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Morris twins carry Kansas past Valpo

Nov 16, 2010 - 6:40 AM Lawrence, KS (Sports Network) - Marcus Morris finished with a game-high 22 points on 10-of-12 from the field and Markieff Morris added 12 points and 13 rebounds, as seventh-ranked Kansas rolled to a 79-44 victory over Valparaiso in the regional round of the Las Vegas Invitational.

Marcus added 11 rebounds and four assists and Tyrel Reed supplied 11 points for the Jayhawks (2-0), who opened their season with a convincing 113-75 victory over Longwood on Friday.

"If you can get one of them not to foul, and play more than two minutes in the first half, they're good," said Kansas head coach Bill Self on the Morris twins. "They are good players. They do a little bit of everything. The game's still a little slow motion for them for the most part."

Cory Johnson finished with 10 points and seven rebounds to lead the Crusaders (1-1), who began the season with an 111-64 victory over IU Northwest.

Brandon Wood contributed nine points and seven rebounds in the loss.

Kansas jumped out to a slim 23-16 lead midway through the first but took a 44-27 margin heading to the locker room. The Jayhawks hit 17-of-29 from the field in the first half.

Markieff converted a Marcus steal into a dunk at 18:24 in the second, and after a missed Ryan Broekhoff three, he landed his own trey to put Kansas up by 22. The Jayhawks continued to add on down the stretch.

"We're disappointed that we didn't play better tonight," said Valparaiso head coach Homer Drew. "I think you have to complement KU - their speed really hurt us in transition early. They jumped on us early with their speed and the physicality inside on their offensive boards. Once we were able to kind of negate that, we got it down to six points and I thought that if we could continue that tempo that would make a huge difference. Next thing I know, we were down by 20."

Game Notes

Kansas has won all three meetings against the Crusaders...The Jayhawks hit 53.4 percent of their shots; Valparaiso only 27.4 percent...Kansas is still without freshman Josh Shelby, who is dealing with eligibility issues...Thomas Robinson and Tyshawn Taylor both ended with eight points.