Tonight is the Jayhawks’ chance to show that a plane ride back home after Saturday’s 82-80 win over Florida in Las Vegas didn’t bring with it a hardwood hangover.
KU returns to Allen Fieldhouse to take on 0-5 Dartmouth on the heels of being bumped up to the No. 5 ranking in the nation.
The Big Green comes to Lawrence hurting, literally. A banged-up Dartmouth roster is short on both size and the number of available bodies.
For KU, it’s a quick return home, as the Jayhawks are back on the road this weekend to take home DePaul in what will be a homecoming for Chicago natives Julian Wright and Sherron Collins.
FIRST HALF
On the opening possession, KU kept its Vegas mojo pouring on an alley-oop from Russell Robinson to an open and waiting Darrell Arthur.
Two possessions later KU was just as quick to get an open look off. It was another assist from Robinson, but this time on the other end was a Mario Chalmers three-pointer from the left wing.
Robinson kept his assist streak going by driving the paint this time and kicking out to Chalmers, who nailed anotehr trey. On top of an earlier Brandon Rush free throw, KU forced Dartmouth to take an early whistle, up 9-2.
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Out of a television timeout, KU milked the shot clock for all it was worth before Darrell Arthur missed an inside turnaround. It was followed though by a Julian Wright tip-in.
Dartmouth continued to show how nervous it truly was, as turnovers riddled the opening minutes. Robinson benefitted by getting to the line and hitting a pair of free throws. That was followed by a traveling call on Dartmouth, and then throwing the ball out of bounds on its next turn with the ball. KU capitalized once with a Darnell Jackson layin to go up 15-2.
Dartmouth has six turnovers in the first 8:07.
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KU again scored first out of the next full timeout. Rush pulled down a long rebound on the other end, and took the ball coast-to-coast for an old school three-point play to put KU up 18-2.
Dartmouth’s Alex Barnett finally broke the visitors’ field goal drought, and it was followed with a DeVon Mosley transition layup off of a steal.
But that run ended quickly as Sasha Kaun put hom his first field goal since the Ball State game on an inside hook over a pair of defenders. After another turnover, Mario Chalmers hit Sherron Collins in transition, and he accomplished the same feat Kaun did moments earlier, putting KU up 23-6.
Robinson kept up his typical sharing theme, next driving again to find Rodrick Stewart open in the corner for a three-pointer, making it a 26-8 game with 7:25 to go in the first half.
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Rodrick Stewart continued his solid play in his first extended minutes of the season, this time hitting an 18-foot jumper along the right wing. Dartmouth followed it up with – surprise, surprise – another turnover.
Darnell Jackson then earned a trip to the free throw line, but was hit in the eye while being fouled. He hit the first free throw, but had to come out before shooting the back end. Sasha Kaun came in and took over at the stripe. He missed, but Darrell Arthur followed it up with an easy jumper in the lane off of an offensive rebound. Arthur then stroked his fifth and sixth points of the game by hitting a long jumper on the left side.
KU leads 33-9 with 3:53 to go in the half.
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Brandon Rush opened up the final few minutes of the half with a three-pointer on the left wing to give him seven points, and he scored two more just seconds later off of a Brady Morningstar fast break feed to put KU up 38-12.
Julian Wright brought the not-quite-full Fieldhouse to its feet in the final seconds off of Dartmouth’s final turnover of the half with a resounding two-handed semi-windmill slam, putting KU up 40-13 at halftime.
KU is shooting an OK 45.5 percent from the floor in the first half, but has been more than aided by 14 Dartmouth turnovers. KU has also outrebounded its foe 22-11. Brandon Rush leads all scorers with nine points, while Mario Chalmers and Darrell Arthur each have six for the Jayhawks.
SECOND HALF
Darrell Arthur started the second half just like he started the first – scoring its first points. This time, he drew an and-one while towering over one of Dartmouth’s posts. He hit the free throw to give KU a 43-13 lead.
KU kept its run rolling, first on a nifty inside layup from Russell Robinson, and then a fastbreak deuce from Sherron Collins, fed from Julian Wright, who controlled a loose ball on the defensive end.
KU lead 49-15 at 15:54, heading into the half’s first television timeout.
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KU continued to pry the lead even wider, with inside buckets from Wright and Arthur.
The Jayhawks earned their way via rebounding into the one-and-one with 12:25 to go. Darnell Jackson had the first free throw trip, and hit both.
They helped build a 56-18 advantage for KU with 11:41 to go in the game.
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Darnell Jackson continued to work his way toward a cool double-double out of the next full timeout. After a 17-foot jumper on the right edge, Jackson followed a missed Sasha Kaun lob layup form Rodrick Stewart for his eighth and ninth points of the night.
Brady Morningstar scored his first points of the night and his second Jayhawk field goal with an open three-pointer on the left side in front of his own bench, bringing his teammates to their feet. Mario Chalmers followed it with a transition layup miss which was tipped home by Julian Wright, making it a 65-21 game with 7:59 to go.
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Rodrick Stewart spun a three in off of the backboard and rim to give himself eight points on the night, building on his KU career high, which was previously three. He scored 14 points twice as a freshman at USC. Darrell Arthur then hit two free throws to push KU’s lead to 70-23.
Matt Kleinmann began the parade of reserves in the final minutes, and made the most of his minutes, scoring with three minutes to go and to put KU up 77-27.
A Dartmouth three made it 77-30 with 2:27 to play in the game’s final full timeout.
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Darnell Jackson tied Darrell Arthur for the team-high in points with 13 with a pair of free throws out of the timeout. Julian Wright was the KU’s third double-digit scorer with 12.
Kleinmann scored again just under the two-minute mark to excite the remainder of a crowd which began filing out at the eight-minute mark
Then, Morningstar took a lob from Jeremy Case and laid it in casually two-handed to keep KU’s lead around the 50-point mark.
KU finished off Dartmouth 83-32, with Darnell Jackson’s 13-point, 11-rebound performance leading the way. The 6-1 Jayhawks travel to take on DePaul Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill.
