BOULDER, Colo.—Leave it to Sherron Collins to settle down a team where the top 11 scorers of Kansas are either freshmen or sophomores.
Kansas appeared unraveled. The Jayhawks had watched their seven-point halftime lead whittle down to two in the first four minutes of the second half.
No problem!
Collins got the ball to teammates Marcus Morris for a 3-pointer and Tyshawn Taylor for a conventional 3-point play, then hit a trey himself and the Jayhawks were back on track.
“Settling down the team is the role I accept,” said Collins, a junior. “I am the old man, the guy that has been around here for three years and the guy that has to keep us settled.
Unranked Kansas beat Colorado a 12th straight time Saturday, winning 73-56 with Collins scoring 18 points and Cole Aldrich having 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Cory Higgins led Colorado (8-8, 0-2 Big 12) with 20. Colorado hasn’t beaten Kansas since Jan. 22, 2003 in Boulder. The Buffaloes have lost two in a row and 5-of-6.
The Buffaloes hurt themselves with 18 turnovers, seven of them by point guard Nate Tomlinson. Kansas used the turnovers to score 25 points.
It was the Jayhawks that had trouble handling the ball at the start of the second half.
The Buffaloes took advantage of a jump shot from the corner by Austin Dufault, a 3-pointer by Higgins and some sloppy play by Kansas to get within 34-32 of the Jayhawks. Kansas turned the ball over five of its first six possessions to help tighten the game.
“Coach said at halftime that we could be real good, get out and pressure them and make them turn the ball over and get rebounds off missed shots at the start of the second half or do what we did,” Aldrich said. “And it wasn’t very good.”
Then came the 11-0 run capped by Collins’ 3-pointer with 13:43 left that put Kansas ahead 45-32.
“We came out in the second half and turned it over,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “They made shots with no time on the clock, so seven goes to two, we weren’t playing well at all, but after that we actually played OK.”
Colorado stayed within striking distance. Colorado trailed 45-36 on Dwight Thorne’s layup.
Kansas’ response was another run.
“Their runs usually came off of our turnovers,” Higgins said. “Holding down our turnovers would have been the easiest thing for us to stop.”
Kansas outscored the Buffaloes 17-5 in the final 6:56 to lead 34-27 at the half. Higgins put Colorado ahead 22-17 with two free throws, but Collins answered with a pull-up jumper ahead of a 13-1 run that included a 3-pointer by Collins to give the Jaykawks up 30-23.
Higgins, who was 10-for-10 on free throws in the half, ended the drought with two free throws. Collins’ 3-pointer with 3:04 left made it a 33-25 game. Collins had 15 points on 3-for-5 3-point shooting in the first half.
“If it wasn’t for Sherron in the first half, I bet they’re leading at halftime,” Self said. “He was great the first half. In the second half more guys got involved.”
Higgins had his sixth 20-point effort of the year. Dufault and Thorne provided his only real scoring support with 10 points each.
