LAWRENCE, Kan. — About 15 minutes after Kansas beat Arizona on Monday, with most fans already outside the building, dozens of Jayhawk fans stayed around to line up behind outside the Jayhawks' locker room, screaming in joy as some players jogged back on the court.
In the stands, hundreds of students did the same thing, creating a postgame environment that, even for Kansas, was unusually crazed.
Maybe that's because for all the history that fills up Allen Fieldhouse like no other in college basketball, the Jayhawks never had one like this.
Kansas never before had beaten a No. 1-ranked team in the Associated Press Top 25 poll at Allen before in its history, failing to do so five times — the last Arizona's memorable win over Kansas in 2003, long before the teams became Big 12 rivals.
"It's a big deal for the moment, but it's not a big deal on the overall scheme of games," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "We're playing bigger games than this, just like Arizona is going to play in bigger games than this."
Still, Self added, "it was probably as big a game that college basketball has had to date ... so obviously it felt a little different."
Endangering ears
Some bare-chested, some wearing red or blue wings, and many of them wearing Jayhawk jerseys, Kansas students jumped up and down frenetically in the final seconds before Arizona and KU tipped off.
On the video board, the meter reached 122 decibels, the level that can cause immediate pain and, if sustained for over a minute, hearing loss.
And that was just the noise from actual people.
The introductory video featured everything from recent highlights to Dr. James Naismith as “Dream On” blasted out insanely from the speakers, requiring earplugs or just a submission, or numbness, to the pain.
But only an hour or two earlier, there were no signs of such a human-created earthquake.
Sunset on the University of Kansas campus before Arizona faced the Jayhawks on Monday, Feb. 9, 2026.
Not only was the weather a comfy, Arizona-like 78 degrees on the February afternoon, breaking the Lawrence record of 74 for the date, but few KU students wishing for the best seats could actually take it relatively easy. There weren’t even many of them outside Allen Fieldhouse several hours before tipoff Monday.
Big Jay, the KU mascot, mingles with student fans lining up outside Allen Fieldhouse before the Jayhawks faced Arizona on Monday, Feb. 9, 2026.
Turns out, while KU students are allowed to “camp out” the day before a game, they get a lottery-designated place in line and must have a presence — but also must take an overnight break starting at 10 p.m. and can take another break before tipoff. Only two hours before Monday’s game did most of them line up again.
This setup didn’t strike atmospheric science majors Kennith Hoyle and Jonathan Slocum as terribly fair. They weren’t able to get to Allen Fieldhouse until two hours before tipoff, unable to get a lottery slot, and weren’t sure they’d even get in the building.
“We’re STEM students,” Hoyle said. “We don’t have time to do that."
Kansas students line up to enter Allen Fieldhouse under a board lit up with basketball rules as written by James Naismith.
Familiar warnings, different vibes
Nine days after Arizona entered the floor at ASU’s Desert Financial Arena under a sign that read “Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here,” blowing that off en route to an 87-74 win over the Sun Devils, the Wildcats were playing under a similar and yet different banner at Kansas.
That one, famously, reads “Pay Heed All Who Enter: Beware of the Phog.”
Kansas students sit in front of the famous banner on Allen Fieldhouse's north end before Arizona and Kansas faced off on Monday, Feb. 9, 2026.
Underneath that north-side banner at Allen Fieldhouse, named for legendary former Kansas coach Forest Clare “Phog” Allen, are the six banners celebrating KU’s national championships: In 1922, 1923, 1952, 1988, 2008 and 2022.
Angry bird
Don't let that cartoonish Jayhawk mascot — moppy red hair, open beak and big yellow boots — fool you.
Before 1946, the bird had a meaner look that reflected its serious roots in local history.
The University of Kansas said its 1929 drawing of the Jayhawk was "a grim-faced bird sporting talons that could kill."
The “Jayhawkers” were known as militant abolitionists who operated around the Missouri-Kansas border before the Civil War, according to the Emerging Civil War website. The University of Kansas grew roots while tensions between pro- and anti-slavery settlers erupted, while the city of Lawrence was named after Massachusetts abolitionist Amos Lawrence.
The city’s main drag, Massachusetts Street (Mass Street, as it is known) was named to honor the fact that many of the city’s founders were abolitionists from New England. The north-south throughfare is far wider than other streets in Lawrence, and today still hosts many of the city’s top restaurants and shops.
According to an article entitled “The History of the Jayhawk” on KU’s website, an early settler named James H. Lane organized and led the volunteers of the free-state settlers “to defend Lawrence and other settlements against the overwhelming advantage of the proslavery forces,” though it also noted that Lane had some enemies who considered him a “bloodthirsty warrior.”
In any case, KU said the “vicious circle of violence” ended only after the Civil War.
“Today, after so many years in which the fighting spirit is evident mainly sports,” the KU story said, “it is easy to overlook that this ancestor of the popular mascot could represent significant aspects in the state’s and nation’s history.”
Another UA record
Before Monday’s game, Arizona set another program record for being ranked No. 1 in nine straight Associated Press Top 25 polls.
The Wildcats were also a unanimous choice for the third straight week, something they had never been even once before this season.
The Big 12 now has three teams in the top five of the AP poll and four in the top 10. Houston (21-2, 9-1) jumped from No. 8 to No. 3, behind UA and second-ranked Michigan (22-1), while Kansas rose from 11 to 9 before hosting the Wildcats on Monday.
Duke (21-2) stayed in the fourth spot, and Iowa State moved from sixth to fifth.
Among other UA opponents this season, Florida (17-6) jumped from 17th to 14th while Texas Tech dropped from No. 13 to No. 16 and BYU (17-6, 5-5) fell from No. 16 to No. 22 after losing to Oklahoma State and Houston.
Big 12 honors Bidunga, Dybantsa
Also before Monday’s game, Kansas’ Flory Bidunga was named the Big 12’s Player of the Week after leading the Jayhawks to two wins last week, while BYU’s AJ Dybantsa picked up the Newcomer of the Week award.
Bidunga averaged 15.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.5 blocks in the Jayhawks’ wins over Texas Tech and Utah, with seven of his blocks coming against the Utes. He had 14 points on 7-for-8 shooting against Texas Tech.
Dybantsa averaged 32.0 points while shooting 64.7% in games against Oklahoma State and Houston, but BYU lost both of them.
The Big 12 also named Baylor’s Cameron Carr, Houston’s Kingston Flemings and TCU’s Xavier Edmonds to its “starting five” honor roll. Flemings averaged 18.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals in Houston’s wins over UCF and BYU; Carr averaged 21.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists in a win against Colorado and loss to Iowa State; while Edmunds had 26 points and 10 rebounds in TCU’s win over Kansas State.
Arizona nominated guard Brayden Burries for both awards after Burries had 15 points on 7-for-11 shooting while grabbing eight rebounds in the Wildcats’ win over Oklahoma State.
Cowboys fined
Oklahoma State fans cost their school a $50,000 fine for chanting “F-- the Mormons” during the Cowboys’ win over BYU on Feb. 4.
The Big 12 announced the fine earlier this week after saying it investigated the chants and said it “will not tolerate any behavior that targets or demeans others.”
Similar chants were heard from the Arizona student section last season after BYU beat the Wildcats, though the conference did not have a policy in place at the time. BYU is scheduled to return to Arizona on Feb. 18, but Arizona athletic director Desireé Reed-Francois said she has a mitigation plan and has spoken with student groups about the issue.
The big number
23: The final number for the longest winning streak in Arizona basketball history, a streak that is also tied for the most in Big 12 history, along with the 23 that Baylor strung together in 2019-20.
Quotable
Kansas guard Melvin Council Jr. (14) is hugged by Kansas head coach Bill Self, right, as they celebrate after their team's upset over Arizona, Feb. 9, in Lawrence, Kan.
"I don't think I'm usually the most overly emotional guy, but that was a big win for us today. I watched how Carolina celebrated when they beat Duke. That was huge. I mean, that was a great win. And even though we won't do that, we won't storm, you know, to me that was the equivalent of that." — Kansas coach Bill Self, when asked about his postgame hugs
