LJWorld.com

Getting down and dirty against Oklahoma is not Drew Gooden's idea of a good time.

"I don't like those kind of games," Gooden said after scoring four points in the first half, then exploding for 15 in the second half of Kansas' 74-67 victory over physical, defensive-minded Oklahoma on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.

Kansas' Drew Gooden, right, launches a shot as Nick Collison (4) looks on. The two big men struggled early but combined for 36 points and 19 rebounds in KU's 74-67 victory over Oklahoma on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.

Gooden, KU's 6-foot-10 junior forward, hit just one of four shots the first half and looked like he was in for another rough day against Oklahoma a team that held him to six and seven points in a pair of games last season. Those were the only times he has been held to single-digit scoring in the last 44 games.

"I went in at halftime and was mad," Gooden said. "I wasn't going to let it happen again. I got it in my mind I was going to burst the game open."

He and paint partner Nick Collison both exploded early in the second half in a 24-8 surge just after intermission that boosted a 30-25 halftime lead to 54-33 at 14:03.

Gooden scored 13 points, Collison six and Keith Langford five in that run.

Collison finished with 17 points 11 the second half while Gooden had 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting the second 20 minutes. Langford finished with 12 points and seven boards in 25 minutes.

Collison hit four of four shots the second half. At one point, the 6-9 junior scored six straight points as KU hiked a 43-33 lead to 16 points.

"It was not as much a conscious effort as it might have looked like," Collison said of the No. 4-ranked Jayhawks (15-2, 4-0) pounding the ball inside the second half after a first half in which KU hit just 12 of 30 shots, including two of seven threes.

"We were just getting it done. We were executing. Drew a couple of times put his head down and went for the basket. I got it and was feeling confident. Today I'd wheel and deal in there like my first two years," Collison added.

"The first half we weren't sure if they were in a man or a zone. We attacked it like a zone. The second half we got it inside and they had some foul trouble. When we get it with our back to the basket, we're tough to stop."

Mighty tough. Collison and Gooden Saturday showed why many consider them the toughest frontcourt tandem in the country.

KU's Wayne Simien, top, and OU's Quannas White wrestle for possession.

"There are a couple of frontcourts we haven't seen yet," Collison said after collecting nine rebounds, second on the team to Gooden's 10.

"If we can get the ball with a guy on our back, 1-on-1, it's where we are at our best. I don't think a lot can stop that."

KU built a 57-35 lead with 12:07 to play, then had to withstand an Ebi Ere-led OU run. Ere, who finished with 17 points, scored 10 in a 14-0 surge that sliced the gap to 57-49 at 8:59.

Gooden, Collison and Jeff Boschee were on the bench during much of that run.

"I was dying. I even told coach, 'I'm ready coach,''' Gooden said.

"I wanted to get right back in. I think coach thought I was tired," noted Collison, who left at 11:49 with KU up 20 and returned after KU had allowed eight straight points. "I really didn't feel tired. We were sitting over there and couldn't get back in. We felt we'd been playing well."

Kirk Hinrich who finished with 15 points and seven assists playing mostly point guard with Aaron Miles having an off day tipped in a miss at 8:12, running a 57-49 lead to 10 points.

"I think the biggest play of the game was Kirk's tip," KU coach Roy Williams lauded.

Fifth-ranked OU (14-2, 3-1) wasn't finished, however, and sliced the gap to 68-62 with 3:18 left.

KU held on despite hitting just four of 10 free throws the final 2:21.

"I hate to say this about an athletic event, but it was almost like a war out there," KU coach Roy Williams said. "Kids on both teams were playing as hard as they could possibly play, being aggressive, never dirty. At one point in the second half it was a clinic offensively because we were getting every shot we wanted.

"Their foul trouble had something to do with that. Our offensive execution for 10 minutes there was better than all season long. We felt if we could take it inside and get them in foul trouble, at the end of the game we might be playing against somebody that's not their better players."

Aaron McGhee and Daryan Selvy fouled out after combining for 11 points, while big man Jabahri Brown had four points in 19 foul-plagued minutes.

A big key for KU was the play of freshman guard Langford.

"I didn't think Aaron had his best game by any means," Williams said. "We took him out fairly early and wanted to get something going. That didn't work. It did work to get Keith in there. On the perimeter we are pretty small. I thought Keith had his best defensive game of the year and gave us some offensive rebounds."

Langford scored four straight points early in the first half to give KU a 10-7 lead. He scored six in a half in which points were difficult to come by.

"I was really proud," Williams said. "The only negative is we didn't finish the game by going to the free-throw line and making the free throws. Free throws some games we shoot them great and some we don't shoot them as well."

The Jayhawks hit 18 of 31 free throws (58.1 percent) to OU's 11 of 14 (78.6 percent). KU hit 50 percent of its floor shots to the Sooners' 41.7.

KU has finished a three-game stretch against top-15 teams UCLA, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma, winning two of three.

"'Tired,''' Williams said of his frame of mind after the eight-day stretch. "It's been hard having to travel the first two and play the quality of people we play. It gives you more satisfaction when you are successful.

KU will head to Iowa State on Wednesday for an 8:05 p.m. tipoff.

Copyright 2012 The Lawrence Journal-World. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. We strive to uphold our values for every story published.