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No. 6 Kansas routs American

Dec 30, 2012 - 4:17 AM Lawrence, KS (Sports Network) - Travis Releford buried five 3-pointers en route to a game-high 19 points on Saturday, as No. 6 Kansas routed American, 89-57, at Allen Fieldhouse.

Elijah Johnson followed with 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting from three-point range, while Jeff Withey donated 11 points for the Jayhawks (11-1), who have reeled off 10 straight wins since a Nov. 13 loss against Michigan State.

Perry Ellis added 11 points and 10 rebounds off the bench and Naadir Tharpe added nine points and 12 assists in the victory.

"We played pretty good tonight," Kansas coach Bill Self remarked. "Of course, we shot the ball unbelievable. We've shot it better here about the last three or four weeks, but tonight we were on fire from behind the arc."

Stephen Lumpkins led American (4-9) with 16 points and John Schoof chipped in with 14 for the Eagles, who have lost four straight.

"It's tough when you're playing against a team like Kansas obviously, but the environment was fun to play in," Lumpkins said. "The game didn't go well for us but they are obviously a really good team."

Kansas trailed 5-2 just over a minute into the contest before the Jayhawks reeled off a 21-4 surge to build a double-digit advantage.

Johnson and Tharpe each knocked down a pair of treys in the run before Withey capped it with a dunk to make it 23-9 just over eight minutes into the game.

The lead reached 21 following a Releford triple with just under eight minutes remaining and the Jayhawks carried a comfortable 53-26 advantage into the break.

American opened the second half on an 8-2 spurt to pull within 21, but Kansas answered with eight straight points to push the margin to 63-34 with 14 1/2 minutes still to play.

A Ben McLemore triple near the midpoint of the second half pressed the lead to 76-39 and the Jayhawks cruised over the final 10 minutes en route to the lopsided victory.

Game Notes

This is just the second time that these two teams have met. The first meeting took place in 1988, as Kansas recorded a 90-69 romp in Lawrence ... Kansas has won 29 straight games at Allen Fieldhouse ... McLemore finished with nine points ... Kansas shot 63 percent from the field and connected on 15-of-24 from three-point range.