Missouri 65 - 90 19Kansas
Final
  for this game

Collins, Kansas batter rival in Border War

Mar 2, 2009 - 12:26 AM LAWRENCE, Kansas (Ticker) -- Sherron Collins and the Jayhawks turned the latest version of "The Border War" into a massacre.

Collins recorded 25 points, six assists and five rebounds as the 15th-ranked Jayhawks used a huge first half to cruise to a 90-65 victory over No. 8 Missouri on Sunday.

Cole Aldrich added 19 points and 14 rebounds for the defending national champion Jayhawks (24-5, 13-1 Big 12), who avenged their lone conference loss in a huge way.

"We expected to win," Collins said. "We didn't know what the score was going to be, but today we attacked the pressure and that was a key thing."

Kansas let a 14-point lead slip away in a 62-60 loss in Columbia last month. But the Jayhawks built a nearly insurmountable lead early in this one. Kansas opened the game on a 21-5 run and led, 45-19, at halftime.

"We knew we were going to come out with a lot of energy," Aldrich said. "We knew we were going to be pumped for this game. We kind of gave one away in Columbia. It's on our home court."

"We were a pretty good basketball team that first half," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "That's probably the best half of basketball we played since the North Carolina game last year."

Collins had 11 points, five assists and four rebounds. The Jayhawks shot 56 percent (18-of-32) and held the Tigers to 20 percent (8-of-39) in the opening 20 minutes.

"We missed a lot of easy shots early in the game," Missouri coach Mike Anderson said. "When you miss easy opportunities and then Kansas came back in transition and did a good job of attacking us on the offensive end. They made shots and we didn't.

"We shot twenty percent in the first half and made eight field goals. That is not typical of our team, but hats off to Kansas."

The Tigers shot just 3-of-15 from the arc and trailed by double digits the entire second half.

Leo Lyons and DeMarre Carroll were the only players that showed up for Missouri (24-5, 11-3). Lyons scored 20 points and Carroll added 14 and 10 rebounds.

"I thought we came out of the gate pretty tentative," Carroll said. "You have to give credit to Kansas for coming out more aggressive than us.






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