LINCOLN, NEB. ? Kansas University didn’t need a last-minute three-pointer by Keith Langford to beat Nebraska this season.

The Jayhawks instead rode the first-half performance of the sweet-shooting left-hander to an incredibly easy — and historic — 81-51 victory over the Cornhuskers Saturday before 13,054 mostly silent fans at Devaney Center.

Langford’s 14 first-half points in 16 minutes helped the No. 12-ranked Jayhawks (15-5 overall, 5-1 Big 12 Conference) hand lowly Nebraska (9-11, 1-6) its worst loss in Devaney Center history, surpassing a 27-point loss to Oklahoma last season.

It seems Langford, who tied Kirk Hinrich for high-scoring honors with 17 points, was motivated to again emerge as a Husker-killer.

“I got in a little talking contest with the fans in the beginning. They were saying my shot was lucky last year,” said Langford, whose three with 33 seconds left beat NU, 88-87, last February. “It was little dumb stuff like that. I wanted to respond and shut ’em up.”

He did that — except on two airballs, which drew jeers from the stands. Langford hit six of 12 shots the first half, including one of three three-pointers. His 14 points and Hinrich’s 11 paced KU to a 38-23 lead after 20 minutes.

Langford was pretty much the only interesting storyline in a victory KU coach Roy Williams called “workmanlike.”

The 6-foot-4 Fort Worth, Texas, sophomore lent some mystery to the day, wearing a bandage on his forehead. Was the bandage covering a scab from the mask he has been wearing at practice to protect his broken nose?

“Nah,” Langford said.

Did the bandage cover a cut?

Was it worn for good luck?

Nebraska's Corey Simms, left, and John Turek stuff Kansas University's Keith Langford, center, in the Jayhawks' 81-51 victory over the Cornhuskers. Langford tied Kirk Hinrich for team-high honors with 17 points in the win Saturday in Lincoln, Neb.

“Nah, personal reasons, personal reasons,” he said with a smile. “It might be around awhile.”

Teammate Nick Collison, who scored 14 points in 33 minutes, offered his own Band-Aid theory:

“I don’t know if a zit popped or what. You’ll have to ask him,” Collison said.

Consensus from players and trainers was that a pimple indeed was the culprit.

Regardless, his performance helped pop the Huskers, who hit just five of 21 threes and 32.8 percent of their field-goal attempts.

KU hit 43.1 percent of its shots and outrebounded NU, 52-34.

“It was workmanlike. It’s the word we’ve used about 15 times already,” Williams said in his postgame news conference. “We did some nice work on the backboards the whole game.”

Collison had nine boards, and Langford, Hinrich and Michael Lee had seven apiece.

KU’s offense was rather inconsistent; the Jayhawks trailed 11-10 6 1/2 minutes in.

“Nebraska decided to faceguard Kirk and play some box-and-one,” Williams said of gimmick defenses to slow the 6-foot-3 Hinrich, who hit two of seven threes on a day KU made six of 23.

“When that happens, we need to get the ball inside. I don’t want to shoot 23 three-point shots just because their coach wants us to do that. We’ve got to do a better job moving and working it inside.”

Get the stats: Box scorePhotos: Nebraska game pixHear Roy: Nebraska post-game press conference Ho, hum: KU humbles NU – Kansas 81, Nebraska 51KU NotebookSimien: Surgery not neededJayhawks impress Nebraska’s DrevoWoodling: Cornhuskers’ pregame better than their game

Langford scored seven points and Aaron Miles seven of his 14 in an 18-3 run that gave KU a 28-14 advantage with 5:49 left in the half.

Up 49-36 with 12:29 left, KU went on an 11-0 roll to finish the Huskers.

Collison had four points, while Langford and Bryant Nash had three each in the surge.

Williams wasn’t all that impressed with KU’s ninth straight victory over the Huskers.

“Our guys were not hanging from the rafters,” Williams said of the team’s pregame emotions. “Human nature (is), they’ll see Nebraska is 1-5 (in league) and won’t be as fired up as playing Arizona on national TV. It’s a team struggling a bit. We need effort from the start.”

Especially Monday, when KU meets rival Missouri in an 8 p.m. tipoff at Allen Fieldhouse.

“We’ve got to be more intense,” Collison said. “Coach said ‘human nature,’ but we’ve got to fight that off. Missouri will be a huge game. They are always tough. Nebraska, it seems, missed a lot of shots and we got the rebound. Missouri won’t miss those shots.”

Strangely, the Jayhawks were somewhat disappointed even in handing NU its worse loss in Devaney.

“We’ve got to come out harder from the start,” Langford said. “Coach stresses that every game. We do want to win every game. We’re trying to defend our Big 12 title, and every game is important.

“Nebraska has a history of playing us tough here so we should have been ready. But a win is a win. I’ll take a 30-point win like I’ll take a three-point win. I just want to win.”