurt us down the stretch. Everybody who was out there fought from top to bottom."
The Wildcats scored on nine of their last 10 first-half possessions to overturn a four-point deficit and take a 46-40 lead at halftime.
Ulis was virtually unstoppable, making 6 of 8 from the field for 14 points and adding five assists. Poythress added nine points on 4-of-4 shooting from the floor, including three straight buckets inside the 2:25 mark. Briscoe and Murray had eight first-half points apiece.
Selden made four straight shots early in the half for Kansas and settled for 13 at the break. Ellis drew two early fouls and played just six first-half minutes, netting three points.
Kansas grabbed its biggest lead of the half at six points with 4:12 remaining before Kentucky went on its closing tear, making its last seven shots from the field.
NOTES: Kentucky leads the series 22-7, including a 7-5 mark in Lawrence. All of those games were in Allen Fieldhouse. ... Kentucky and Kansas were ranked No. 1 and 2 in all-time victories with 2,194 for the Wildcats and 2,170 for the Jayhawks. ... Kentucky freshman G Jamal Murray continued his streak of hitting a 3-pointer in every game this season, a string of 19 games. ... Since a Jan. 16 loss at Auburn, Kentucky came in riding a three-game win streak with a victory margin of 22.3 points. ... Kansas F Hunter Mickelson suffered a high-ankle sprain earlier in the week during practice and sat out. ... Kansas booster David Booth officially donated the Original Rules of Basketball, which he purchased for $4 million, to the school at halftime. The rules were written by the game's inventor, James Naismith, the Jayhawks' first coach.
