BOULDER — Reigning national champion Kansas and Colorado both lost much of their team from last season and are playing a lot of newcomers. But Kansas still has that swagger. And Colorado, in a 73-56 loss Saturday to the Jayhawks at the Coors Events Center, showed it still has a long way to go to become competitive in the Big 12 Conference.
Getting 18 points from junior guard Sherron Collins, Kansas (13-4, 2-0 Big 12) took control late in the first half and never looked back.
Trailing 34-27 at halftime, Colorado scored the first five points after the break to pull to within a basket on a 3-pointer by Cory Higgins with 16:28 to go. But as Kansas seems to do without much effort, the Jayhawks answered with a run.
This time it was an 18-4 spurt, making everything that followed inconsequential.
Higgins led the Buffaloes (8-8, 0-2) with 20 points.
Kansas bothered the Buffs with a full-court zone press, making Colorado players work just to get the ball past midcourt. If the Jayhawks didn’t cause a turnover they quickly moved back into their signature man-to-man and kept hands in the faces of CU players.
For Colorado, that made for a tough shooting day.
Just as it had in its Big 12 opener Wednesday night at Missouri, Colorado couldn’t finish the first half. Kansas trailed by four points but closed the opening 20 minutes with a 15-4 run to take a seven-point advantage into the break. Against Missouri, CU was outscored 27-5 to end the first half.
Higgins helped keep Colorado close by making all 10 of his first-half free throws. But the Buffs struggled all afternoon to find open looks.
Tom Kensler: 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com
