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Boulder, Colo. — His name is Kirk Hinrich, but he goes by another moniker in Kansas University's men's basketball locker room.

"Kirk is invincible. We call him, 'Superman,''' KU freshman guard Aaron Miles said after the 6-foot-3, 185-pound Hinrich pulled down a career-high 12 rebounds to go with 19 points in KU's furious 97-85 victory over Colorado on Saturday night at Coors Events Center.

KU's Aaron miles (11) skies to reject a shot by Colorado's James Wright. The Jayhawks beat the Buffaloes, 97-85, on Saturday in Boulder, Colo.

"He's 6-3 or 6-4 and gets seven or eight rebounds a game. He does everything for this team."

"Everything" for Hinrich on Saturday included three assists against two turnovers in 35 minutes as the Jayhawks claimed their 11 straight victory at CU and 25th straight overall in the series.

"As long as I've been on the team as long as I've known him, he's been 'Superman,''' freshman Keith Langford said after scoring eight points including a stickback bucket and driving layup in a decisive 10-0 run that boosted a 78-75 lead with 5:59 left to a back-breaking 88-75 at 3:58. "He was all over the boards tonight. You saw him get, what, 10, 15 rebounds?"

He had 12 critical rebounds, which definitely helped Hinrich forget his last game Wednesday's four-point, 36-minute outing against Valparaiso.

"I felt I was totally ineffective offensively against Valparaiso," Hinrich said after hitting six of 16 shots and five of six free throws versus the Buffs. "I was upset. It was on my birthday. I had some friends in town at the game. I was really disappointed. I wanted to come out and attack offensively tonight."

He wasn't the only Jayhawk to play with fire in his eyes on a night tempers flared. Drew Gooden and the Harrison brothers D.J. and David had words on a couple of occasions during heated flurries.

Gooden hit 12 of 19 shots and scored 27 points with 14 rebounds. Included was a stickback bucket by Gooden that opened that late 10-0 run.

"Drew was all over the boards the second half," KU coach Roy Williams said after Gooden grabbed 10 second-half boards.

The possession after Gooden's stickback might have been the back-breaker for CU, which fell to 8-3 overall and 0-1 in the league compared to No. 2-ranked KU's 12-1, 1-0 mark.

Nick Mohr was called for a technical foul for stomping his feet and throwing a tantrum, believing a tipped ball resulted in a backcourt violation against KU.

Jeff Boschee, who iced 10 of 10 free throws, hit two straight and Langford scored off the next possession to boost a three-point KU lead to nine.

KU's Kirk Hinrich, left, drives on CU's Chevis Brimmer. Hinrich finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds Saturday in Boulder, Colo.

"Nick Mohr got a little hot-headed. It was kind of stupid on his part to do something like that," Boschee said after scoring 20 points. He hit two of nine threes on a night KU hit five of 20 to CU's eight of 24.

"We kept our composure which shows the maturity level of our team."

KU needed a big effort from a lot of individuals to subdue CU, a team with six double-figure scorers.

The Jayhawks led by as many as 11 in the second half, but had to sweat it out thanks in large part to some big threes by Blair Wilson (4-for-11 threes) and Mohr (2-for-5), who each scored 12 points.

KU outrebounded the Buffs, 51-33, despite the fact Nick Collison had foul problems. Wayne Simien helped out with six boards and Langford four.

"I looked in the crowd and saw (ex-Jayhawks) Raef LaFrentz, Mark Randall and T.J. Pugh and thought I might have to go ask them to suit up for us," KU coach Williams quipped. "Kirk grabbed some big ones. One time somebody on our bench called him 'Superman.' He pulled one out of nowhere"

Hinrich led the way with 14 points and six rebounds the first half as KU blazed to a 51-46 halftime lead.

Looking as offensive-minded as he has all season, Hinrich hit five of 11 shots, including two of five threes.

Gooden scored 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting but had five turnovers against no assists. Collison, who picked up three first half fouls including an offensive foul which wiped out a made Hinrich three, had nine points and four boards.

He hit three of four free throws as the Jayhawks canned 11 of 12 for the half.

Also for KU, Simien hit all three of his shots and had eight points in nine minutes with four rebounds.

KU hit 52.9 percent of its shots to the Buffs' 47.2 percent. KU had 13 turnovers and the Buffs 12 in a fast-paced half.

CU was led by James Wright and Mohr, who had nine points apiece. David Harrison had eight and Stephane Pelle six.

"We needed to play well and did play well to beat an awfully good Colorado team," Williams said. "I do think it's the best team Ricardo (Patton) has had and they are going to win a lot of games."

Williams improved to 30-1 versus CU; Patton is 0-14 versus KU.

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