Even with an impressive run through Big 12 Conference play, Bangot Dak remains a work in progress.

That’s certainly true on the offensive end and on the glass, even though Dak has made tremendous strides in both departments since November. It’s true situationally, as the sophomore forward botched a late dunk that could have cost the Buffaloes down the stretch of their win on Saturday against Baylor.

And it’s true defensively, even as Dak has quickly played his way into producing one of the top blocked shot seasons in program history. It’s a run Dak and the Buffs were hoping to continue late Monday night as CU hosted Kansas at the CU Events Center.

“Bangot’s got the ability to be a great rim protector. Right now, he’s a sporadic rim protector,” CU head coach Tad Boyle said. “Like a lot of our players, the consistency factor has to be there. Bangot’s still learning who he is as a player. And I’m still learning, who does he guard? Do we put him on a big guy? Do we put him on a guard? There’s challenges that he’s had guarding bigs in this league. And there’s challenges he’s had guarding perimeter players.

“But his ability to protect the rim is there if he’ll do it consistently and understand that can be a big strength of his. But it comes and it goes. Like a lot of players, a lot of things they come and they go and that’s why we are where we are. But he’s got a chance to be as good as he wants.”

When Dak went without a blocked shot during last week’s loss at Iowa State, it ended a run of 10 consecutive games with at least one blocked shot. Dak recorded multiple blocked shots in the last six of those games.

The mini-drought ended with a blocked shot against Baylor, giving Dak 39 this season. That ranks in a tie for 24th among CU’s season leaders going into the final four games of the regular season, and with one more blocked shot Dak will become the 24th CU player to record at least 40 in a season.

Dak had a slow start in regard to blocked shots — he recorded only three through the first seven games, posting all of them in the third game of the season against Cal State Fullerton — but his late surge has him in position to possibly reach the top 15 among CU’s season blocked shot leaders.

“This has been a good experience for him,” Boyle said. “I said this before, I look at this as Bangot’s freshman year, not his sophomore year. Even though he was here last year and he saw, but he didn’t really get a lot of experience on the floor. He’s got that this year and he’s been exposed at times, and he’s been really great at times. It’s learning from all those experiences and getting better and more consistent.”

Notable

For the first time this season, Kansas dropped out of the latest Associated Press Top 25 released on Monday. The Jayhawks were No. 23 last week but unofficially came in at No. 28 this week as the third team among others receiving votes. … Kansas on Monday was at No. 20 in the NET rankings and No. 21 at KenPom.com. The Buffs were 94th in the NET and 92nd at KenPom.