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Rush, Arthur lead Kansas to blowout win vs. Kansas St.

Feb 8, 2007 - 6:00 AM LAWRENCE, Kansas (Ticker) -- Brandon Rush and Kansas didn't want Kansas State to get too comfortable playing on their home floor.

Rush scored 18 points and freshman Darrell Arthur added 14 as the No. 8 Jayhawks posted a 97-70 Big 12 Conference rout over the intrastate rival Wildcats.

Darnell Jackson had 13 points and 10 rebounds and freshman Sherron Collins added 11 and seven assists for Kansas, which absorbed a 59-55 loss here to Kansas State on January 14, 2006, snapping a string of 31 consecutive home victories against the Wildcats.

"Coach was stressing all week on our offense," Collins said. "We just tried to execute and get some open threes. Stuff started coming easy and we started running our offense."

Rush, who had 15 points to forge a 47-35 lead at the half, finished 6-of-11 from the field and 4-of-7 on 3-point range for the Jayhawks (20-4, 7-2 Big 12), who are 13-2 at home this season.

"Brandon is as good of a shooter as anyone in America on some nights, and on other nights he labors," Kansas coach Bill Self said.

"I didn't expect this at all," Rush said. "I thought it was going to be a come-down-to-the-wire game. "They came in and weren't making too many shots and everything was falling for us, so it turned into a blowout. When we go to their place, it will be a lot tougher."

The deficit grew to 60-39 six minutes into the second half for Kansas State, which was playing at Allen Fieldhouse for the first time under new coach Bob Huggins.

Mario Chalmers had 11 points and Julian Wright added nine and 11 boards for Kansas, which shot 56 percent (38-of-68) and outrebounded Kansas State, 46-24.

"They are better," Kansas State coach Bob Huggins said. "They are way better. They made shots. We got demolished. We didn't do what we had to do defensively, so we had some guys doing one thing and some guys doing another."

Jermaine Maybank scored 26 points and David Hoskins had 13 for the Wildcats (17-7, 6-3), whose seven-game winning streak was halted.

"We shut down as a team," Maybank said. "We didn't play Wildcat basketball today."

Cartier Martin added 11 points and five rebounds for Kansas State, which shot 39 percent (18-of-46) and only 4-of-22 from the arc.

"We didn't play well at all," Martin said. "At the beginning, we gave them too many easy baskets and they outrebounded us. Coach was disappointed.

"Any time you take a loss by more than 20 points and you are trying to make the NCAA Tournament, your coach isn't going to be happy."