The last time No. 11 Kansas (11-3; 2-1) faced an opponent away from Allen Fieldhouse, Bill Self’s squad dominated UCF, 99-48 in Orlando, Fla., back on January 5.

In winning its first Big 12 game of the season, Kansas was led by Hunter Dickinson (27 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 blocks), Rylan Griffen (14 points, 4 rebounds, and 1 block), Flory Bidunga (12 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 blocks), AJ Storr (11 points and 5 rebounds), and Dajuan Harris (11 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal).

Kansas followed up that impressive performance on the road by winning its first conference home game of the season, 74-55, over Arizona State on Wednesday night.

Trailing by six points, 42-36 at the half, the Jayhawks outscored the Sun Devils, 38-13, after intermission to cruise to its second-straight double-digit conference win.

Zeke Mayo led the way with 23 points, while big man Hunter Dickinson tallied 15 points and 12 rebounds.

Not long after the final buzzer sounded, Kansas head coach Bill Self talked about the performance of his team against Arizona State.

“Well, we were great defensively,” said Self. “I mean, who would've thought we shot the ball worse the second half from two, we shot it worse from three and basically held them to 11, and then they get the layup there right at the very end. But yeah, that was exceptional. Now granted, they didn't have as much depth tonight, so their guys got tired, I thought.

“But Rylan (Griffen) was terrific, and Shak (Moore) is a difference maker defensively, and then everybody else was better the second half,” he added. “But that was a great effort. I mean, it was a great effort. I don't think we played great by any stretch offensively. Hunt's five of 15 and some different things, but defensively, that's about as turned up as I've seen a team for an entire half.”

If Kansas hopes to improve its winning streak to three straight games, the Jayhawks will need another impressive showing at Cincinnati on Saturday.

The Bearcats enter the game with an overall record of 10-4 and 0-3 in Big 12 play. So far, Cincinnati has suffered setbacks at Kansas State (70-67), at home against Arizona (72-67), and at Baylor (68-48).

When Kansas and Cincinnati met in the Big 12 Tournament last March, the Bearcats dominated the Jayhawks to the tune of 72-52 On that particular day, Kevin McCullar, Jr., and Hunter Dickinson were sidelined with injuries and Cincinnati took full advantage of a Kansas team that simply wasn’t healthy at the time.

“Well, they kicked our ass last year,” said Self. “We weren't whole, well we didn't have Hunt, we didn't have Kevin and all that stuff, but they got a good team, guys. You understand, just 10 days ago they were ranked 15th in the country or whatever. The league's good and you lose a heartbreaker in Manhattan.

“And then, I'm trying to think, who have they had since then? Arizona and Baylor,” he added.

This season, Cincinnati, coached by Wes Miller, is led by Dan Skillings, Jr (13.4), Simas Lukosius (13.0), Jizzle James (11.0), and Dillon Mitchell (10.8).

As a team, the Bearcats average 75.4 points per game, have a scoring margin of 14.4, hit 47.0 percent of its field goals, 35.0 percent of its shots from behind the arc, and 63 percent of its free throws.

Cincinnati averages 8.4 made three-pointers per game and 9.6 free throws per game.

Kansas, without question, will have its hands full against a Cincinnati team that is 7-1 at home this season.

“Well, I would say this is an all-around good basketball team,” said Self. “I think Wes' team always guard, they run a lot of sets, and they score out of their sets, and so I like their personnel. The kid that just killed us last year was Skillings, and he’s a good-looking ball player. I mean, he can score at all three levels, and he's got size, but they got a nice team, and certainly, when we beat 'em at our place last year, I don't know how many guys, was Kevin still playing then? I'm trying to think. He was.

“That was a hard game,” he added. “I mean that was a game. I don't know what we ended up winning by, but that was a hard game. We ended up winning by five, so I'd say last year they certainly got the best of us adding those two games together.”