Kansas won Round One in Boulder, Colo.
Colorado believes it'll take Round Two on Feb. 2 at Allen Fieldhouse.
"Kansas is gonna get theirs," CU freshman center David Harrison said, speaking with the bravado of, say, Muhammad Ali, after the Buffs' 97-85 men's basketball loss to the Jayhawks on Saturday night at Coors Events Center.
"We play them at their place. We get another shot at Kansas. If we keep playing as hard as we can and smart, we are going to run through this place," Harrison added, apparently referring to the Big 12 race.
The 7-foot Harrison talked some trash after scoring 13 points with three rebounds in 18 minutes in Colorado's 25th straight loss to KU.
His brother, D.J. Harrison, didn't speak with reporters after the game after hitting one of five shots and scoring three points in 26 minutes.
He let his actions do the talking on the court, however, twice appearing to try to bait KU's Drew Gooden into some sort of scuffle.
"I guess he was trying to get me off my game," Gooden said after scoring 27 points on 12-of-19 shooting with 14 rebounds.
It didn't work.
Gooden was asked if he ever felt Kansas, which led by 11 at one point, felt the game was in doubt when the Buffaloes pulled within three points late in the game.
"No," he said.
D.J. Harrison, by the way, didn't get in line to shake hands with KU's players after the game.
"That just shows you what kind of person he is," Gooden told an Associated Press writer. "I've gotten into it with people before, but I've always shook my opponent's hand."
It seems some Buffs (8-3, 0-1 Big 12) get fired up for KU (12-1, 1-0) like no other team, perhaps because of the fact CU has dropped 11 straight to KU at Coors Events Center and 25 overall.
"They are like a rival. You come out here and it is always a tough game," KU junior Kirk Hinrich said.
Kansas coach Roy Williams thinks he knows why the games normally are heated in Boulder. Last year tempers flared after Nick Collison's hard foul on ex-Buff Jose Winston.
"We have so many people there ourselves Western Kansas folks and so many people in Colorado are Kansas people. We help fill up the place," Williams said of the 3,000 or so KU fans who helped fill 11,076-seat Coors Events Center. "They've averaged 3,300 or 3,400 before this game. But for us it's a sellout. I think kids always want to play harder when it's exciting, when the crowd is into it a little more, too."
KU senior Jeff Boschee thinks the Jayhawks' composure Saturday was critical to the victory. CU's Nick Mohr picked up a crucial technical foul during crunch time, sparking a 10-0 KU run that upped a 78-75 lead to 13 points.
"It was pretty stupid on his part," Boschee said after scoring 20 points. "It showed the maturity level of them and how mature we were playing under pressure, how calm we were. It shows how much we've grown over the past couple years. I think my sophomore year and maybe a little last year our maturity level wasn't as high."
Fiesty KU fans: During the second half, Colorado's mascot fired CU T-shirts into various sections of the stands. KU fans, perhaps taking the cue from Chicago Cubs fans who throw opponents' home run balls back onto the Wrigley Field, fired the shirts back onto the court.
Quotable Drew: One never knows what Gooden is going to say. Asked if he could believe junior guard Hinrich grabbed 12 rebounds, Gooden piped up: "Did I think he had 12 rebounds in him? Yeah, I think Kirk can get 12. He is athletic. He is a white guy, but he's athletic. It's a gift. He got boards that really helped our team."
Next up: Kansas will play Nebraska (7-5, 0-1) at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Allen Fieldhouse.
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