Miles has ball breaking press

St. Louis ? He was the last one off the court after Friday’s game, half-jogging, half-skipping, soaking in the love being showered on him.

“Three down,” Aaron Miles said to nobody in particular. “Three down.”

The Kansas University men’s basketball junior has been down this road before, but the feeling never gets old.

Three down in this year’s NCAA Tournament. And with one more victory, it will be three down for Miles — three years of college basketball, three Final Fours.

KU’s 100-74 regional semifinal victory over Alabama-Birmingham took him one step closer.

“I love playing a fast-tempoed game,” said Miles, who finished with 13 points and 10 assists. “I just felt that it was going to fit right into my game.”

The so-called experts — whoever they are — thought Miles was the key to KU producing amid the hyped in-your-pants defense UAB proudly practices.

And despite committing five first-half turnovers because of the Blazers’ full-court press, Miles did his part. Whether he was the difference is debatable, but whether he was a big reason the Jayhawks won Friday is not.

He most definitely was.

Kansas' Aaron Miles (11) is congratulated by fans after leading the Jayhawks to a 100-74 rout of UAB.

“He controlled the tempo of the game,” KU junior Keith Langford said. “He really got a lot of guys easy shots. He was the reason why we got off to a good start — and the reason we won the game like we did.”

Miles’ ball-handling skills left him unfazed by the aggressive — and sometimes hack-happy — UAB defenders. When he broke the press, KU often had numbers, and sometimes he was the one left open. He hit four of seven shots from the field and five of six from the free-throw line.

“We were ready for their press, and it’s a tough one,” Miles said. “Coach (Bill Self) told us that if we attacked it, we’d get some good looks, and we did.”

It was Miles’ fifth double-double of the season and the seventh time he has notched double-digit assist totals. At times, breaking the UAB press seemed easy, almost fun.

It wasn’t easy, Miles said, but, yeah, he admitted that it was fun.

“No matter what, you felt pressure,” Miles said. “You’re dribbling up the court, and there are two or three fast, athletic players coming from behind trying to steal the ball from you.”

Miles committed six turnovers, but it hardly mattered. KU built a 15-point first half lead, then cruised to its third tournament victory behind a 15-7 second-half-opening run.

“We love to run. We want to run,” Miles said. “And they forced us to run even more.”