12/2/2008

Unranked KU gets second-half lift from Collins, free throws

By JOHN MARSHALL

The Associated Press

LAWRENCE -- Whistles rang out in Allen Fieldhouse throughout the second half, breaking the Kent State-Kansas game into 20-second segments, halting any rhythm either team might have had.

Aesthetically, it was ugly. In the eyes of Kansas coach Bill Self, it was beautiful.

Sherron Collins scored 16 of his 19 points in the second half after early foul trouble and the Jayhawks made 32 of 36 free throws in a rugged 87-60 win over Kent State on Monday night.

"It was a great game for us because they muddied the game up," Self said. "Those are the kinds of games you have to win in conference play on the road, in tournament play, games where we're not in a lot of rhythm. It was good for us to play through that."

Out of The Associated Press Top 25 for the first time in 47 weeks -- dating to the 2005-06 season -- Kansas (5-1) responded with a gritty win over a physical opponent, using pressure defense to build a big first-half lead, hit ting 24 of 26 free throws in the second half to maintain it.

The Jayhawks scored 31 points off 20 Kent State turnovers and fought through a game that featured 46 fouls to extend their home winning streak to 28 games. Cole Aldrich had 10 points, 13 rebounds and blocked four shots, and Marcus Morris added 14 points and 10 rebounds.

"It's hard to get in a rhythm like that, but that's just a regular tournament game," said Collins, who played 10 minutes in the first half due to foul trouble. "It's just helping to prepare us later on in the season."

Kent State (3-3) had put together two solid games at the South Padre Invitational over the weekend, losing to Texas A&M and Illinois by six points each.

The road seemed to take the life out of the Golden Flashes by the time they got to Lawrence.

Playing their third game in four nights, the Golden Flashes were no match for Kansas' pressure defense early, turning the ball over 11 times in the first 12 1/2 minutes. They had particular trouble holding onto the ball midway through, turning it over eight times in nine possessions during a 16-2 run that put Kansas up 29-14.

Kent State shored up its turnover problem in the second half, committing only six, but replaced it with foul trouble.

The Golden Flashes were hit with 12 fouls in the first 9 minutes and Kansas took advantage, hitting 16 of 17 from the line to push its lead to 62-42.

Chris Singletary had 13 points and Mike McKee 11 for Kent State. Leading scorer Al Fisher had just five points.

"The turnovers really hurt us in the first half," Kent State's Brandon Parks said. "That's not how we play. They did a good job playing defense on us. We really let the environment hurt us today and we weren't ready to play from the tip."

Self has spent the first three weeks of the season trying to get his team to play more consistently.

The Jayhawks were able to get away with some shoddy stretches against Missouri-Kansas City, Florida Gulf Coast, even Washington. Inconsistency burned Kansas in the championship game of last week's CBE Classic, a miserable second-half stretch leading to an 89-81 overtime loss to Syracuse.

Even in Friday's 85-53 win over Coppin State the Jayhawks couldn't put a whole game together, frustrating Self by not chasing down loose balls, setting weak screens, failing to box out for rebounds.

Kansas did most of the little things right against Kent State -- except make layups.

The Jayhawks missed around dozen in the first half alone, with freshman Tyshawn Taylor clunking half of those.

"Maybe it rushing," said Taylor, who had 12 points on 5-of-14 shooting. "I felt like I was there every time and it was going to go in every time, but it just didn't. Players just have those days when they're not hitting.

Taylor made up for it with his defense.

Playing the top of Kansas' zone, he led the charge in forcing all the first-half turnovers and was key in holding Fisher to five points -- 16 below his average -- on 2-of-11 shooting.

"They got up and denied Al Fisher the ball," Kent State coach Geno Ford said. "I think he was a little leg-weary from playing the back-to-back games, but the reality is you've got to tee it when it's time. I thought they guarded him really well."

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