Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
16-11, 5-7Big12
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Kansas
25-2, 10-2Big12
Hot Shooting No. 1 Jayhawks Top CU
February 19, 2011 | Men's Basketball
LAWRENCE, Kan.--The top-ranked Kansas Jayhawks made eight first-half three-pointers to jump ahead of Colorado and held on for an 89-63 victory on Saturday afternoon in the Buffaloes' final trip to Lawrence as a member of the Big 12 Conference.
Kansas (25-2, 10-2 Big 12) took a 48-31 lead into halftime after leading by as many as 21 in the first half. KU sharpshooter Brady Morningstar led all scorers with 16 points at the break, going 4-of-5 from beyond the arc. As a team, KU went 8-of-12 (66.7 percent) on three-point attempts in the opening half, while the Buffs went only 1-of-8 (12.5 percent) from long distance.
"I thought in Boulder when we played them, we did a good job of taking away their inside game and we let their shooters get going," CU Head Coach Tad Boyle said following the game. "Their shooters got going again today. Tyrel Reed and Brady Morningstar got going and you have to pick your poison with these guys."
After Kansas took a 22-point lead early in the second half, CU (16-11, 5-7 Big 12) went on an 11-2 run from the 15:47 to 13:19 marks to bring the deficit down to 13 points. The Buffs got as close as 12 points in the second half after a Cory Higgins jumper made the score 60-48 with 10:16 remaining. The Morris brothers then took over for Kansas as on consecutive possessions Markieff converted an and-one and then Marcus scored on a lay-up to give the Jayhawks a 65-48 lead. Â
The final margin of 26 points marked Kansas' largest lead of the game.
Markieff Morris had possibly his best performance as a Jayhawk, scoring a career-high 26 points and tying a career-high by pulling down 15 rebounds. Â His brother Marcus added 16 points and nine rebounds. Morningstar finished with 16 as well, and Tyrel Reed (13) and Tyshawn Taylor (10) gave all five Kansas starters double-digits in scoring. Morningstar and Taylor, along with Josh Selby each handed out five assists.
Alec Burks led CU with 15 points and reeled in six rebounds. Cory Higgins added 14 points, and Levi Knutson scored 13. Andre Roberson led CU in rebounding for the 15th time this season by recording seven boards. Roberson, with 194 rebounds on the season, moved into second-place on CU's freshman rebounding list. Stephane Pelle holds the CU freshman record with 218 rebounds in 1999-2000.
For the contest Kansas shot 52.4 percent (33-of-63) from the field, while holding CU to only 39.7 percent shooting (23-of-58). KU went 11-of-22 from three-point range, while holding the Buffs to only two three-point makes on 16 attempts (12.5 percent). Additionally, CU was outscored 42-26 in the paint. Â
Coming off a loss against the Buffaloes for the second time this season, Kansas scored the first seven points of the game, including Morningstar's first three-pointer, and the Buffs were forced to play catch-up the rest of the contest.
"We just knew that they were going to be dialed in," Boyle said on Kansas coming off of a loss. "We knew they were going to be locked in, we had to be able to handle that and sustain it for the first five minutes of the game, but we just didn't do a very good job."
Kansas pushed their lead to 21 points by going on an 11-2 run from the 5:28 to 3:14 marks in the first half. Reed hit two three-pointers in this stretch and Morningstar added the other five points as the Jayhawks opened up a 44-23 advantage.
Knutson led the Buffs with 10 points at the break, including CU's first four points of the game. Alec Burks had eight points and four rebounds at halftime. As a team, CU shot 44.4 percent (12-of-27) from the field in the first half, while Kansas shot 55.9 percent (19-of-34). The Buffs committed nine turnovers in the opening period that led to nine KU points.
Today's game marked a homecoming for Tad Boyle who played for Kansas from 1982-85. Footage of Boyle playing at Kansas was included in KU's video that accompanies player introductions, and he received a loud ovation when introduced as Colorado's head coach.
"It was nice being back here in Lawrence; this is a special place as a college basketball player, as a coach, and the fans here are terrific," said Boyle on returning to his alma mater. "Outside of the game, it was nice. What makes it nice is the people here appreciate college basketball and we're getting to that point in Boulder."
Boyle was on the Kansas roster the last time the Buffs won in Lawrence, on Feb. 10, 1983. CU has now dropped 28-straight games at Allen Fieldhouse and 17-straight overall against the Jayhawks.
The Buffs next travel to Texas Tech on Wednesday to take on the Red Raiders. The game will tip at 5:30 p.m.
