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Jackson, Kansas easily rout Yale

Dec 30, 2007 - 5:38 AM LAWRENCE, Kansas (Ticker) -- Another home game, another blowout victory for Kansas.

Darnell Jackson scored 20 points as the third-ranked Jayhawks remained unbeaten with an 86-53 rout of Yale on Saturday.

Mario Chalmers and Darrell Arthur each added 11 points for the Jayhawks, who made 33-of-63 of its field goals (52 percent) for the contest.

"I thought we played well for the most part," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "I thought for the first eight minutes of the game that we had great energy. I was excited about how we played. Our team is good when we play unselfishly and share the ball."

Kansas (13-0) has won all 10 of its home games so far this season, including the last six by an average of 33.0 points.

"I've watched all 12 games or so that Kansas have played this year and anyone who came to play in their gym, they have done pretty much the same thing too," Yale coach James Jones said. "It is just pretty much par for the course for them. I thought we had some opportunities in the second half but obviously, defensively, they do a great job."

The Jayhawks, who are one of six unbeaten teams left in Division I, never trailed and turned the game into a laugher early.

Kansas scored 12 consecutive points to take a 14-2 lead with 14:56 left in the first half. Yale hung around, down by 11 midway through the half, but Kansas pulled away with an 11-0 spurt capped by Jackson's dunk with 6:07 left to take a 33-11 advantage.

"I get my energy from my teammates," Jackson said. "When they do something like get a layup or an "and-one" or make a 3-pointer - then I get really pumped off of that. I just try to bring something to the team."

The Jayhawks led by 23 at the break and scored the first eight points of the second half - capped by a 3-pointer by Brandon Rush - to take a 50-19 bulge with 17:37 remaining.

Kansas forced 27 Yale turnovers and turned them into 38 points. Senior guard Russell Robinson had eight of the 18 Jayhawk steals, falling one short of the school record.

"I didn't know that I was close to the record but I was just trying to get one more (steal) before I went out," Robinson said. "I just tried to pressure them. I just felt like I had a lot of steals."

Yale (3-7) shot just 36 percent (20-of-56) from the field for the game and trailed by at least 30 points over the final 15 minutes of the game.

Porter Braswell scored 13 points and Eric Flato added 10 to lead the Bulldogs, who were playing in their first game since December 11.