Kansas University freshman Julian Wright played just 11 minutes, scoring two points.

“It was his stomach. He had stomach issues,” KU coach Bill Self said of the player, who could be seen taking a pill for his discomfort on the bench the second half.

¢ NCAA wraps up Rush case: The NCAA, as expected Saturday, announced the restoring of Brandon Rush’s eligibility after reviewing with KU the circumstances regarding his application for the 2005 NBA Draft.

KU and the NCAA jointly had reviewed circumstances regarding Rush’s activity in spring 2005 as he prepared for the draft. Thursday, KU declared Rush ineligible after the NCAA membership-services staff determined a violation of an amateurism rule (bylaw 12.3.1.2) had occurred. As reported in Saturday’s Journal-World, KU applied to the NCAA for Rush’s immediate reinstatement, and Friday the NCAA student-athlete reinstatement staff reinstated Rush’s eligibility.

The violation occurred when the agent for another draft-eligible player assisted in the arrangement of Rush’s tryouts with professional teams. The NCAA said it reinstated Rush’s eligibility without conditions because it determined Rush had no knowledge of the agent’s unauthorized communication with NBA teams. The NCAA said all activities Rush engaged in were otherwise permissible.

“Nah,” Rush said, asked if he was distracted this week by the NCAA flap. “Yesterday, I was distracted a little bit. I can’t talk about it.”

Self said he knew before Rush arrived at KU this NCAA review would occur: “In fact, we encouraged it,” he said. “We’re extremely pleased Brandon can now focus on the rest of the season without these distractions.”

¢ Sit down: C.J. Giles was benched the second half after failing to score the first half.

“We need C.J. to impact the game. Certainly, the first half, he didn’t do it in a way we thought warranted playing him ahead of Sasha (Kaun),” Self said.

KU’s inside players combined for 12 points off 4-for-15 shooting.

“Sasha was our only offense with our big guys,” Self said of Kaun, who had eight points. “I thought he did some good things the second half. Other than him we have no low-post scoring, (though) Darnell gives us a presence.”

¢ Lesson learned?: “I think we underestimated them a little bit, seeing how they lost to Nebraska,” Rush said. “But that won’t happen again. We won’t underestimate anybody any more.”

¢ Stats, facts: KU had won 22 consecutive home league openers, a string dating to 1983-84. : Chalmers had six points and two steals in a 14-0 run in the first half that went from 11:13 to 6:30, KU building a 22-10 lead. : KSU had three field goals in the final 12:37 of the first half. : KU had season lows in field goals (17), field-goal percentage (32.1) and two-point field goals (12). : Chalmers had a season high in field goals (6), field-goal attempts (14), minutes played (34) and three-point attempts (8) and tied a season best with four steals. : KSU set a KU opponent low for scoring in a half this season (18) and tied an opponent high for a half (41). : The Wildcats hit 45.1 percent of their shots, a season high for a foe. It was the first time an opponent outshot KU.

¢ Faces in crowd: The game was attended by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and Sen. Sam Brownback. Former Jayhawks Lester Earl and John Crider also attended.