Senior Night turned out to be a mighty special night for Kansas University’s men’s basketball team, thanks in large part to Roy Williams’ all-senior starting lineup.

KU’s makeshift group of Jeff Boschee, Brett Ballard, Jeff Carey, Lewis Harrison and Chris Zerbe outscored Kansas State’s regulars, 7-0, the first 21/2 minutes of an 103-68 rout on Wednesday night at Allen Fieldhouse.

“I don’t think K-State realized what hit ’em,” Boschee said after hitting five threes and scoring 22 points as KU became the first team to score 100 points in the history of the KU-KSU series.

Boschee hit his first three to open the scoring 45 seconds into the game off a pass from Zerbe, and he hit his last trey, an amazing 26-footer with 3:31 to play.

“It just felt so good to make that shot, to go out in my last game with a ‘make’ from that deep  to go out that way is pretty special,” Boschee said.

And to start that way  K-State didn’t even manage a shot, committing five straight turnovers the first 21/2 minutes  was pretty special for the six KU seniors, who were showered with flowers from the fans during pregame warmups and received standing ovations after their postgame speeches.

Senior Todd Kappelmann, who entered for the first time with 10:15 left in the second half with the fans chanting “Kappelmann” and “We Want Todd,” was the one senior not to start. He was introduced as a starter, but Williams waved Kappelmann off the court before the opening tip after ref Scott Thornley informed Williams one had to go.

“The guys we started got us off to a great start,” Williams said, noting he started Zerbe over fellow senior Kappelmann because Zerbe was a better defensive matchup on KSU’s Matt Siebrandt. “Our defense was really active. We got some steals and were up 7-zip. They were into it defensively. That was pretty impressive. Sometimes you go out and worry about the kids being so uptight they can’t play. We didn’t have to worry about that tonight.”

For the record, Boschee opened with a three. That was followed by a Ballard bucket off a Boschee feed and a Zerbe jumper for the 7-0 start.

“We were joking around in the locker room, but it was kind of the truth  we said, ‘Jeff you need to go out and look for your shot,”’ Ballard said of the other four senior starters wanting regular starter Boschee to lead the way. “As soon as his three went in, the crowd went wild.”

“I knew we were playing hard defensively, but I didn’t realize they didn’t get a shot off. We tried to deny the passing lanes,” Zerbe said. “Getting off to a 7-0 lead was unbelievable. After coach took us out, Jeff hit another three, so we actually were up, 10-0.”

KSU did bounce back with KU’s regular starters showing some rust. The Wildcats trailed just 17-15 at 11:38. KU, however, rolled off 13 straight points and had the game in control the rest of the way thanks to a defense that forced 28 turnovers.

KU scored 42 points off turnovers; KSU scored just four points off turnovers.

“It’s sort of strange. When we brought the (regular starters) in, they weren’t as active defensively,” Williams said.

He never was tempted to leave the opening lineup in until the Wildcats’ scored.

“No,” Williams said. “The whole deal is to let them have the ovation, get them some attention early. It was 7-0, but the longer the other guys sit over there, the stiffer they get.”

The KU regulars loosened up before long.

Kirk Hinrich led the way with 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting. Boschee hit five of nine threes en route to 22 points. Drew Gooden had 16 points, nine rebounds and five blocks. Nick Collison added 12 points, and Wayne Simien contributed 10 points, seven boards and four blocks.

“I was just having a lot of fun sitting over there watching those guys play,” Hinrich said of the starters. “They got us off to a great start by playing great defense. It was impressive.”

Top-ranked KU (26-2, 15-0) blocked 11 shots and had 16 steals against the outmatched Wildcats (11-15, 5-10), who dropped their 24th in a row versus KU.

“It was an emotional day,” said Williams, who appeared to wipe away a tear when Boschee broke down and cried during his senior speech. “Not being able to coach Jeff Boschee again in the fieldhouse  all those kids are special to me.”

Still undefeated in the conference, KU will meet Missouri in the regular-season finale at 1:05 p.m. Sunday in Columbia, Mo.