“I was mad the Raiders lost,” said Chenowith, who scored 24 points one off a career high in Kansas’ 92-69 men’s basketball rout of Tulsa at Allen Fieldhouse.

“I’m serious,” added Chenowith, a life-long Oakland football fan, who ripped down 14 rebounds with a scowl on his face just hours after the Raiders’ surprising loss to Seattle.

“I was raised a Raiders fan. I woke up from a nap and saw they lost and couldn’t wait to get out there tonight.”

The 7-foot-1 Orange, Calif., native scored 16 points and grabbed nine boards the first half as KU rolled to a 49-35 lead.

Earl Richardson/Journal-World Photo

Fellow big men Drew Gooden and Nick Collison, who combined for 20 points the first half, finished with 21 and 19 points respectively as KU dominated a Tulsa team that had no starters over 6-7.

“Coach said, ‘Get it inside,”’ Chenowith said. “He said we failed to do it against Wake Forest and we had to do it this game.”

Indeed, inside play was coach Roy Williams’ main point of emphasis before the contest.

The Jayhawks outrebounded Tulsa, 43-30, just nine days after Wake Forest outboarded KU, 43-26, in an 84-53 victory.

“Our big guys really were something, but they should have been,” Williams said. “I challenged them before the game. I said, ‘This team is similar to Wake Forest.’ We had a size advantage again inside and I challenged them to take advantage of it. With a size advantage, you should go inside.”

KU’s three trees together in the starting lineup because of an injury to small forward Kenny Gregory combined for 36 of KU’s 49 first-half points.

Kirk Hinrich he tied a career-high with five threes hit three threes the first half for nine points, finishing with 15 points and six assists. The Jayhawks led by 19 points with 4:11 left in the half, before Tulsa canned three straight threes.

The Golden Hurricane hit eight threes the first half and 11 overall in 27 tries.

Dante Swanson was 5-of-12 from three-point land and scored a team-leading 21 points 14 points on 4-of-6 three-point shooting the first half.

“I thought we were really good defensively tonight taking away the stretch of three-pointers (late) in the first half,” Williams said.

The Jayhawks held Tulsa to 39.3 percent shooting and forced 17 turnovers.

KU was a thing of beauty on offense. The Jayhawks hit 33 of 64 shots for 51.6 percent and also swished 19 of 23 free throws.

Chenowith hit seven of 11 shots and Collison eight of nine, while Gooden was eight of 19.

The 6-10 Gooden and 6-9 Collison each hit a three-pointer, for good measure.

“Eric was really good. Twenty-four (points) and 14 (rebounds) are big-time numbers,” Williams said. “I yelled at him for taking a shot from the baseline. We can’t be dumb out there. He was active on the offensive boards and took the ball to the basket.

“He had a lot saved up after the Wake Forest game,” the coach added, needling Chenowith, who had one point at Wake.

There were other heroes Saturday as No. 10-ranked KU won its ninth game in 10 tries. Walk-on Brett Ballard had an assist and steal while playing tough defense in 13 minutes. He was called on with Kenny Gregory, Luke Axtell and Mario Kinsey sitting out the game because of a stress fracture, ankle sprain and flu respectively.

Also, Jeff Boschee had four assists and nine points, one basket coming when he lost control of the ball on the baseline, the ball flipping into the goal.

“It’s a good feeling to see us come out and play like that. We played hard,” Chenowith said.

Indeed, Williams said at least three film clips of Jayhawks diving for loose balls would make the school’s “hustle tape for the next 10 years.”

As far as Chenowith’s Raiders, he will root for the Chiefs today against Denver so his squad can stay in the hunt for an AFC West title.

“It’s the first time I’ll ever root for the Chiefs,” Chenowith said. “If the Raiders lose in the playoffs, I’d be devastated.”

KU will next meet Ohio State at 3 p.m. Saturday in Columbus, Ohio. Williams said he hopes to have Columbus native Gregory back for that game.