Kansas University sophomore big man Sasha Kaun certainly has shown the improvement he made in the off season.

After opening the year with what-would-have-been a career-high 23 points in KU's lopsided exhibition victory over Fort Hays State, Kaun absolutely went off in the Jayhawks regular season-opener Friday night against Idaho State.

Kaun had a career high for points at halftime, but when he walked off James Naismith Court with 1:34 left in the game, his final tally was 25 points and 16 rebounds.

Kaun's career night, combined with strong play from KU's freshmen, allowed the Jayhawks to easily defeat Idaho State 90-66 in their season-opener.

"Sasha was fabulous. He's really improved," KU coach Bill Self said. "Sasha carried us for a stretch tonight."

Added senior guard Jeff Hawkins of Kaun: "He was a beast in the post. He was just ready to play today."

Mario Chalmers added 15 points in his collegiate debut, while fellow frosh Brandon Rush scored 12 points to go with seven rebounds. Julian Wright had nine points, five rebounds and four assists. The fourth freshman Micah Downs did not play because of a ankle injury.

The Jayhawks, which shot 46.3-percent from the field, forced 24 turnovers while recording 14 steals. Kansas, which also got nine points from Russell Robinson and seven points and seven rebounds from C.J. Giles, had 17 assits.

"We don't want to get too excited over this, but there were a lot of good things that happened tonight," Self said.

Idaho State, which shot just 33.8-percent from the floor for the game, was led by Tim Henry's 23 points. Antoine Millien added 22 points.

"I knew Kansas was more experienced, even though they are a very young team," Millien said. "Kansas is the best team on our schedule and we have nothing else to fear in the future."

Bengal guard David Schroeder said just being able to play in Allen Fieldhouse was an experience.

"For a lot of us this is the first big-stage venue we have ever played in; that is an experience in itself," he said. "We still feel good about our performance and the level of effort we maintained. It was a great experience."

Self said while his team is looking forward to the sights of Hawaii, next week is strictly business.

"It's a business trip," Self said. "We practice (Saturday) morning at 7 a.m. We will shower and eat breakfast, and then leave at 9:30.

"I know Arizona is looking forward to this, and has been for a while. We were able to get through tonight's game and not show anything, so hopefully, we can steal a couple of baskets against the Wildcats because they haven't seen what we are going to do offensively."

Hawkins agreed with his coach and said while the trip will be fun, the Jayhawks need to be focused.

"I'm sure a lot of people were thinking about beaches and the girls that put the leis around you, but as far as that goes we didn't want to look past Idaho State," he said. "We just did what coach wanted us to do before the game.

"I think we are prepared and anxious to play against Arizona. We aren't going to back down from them because we are a good team just like they are. I think our mental state is that we will be ready and prepared for them."

Second Half Action

Kansas restored its starters for the second half.

C.J. Giles hit a pair of free throws to open the second half and gave KU a 42-25 lead.

After blowing a hurried lay-in minutes earlier, Rush scored his first basket of the second half with a long jumper to give him eight points.

Kaun, who also has a career-high with 10 rebounds, nailed a pair of free throws for the 46-31 lead with 16 minutes to play.

Kaun added a highlight jam off a nice pair of feeds from both Jeff Hawkins and a cutting Brandon Rush.

The Bengals have committed 22 turnovers.

Kaun caught a nice pass from Jeff Hawkins in traffic for a lay-in and foul, he converted the free throw off a high bounce.

Kaun took a seat on the Kansas bench with his career and game-high 21 points.

Mario Chalmers added three straight free throws for a 56-34 lead after getting fouled behind the three-point stripe.

KU's Julian Wright scored on a nice up and under move to give the Jayhawks a 59-40 lead with just over 11 minutes remaining.

Chalmers scored on a nice floater to give him 11 points in his collegiate debut.

Idaho State David Schroeder added a pair of threes to cut KU's lead to 61-47 with under 10 minutes remaining.

Tim Henry added his fourth three of the game, to give him 17 points.

KU's Hawkins answered with his first basket of the night, a three. Hawkins made two in the first half but both came after whistles.

Rush reached double figures when he scored on a nice reverse lay-up at the seven and a half minute mark in the second half to push the Jayhawks lead back to 20, 70-50.

But on KU's next possession Kaun flew in for a tip-in off a missed Hawkins three-pointer to give him 23 points and 13 rebounds.

Kaun added another bucket off a baby hook to give KU a 74-53 lead.

Wright followed a Kaun miss to give him seven points and kU a 78-56 lead with 4:11 mark.

Chalmers has 12 points thanks to 6-of-6 free throws.

Kaun added a monster block to his career night as he swatted ISU's Slim Millien's drive towards the bucket.

Idaho State's Tim Henry hit another three to give him 22 points. The Bengals have hit 9-of-22 from three-point land. Millien has 20 points.

Wright fed Stephen Vinson on a back-door pass for a bucket because of goaltending.

Wright tipped in a miss to give KU an 84-63 lead with under two minutes remaining.

Kaun left to a standing ovation after a career-best 25 point, 16-rebound performance.

Matt Kleinmann even got in on the action with an easy lay-in.

Kleinmann hit a cutting Jeremy Case for the final margin in a 90-66 season-opening victory.

Halftime

Kansas University's big man Sasha Kaun started right where he left off from the exhibition season. Kaun started KU's season-opener by canning a pair of free throws, but made five field goals to give him a career-high with 14 points in the first half.

The Jayhawks are outshooting the Bengals 39.5-percent to 31-percent. ISU has committed 18 turnovers, 11 of which wer KU steals. KU guard Russell Robinson has seven points in the first 20 minutes while Brandon Rush has six.

Idaho State was led by seven points from Tim Henry and David Schroeder.

KU shot 81.8-percent from the free-throw line.

First Half Action

Kansas University's big men started right where they left off in the exhibition games with Sasha Kaun canning a pair of free throws to give KU a 2-0 lead.

The Bengals turned the ball over on their first two possessions.

Brandon Rush became the first of KU's heralded freshmen to score for real, nailing a nifty fade-away jumper to give KU a 4-0 lead in the opening two minutes.

ISU's Tim Henry nailed a three to cut the score to 4-3.

Russell Robinson blew past his defender for a wide open lay-up. On KU's next possession, Rush tried to dunk the ball but was denied.

C.J. Giles followed Kaun's lead with a turn-around jumper. After a three by Idaho State, Kaun tipped his own ball back in.

ISU's Slim Millien had a thunderous dunk to cut the lead to 10-8 with just under 16 minutes to go in the half.

Freshman Mario Chalmers made his presence felt early. After checking into the game for the first time, he stole an Idaho State pass and dribbled all the way down the floor and knocked down a short jumper for a 14-10 KU lead.

Moments later Chalmers lofted a nice pass to Christian Moody who easily scored the lay-up which doubled his point production from KU's two preseason games.

Chalmers added a lay-in of his own after another Idaho State turnover to give KU a 18-10 lead with 12:44 to go in the half.

Moody added an exclamation mark with a one-handed dunk thanks to a nice feed from fellow senior Jeff Hawins.

Rush nailed a one-hander in the lane for the 22-10 lead with just under 11 minutes left in the half.

Kansas, which is displaying an impressive defensive effort, has been very unselfish on offense in the first half of its season-opener.

Freshman Julian Wright entered the game and dished out a nice assist to Kaun for an easy bucket.

Kaun payed Wright back with an assist down low for Wright's first career basket.

Idaho State has hit four three-pointers to cut the lead to 26-17.

Kaun followed a long three from Chalmers with a putback as the Jayhawks are shooting 48 percent from the field.

Robinson hit two free throws with 7:53 left to give Kansas a 30-17 lead.

A Hawkins three was ruled no good as Giles was called for an offensive foul prior to the shot.

Millien hit a free throw to cut KU's lead to 10. Idaho State has committed 14 turnovers, Kansas has had 10 steals.

Kaun, who struggled in KU's exhibition opener from the free-throw line, has hit all four of his charities tonight. His two free throws with just under five minutes left in the half gave KU a 33-21 lead and gave Kaun 10 points, one off his career-high.

Chalmers found Robinson in the corner for KU's first three-pointer of the night and a 36-21 advantage.

KU freshman Micah Downs probably won't play because he rolled his ankle during practice earlier in the day.

With 1:47 left in the half, Chalmers found a cutting Kaun, who easily converted the pass for a bucket and a new career-high 12 points.

Moments later Kaun added another basket on an up-and-under move.

KU's Jeremy Case missed two threes in the final minute of the first half, but KU leads 40-25 at halftime.

The starting line-up for Kansas was Jeff Hawkins, Russell Robinson, Brandon Rush, Sasha Kaun, and C.J. Giles.

Idaho State started guards Akbar Abdul-Ahad and Doug Hardy, forwards Tim Henry and Kasey Winters, and big man Antoine Millien.

Pregame

Kansas University's basketball team starts its season tonight with a 7 p.m. tip-off against Idaho State in Allen Fieldhouse.

"I have been thinking about our first game to start the season, playing in Allen Fieldhouse for the first time in a long time. We're going to be excited," sophomore guard Russell Robinson said.

A young Jayhawk squad still has plenty to show KU fans, after offering a glimpse of the future in two easy exhibition wins over Fort Hays State and Pittsburg State.

Sophomore big men Sasha Kaun and C.J. Giles shined in the two lopsided victories over in-state opponents. Kaun scored 23 points in KU's 96-62 victory over Fort Hays State. Giles bested that with a 24-point outing against the Gorillas in Kansas' 73-47 win over Pittsburg State. Both point totals would have been career highs had the games counted.

KU coach Bill Self stressed that his team is not overlooking the Bengals in anticipation for next week's EA Sports Maui Invitational.

"We have not talked to our players about going to Maui," Self said. "We will talk about it Friday night after the game: 'Guys, be packed and ready at 8 a.m.'

"They'll switch defenses, will play a lot of zone, play man, will guard ball screens," Self said of Idaho State. "Their record was not I'm sure what they hoped it'd be last year, but they have seven newcomers (including) juco kids and red shirts. From watching tape I know they are capable."

Indeed Idaho State, which scored a 82-56 victory over Fresno Pacific and an 88-64 win over Montana Tech, hopes to bounce back from a 9-18 season in which the Bengals were 3-11 in Big Sky play.

"We're picked last in the league, but we have one of the best rosters in the eight years I've been here," said Bengal coach Doug Oliver, who has four players returning from Mormon missions.

Senior forward Antoine "Slim" Millien is the leading returning scorer and rebounder for ISU with an 11.8 scoring average and 5.2 rebounds per contest.

A KU victory would give the Jayhawks 14 wins in their last 15 season-opening games and mark Kansas' 33rd straight home-opening victory.