FROM KUATHLETICS.COM - A pair of 20-point efforts by Gradey Dick and Jalen Wilson did not end up being enough as No. 17 Baylor stretched its Big 12-best winning streak to five games with a 75-69 win over No. 9 Kansas on Monday night in a matchup of the last two national champions.

The reigning champion Jayhawks (16-4, 5-3 Big 12) coming off a 23-point home loss to TCU, lost their third straight game. It’s only their fourth three-game losing streak in coach Bill Self’s 20 seasons.

“There is time to be reactive in a negative way if your team’s not doing well. This is not one of our times,” Self said. “We have gotten beat, and granted, we got beat [by] a team that was projected to win the league tonight, that’s really good. And they went through the same crap we’re going through right now.

“Our league is that good. It’s going to be a grind.”

LJ Cryer had 22 points with five 3-pointers and Adam Flagler added 17 points, while Jalen Bridges and Langston Love each had 11 for 2021 champion Baylor (15-5, 5-3), which overcome another tough shooting night. The Bears were 37.1% from the field (23 of 62) two days after a 62-60 win at Oklahoma when they shot a season-low 36.2%.

Freshman Gradey Dick had a game-high 24 points for the Jayhawks, while Jalen Wilson had 23. Kevin McCullar Jr. had 14 points and 12 rebounds for his fifth double-double this season.

Love converted a three-point play for the Bears with 14:32 left to put them ahead for good after Kansas took its only lead at 46-45 when Wilson swished a 3-pointer from the left wing. Love’s field goal and free throw started a 12-3 run that he capped with a 3-pointer.

“He’s ready to step up whenever his name is called,” Bears senior Adam Flagler said of his fellow guard. “We weren’t surprised when he went out there and did what he did.”

“That’s huge for us. It shows that when adversity hits, we’re able to fight through it,” Cryer said. “We’ve had games this season where adversity hits and we didn’t fight back.”

KJ Adams Jr. made two free throws with 6 seconds left in the first half to get the Jayhawks within 41-34, the closest they had been since about five minutes into the game.

After Wilson’s layup got Kansas within 11-7, Baylor had a 9-0 run that was punctuated by Josh Ojianwuna’s two-handed putback dunk. That was the last time in the half that the Bears had consecutive scores, though Cryer did make three 3s in an 83-second span — the first two after 3s by Dick and Wilson, and the third following two free throws by Dick.

Kansas goes to Rupp Arena to play Kentucky in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Saturday.