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Chalmers, Kansas earn sixth straight win

Feb 25, 2007 - 2:28 AM LAWRENCE, Kansas (Ticker) -- Kansas appears to be peaking at the right time.

Mario Chalmers scored 18 points as the sixth-ranked Jayhawks remained tied for first place in the Big 12 Conference with an 89-52 demolition of Iowa State.

Freshman Darrell Arthur had 15 and 11 rebounds for Kansas (25-4, 12-2 Big 12), which has won six straight games to sit atop the league standings with Texas A&M. The Aggies posted a 97-87 victory over Baylor earlier Saturday.

It was the second straight double-double for Arthur, who is averaging 13.0 points and 8.3 rebounds in his last four games.

"I think I've been playing pretty good offensively," Arthur said. "Defensively, I've been crashing the boards pretty hard. Coach (Bill Self) is saying that if we win the boards; we win the game. So I just put that in my head and run with it."

The game was well in hand at the half, as the Jayhawks shot 52 percent (17-of-33) to go into the break with a 41-17 lead.

"We were defeated in every aspect of the game, both physically and mentally," Iowa State coach Greg McDermott said. "The credit goes to Kansas. We started the game like we wanted to; the tempo was in our favor and we were getting some stops and limiting their transition baskets. Then, foolish turnovers on our part and losing them in transition; once they got up it was hard us to come back."

Iowa State (14-14, 5-9) shot just 18 percent (5-of-28) in the first half, including 1-of-10 on 3-pointers.

The Cyclones took the Jayhawks to overtime before falling in their first meeting on January 13, but were never even close this time. Kansas has beaten its last six opponents by an average of 29 points.

"They just outplayed us. They did force the tempo in transition which gave us problems," Iowa State guard Mike Taylor said. "They just attacked the glass. They were just tougher than us. Kansas played the same defense as they did in the first game, but they were just more aggressive than us."

Dodie Dunson scored eight points to lead Iowa State, which fell to 0-5 against ranked opponents this season.

"I have had better experiences than the one I had today," said McDermott about playing in Allen Fieldhouse. "It has a lot of tradition and they have tremendous success here and for good reason.

"They have an outstanding fan base that is very understanding of the game. I'm sure as our young guys look back on this some day it will be an experience they really enjoy. I just hope that in the future we can come in here and be a little bit more competitive."