Tuesday, February 05, 2008
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Kansas Sweeps Missouri for Year

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[February 05, 2008]  LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) -- For the first time since a fight outside a nightclub last month threw the program into turmoil, Missouri had almost all its players.

That still wasn't nearly enough to stop Kansas.

Darrell Arthur scored nine points during a second-half surge for Kansas in a 90-71 victory Monday night, giving the Jayhawks their 20th straight home win and a season sweep of their archrivals.

Brandon Rush scored 19 points for Kansas (22-1, 7-1 Big 12), which is 2-0 since having its perfect record shattered in a loss last week at Kansas State.

"That loss showed us some things that we needed to work on," said Rush.

Jason Horton and Darryl Butterfield entered the game midway through the first half, giving Missouri (13-10, 3-5) a full complement of players -- except for the injured Stefhon Hannah -- for the first time since a fight outside a Columbia, Mo., night club on Jan. 27.

Hannah, who had 23 points and six assists in Missouri's six-point loss to Kansas on Jan. 19, broke his jaw in the altercation and four players were suspended indefinitely. Leo Lyons and Marshall Brown were reinstated for Saturday's 77-74 victory over then-No. 22 Kansas State.

But Butterfield and Horton did not return until about nine minutes remained in the first half of Kansas' ninth straight home win over the Tigers.

"We have been playing short-handed the last two games," said Missouri's Keon Lawrence, who played 36 minutes and scored 25 points. "A lot of guys are playing a lot of minutes who aren't used to that. I think tonight the minutes kind of caught up with us because we didn't go after the ball aggressively at all."

By the time Butterfield and Horton got into the game, the Jayhawks already had a 27-19 lead and were in the middle of a 13-6 run that Rush capped with a 3-pointer that made it 36-23.

DeMarre Carroll, J.T. Tiller and Lyons all had 13 points for Missouri, which hasn't won at Kansas since former coach Norm Stewart's last season in 1999.

Missouri was 0-for-10 from the 3-point arc, the first time a Kansas opponent did not have at least one 3-pointer in almost 12 years.

"I've never had a team that didn't score a 3-point shot, so that tells you how strange it was," Missouri coach Mike Anderson said. "But Kansas dominated the glass. They played well. Their size was to their advantage."

The taller Jayhawks outrebounded the Tigers 48-25.

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"We played well considering we were playing in foul trouble," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "Offensively, we were good the whole night. Defensively, our guards didn't guard. They got the ball wherever they wanted off the bounce and we have to correct that."

Kaun had five points in the early run as the Jayhawks rolled into halftime with a 45-33 lead en route to their 30th victory in their last 31 regular-season games.

Horton played 8 minutes and wound up with no points on 0-for-1 shooting. Butterfield was 0-for-3 from the floor and picked up two fouls in his 5 minutes.

The Tigers tried alternating 3-2 and 2-3 zones and were able to keep the Jayhawks from driving inside in the early going. But then Kaun, the 6-foot-11 senior, began cutting through the traffic. He got a contested putback, was fouled and sank the free throw for a 23-17 lead. After a Missouri turnover and a Kansas miss, Kaun blocked a shot and Sherron Collins made it 25-17 with a jumper.

"Cole (Andrich) and Sasha really bailed us out in the first half," said Self. "Collectively, those guys were terrific.

Arthur, held to just two points in the first half after getting his third foul, had 11 points in the second half and was all the offense Kansas had for about a 4-minute stretch. He hit a jumper in the lane to make it 60-47, then added another bucket a moment later, drilled two free throws, hit two more from the foul line and made it 67-51 with another free throw.

Collins and Kaun each had 12 points.

As though to rub salt in their rival's wounds, the Jayhawks used the halftime of this game to bring their football team onto the floor and present the Orange Bowl trophy it won with a 24-21 victory over Virginia Tech.

Missouri, the only team to beat Kansas last season, is still seething over being denied a BCS invitation and going to the Cotton Bowl while Kansas got to play in the Orange.

[Associated Press; By DOUG TUCKER]

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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