By B.G. Brooks, Contributing Editor

 

LAWRENCE, Kan. – After seven previous games, Kansas’ inclusion in the Top Ten might have been debatable in a few college basketball circles. After game eight, let the debate cease – at least from the Colorado Buffaloes’ perspective.

Rock Chalk Jayhawk – and with great feeling.

No. 9 KU rocked, rolled and romped over CU on Saturday in historic Allen Fieldhouse, burying the Buffs 90-54 in a beatdown for the visitors that was reminiscent of other times in other conferences.

 
CU dropped to 7-2, with a Wednesday trip to Fresno State next up. KU improved to 7-1, winning its 26th consecutive home game.

It was hardly the kind of return CU coach Tad Boyle, a 1985 KU grad, had in mind when the Buffs – now members of the Pac-12 Conference after leaving the Big 12 two years ago – rekindled a two-year series with KU.
The Jayhawks visit the Coors Events Center next season, and the Buffs undoubtedly left raucous Allen Fieldhouse late Saturday afternoon already dreaming of payback.
Boyle remained winless (0-4) against his alma mater and CU lost in Lawrence for the 29th consecutive time. The series stands at lopsided 123-39 in KU’s favor, including a nasty 62-7 edge in the Jayhawks’ 16,300-seat home. The Buffs last won here (75-74) on Feb. 10, 1983, when Boyle was a KU sophomore.
Freshman Josh Scott led CU with 19 points, 11 in the first half, while Askia Booker added 15. Booker had been held to six points in each of the last two games.
KU had four players in double figures, topped by Ben McLemore’s 24. He had 17 in the first half as the Jayhawks surged to a 21-point lead at intermission. KU outscored CU 46-26 in the paint and converted 18 CU turnovers into 26 points. The Jayhawks also got 16 second-chance points to the Buffs’ six and outscored CU’s bench 21-8.
Halftime brought the kind of score the Buffs had experienced in their last game, but this time they were on the other side of it – the bad side. KU led by 21 (43-22), pretty much the opposite of how CU had started on Wednesday night in rolling to a 20-point halftime lead against Colorado State.
KU’s 43 points were the most allowed in a first half by CU this season, while the Buffs’ 22 points were their lowest first-half total of the season.

 

How best to describe the Buffs’ start? Try slow and sloppy. Before the game was 4 minutes old, they had committed four of their 12 first-half turnovers and trailed 14-3. The Jayhawks converted those dozen turnovers into 22 of their first-half points while committing only two errors themselves.
The Allen Fieldhouse faithful was in full voice and just getting revved up.
At the 16:16 mark, CU guard Spencer Dinwiddie went down with an apparent ankle injury, went to the locker room and didn’t get back on the court until 10:08 remained before intermission. He scored immediately, hitting a jumper from the left wing, but those were his only two points of the half. He entered the game averaging 25.2 points over his last three games and finished Saturday with four.
His shot made the score 29-13 and ignited a 7-0 run that brought the Buffs to within 29-18. The Jayhawks might have sensed a slight stirring – and it didn’t please them. A 9-0 run followed, sending KU up by 20 (38-18) with 4 minutes left in the half.
Scott scored four of his team-high 11 first-half points in the final 31/2 minutes, but down by 21, the Buffs had an uphill climb facing them in the final 20 minutes.
And rather than gaining a foothold to open the second half, CU’s slippage continued. KU opened with a 6-0 run, went up by 27 (49-22) and elicited a timeout by Boyle with 18:07 to play.

It didn’t help.
After the Buffs turned it over on that possession, the Jayhawks got another McLemore basket and led by 29 (51-22) before Booker finally got CU’s first second-half points on a layup. But by then, the afternoon’s tone had been established – and it wasn’t a pretty one for the visitors.
The Buffs trailed by 42 before it was all over.

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