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No. 1 Kansas pulls away for Self's 400th victory

Feb 14, 2010 - 4:21 AM By DOUG TUCKER AP Sports Writer

LAWRENCE, Kan.(AP) -- It took Bill Self less than 17 full seasons to get to 400 wins. He doubts many coaches of his generation will stick around long enough to approach 800, the sort of numbers put up by giants like Bob Knight and Dean Smith.

"I think it's different now," Self said Saturday night after his No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks used a second-half surge to beat Iowa State 73-59.

"I don't think there's going to be a lot of guys who win 800 from this point forward. I think the business has changed enough where guys aren't going to coach for as many years as they had. And also, coaches are making more money now so you don't have to work as long to retire."

Marcus Morris and Cole Aldrich each had double-doubles for the Jayhawks (24-1, 10-0) and Xavier Henry and Tyshawn Taylor fueled a 14-0 run to raise Self's overall record to 400-146.

It was also consecutive home victory No. 56 for Kansas, the second longest in school history and just four shy of the record set during the Roy Williams era.

Self, who spent the week downplaying his milestone victory, was given the ball in a brief ceremony right after the game.

"He keeps saying it doesn't mean anything to him," said senior guard Sherron Collins. "But it means something to us, that we were a part of it."

Craig Brackins, who once scored 42 against Kansas and has always been tough for the Jayhawks to handle, had 18 points and 10 rebounds for Iowa State (13-12, 2-9).

The Cyclones quickly cut a nine-point halftime deficit to 38-35 on a bucket by Brackins. A moment later, Brackins hit a 3-pointer and Self called a time out with a shaky 40-38 lead.

The Jayhawks, who hold a commanding three-game lead with six games to go and seem virtually assured of their seventh consecutive Big 12 championship, then quickly put the game out of reach.

"I'm not going to fault our effort. I'm pretty sure not many people gave us a chance to come in here and compete, and we came in here and competed," said Iowa State coach Greg McDermott.

"It was a 2-point game with a little over 13 minutes to go," McDermott said. "Those types of runs that everyone comes in here and worries about - we were the recipient of one of those. We turned it over a few times in that stretch and missed free throws and we had a hard time stopping them."

Taylor stole the ball under the Kansas basket and gave the Jayhawks a quick bucket, and then Henry hit a 3-pointer to get the Jayhawks rolling to their 10th straight win over the Cyclones.

Marcus Morris and Aldrich each had 11 points, while Morris had 10 rebounds and Aldrich 12.

Taylor, who was also key in a big second-half surge against Nebraska last week, wound up with seven points and four assists.

"I wasn't happy with him at all the first half. He was just out there," said Self. "In the second half, he played really aggressively. He's fast."

Henry, who seems to be pulling out of a freshman slump, had 16 points for Kansas, which outscored the visitors in the paint 34-14 and outrebounded them 47-37.

After Morris rebounded an Iowa State miss and Tyrel Reed popped in a short jumper to put Kansas on top 49-38, Taylor drove in and made a three-point play and Henry drilled a pair of free throws, giving the Jayhawks a 51-38 lead.

"We did everything that we could, but we are short of men and a lot of us ran a lot of minutes," said Brackins. "It was really tough. I thought that we played hard though. With a team like Kansas, you cannot just play hard. You have to play excellent."

Justin Hamilton's jumper halted Iowa State's drought, but Collins made good on a 3-pointer, Aldrich moved in for a dunk and Taylor hit a runner as Kansas went ahead 61-41.

Marquis Gilstrap and Justin Hamilton each had 11 points for Iowa State, which lost to a ranked team for the 20th straight time.