Kansas Teaches Huskies a Lesson

Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich accounted for 34 points, leading the No. 23 Kansas Jayhawks to an easy 75-54 win over Washington Monday night in the second semifinal of the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic in Kansas City.

The Huskies (2-2) will play Florida in a consolation game Tuesday night, as the Gators lost to Syracuse in the other semifinal.

Washington, who shot 29 percent for the night, went through one huge offensive drought in each half, as Kansas (3-0) shot 50 percent for the night and 40-16 in the paint - despite being out-rebounded 41-34 by the Huskies. At one point the Huskies had a 17-1 advantage in offensive rebounds, yet were down by double-digits.

"Kansas, you have to credit them," UW Head Coach Lorenzo Romar said. "They did a very good job defending us. When they went into that zone and we penetrated, they blocked seven of our shots. When the defense was there, we did a poor job of making the extra pass."

Aldrich had career highs with 16 points, nine rebounds and six blocks. Collins added a team-high 18 points, and Marcus Morris added 13 for the Jayhawks.

UW's Jon Brockman was a beast on the boards, tying a career-high with 18 - but had little success getting past Aldrich on the offensive end, scoring only 7 points. It's the first time in 60 games where the senior forward has had back-to-back games of less than 10 points.

"He didn't quit," Romar said of Brockman. "When you get 18 rebounds in a game like this, that's pretty good."

Kansas used their zone and perimeter penetration to force Washington to go away from Brockman, and it worked. Overall, Washington was only 19-65 from the field.

Senior guard Justin Dentmon, averaging 15 points per game so far on the season, was held scoreless for 32 minutes, tallying his only bucket with 7:54 left in the game.

Washington was led by two true freshmen - the 17 points of Isaiah Thomas and 11 points of Elston Turner. Thomas and Turner combined for the Huskies' only offensive spark of the night when they drained three-straight 3-point buckets to bring Kansas' lead to 58-42 with 4:26 left. A Scott Suggs 3-bomb finished out the Huskies' scoring.

"They did what they wanted to do," Turner said. "They wanted us to shoot contested shots."

With an opportunity to step up on a national stage and only down one early, the Huskies didn't take advantage. They were outscored 23-14 the rest of the first half, including the last six points.

"We have to make the extra pass," Romar said. "Hit the open man, make the extra pass. I don't know any other way to put it."