Final, KU wins 84-66

Sherron Collins hit his second three of the game with just under two-and-a-half minutes to go, giving him six points and pushing KU’s lead to 84-58.

DePaul never had an answer for KU’s 22-1 first half run, keyed by a pair of Brandon Rush threes.

In the end, Sasha Kaun used a big second half – nine points early – to finish with a team-high 15. He led four Jayhawks in double figures. Brandon Rush hit a trio of three-pointers to finish with 13. Darrell Arthur also had 13, while Mario Chalmers added 12.

The Jayhawks will now be off until next Saturday, when they’ll take on Ohio University in their first game in the brand new Sprint Center.

3:54, second half, KU leads 79-52

The aerial assault continued as Darrell Arthur this time was the recipient of a sweet lob from Russell Robinson in transition, pulling his chin up to the rim and forcing Jerry Wainwright to call another timeout with his team down by 37.

DePaul stepped it up in its transition defense, but had just as much trouble capitalizing as KU did. Chalmers ended the dry spell with a pullup three to make himself the fourth Jayhawk in double figures with 12 points.

7:56, second half, KU leads 74-49

Sherron Collins finally got in the act out of the timeout, stroking a three from deep atop the key. DePaul answered back with buckets inside from Dar Tucker and Mac Koshwal, but KU remained ahead 68-45.

Russell Robinson then took some initiative in driving down the left wing and drawing a foul while going up to the rack. He hit a pair of free throws to give himself seven points on the night. Jabari Currie came back to hit an awkward layup in traffic, and then following a Sherron Collins three miss, Draelon Burns got himself to the free throw line off a Robinson foul. He hit both free throws.

Darnell Jackson, who hadn’t scored since putting home KU’s first four points of the game, came down to score a pair after a blown lob feed from Mario Chalmers.

Jackson scored once more before the next TV timeout, elevating high to throw down a Mario Chalmers lob toss while getting fouled, putting KU up 74-49.

11:44, second half, KU leads 63-41

Sasha Kaun slipped in two off the glass after a shot clock expired against DePaul to give him eight points on the night. He moved into double figures moments later after a swat by Darrell Arthur, tipping in a KU miss.

Brandon Rush then moved himself to 13 points on the day with his third three-pointer from the right wing to put KU up 60-36 and KU had yet to show a sign of a second half letdown.

Sasha Kaun hit one of two free throws after a Karron Clarke three-pointer, and then Draelon Burns came down to score his first points of the game on a midrange jumper from the right elbow.

Sasha Kaun’s big day continued right after Burns’ jumper, taking a lob feed from Darnell Jackson and flushing it home with two hands to give himself a game-high 15 points and put KU up 63-41.

15:42, second half, KU leads 53-33

Karron Clarke hit a three atop the key for DePaul coming out of the half, but Darrell Arthur answered with a well-executed post move ending in a baby hook. After anotehr DePaul three, KU came back in a big way, with Mario Chalmers hitting a three and Brandon Rush then slashing down the baseline for an easy layin, putting KU up 46-28.

Mac Koshwal hit one of two free throws for DePaul after getting fouled by Darnell Jackson. The response for KU was a Sasha Kaun feed into Darrell Arthur, who laid in a two and was fouled in the process. He hit the free throw, giving himself nine points on the day.

Darrell Arthur and Sasha Kaun continued to go to work on the offensive end, this time with Arthur hitting a fadeaway jumper and Sasha Kaun slamming home two in transition to keep KU’s lead at 20, 53-33.

Halftime, KU leads 39-22

After Dar Tucker swished a pair of free throws, Cole Aldrich scored KU’s final points of the half, giving him four. Will Walker hit a long three for DePaul just before the buzzer, but the Demons were still well behind, 39-22.

In the first half, KU shot 48.4 percent from the floor, led by eight points from Brandon Rush. He hit two big threes that came in the middle of a 22-1 KU run after DePaul led 13-12. Mario Chalmers and Sasha Kaun each scored six for KU. DePaul’s leading scorer, Draelon Burns, was held scoreless on 0-for-4 shooting.

1:31, first half, KU leads 36-17

Out of the timeout, KU’s lead extended to 20 points thanks to a pair of Rodrick Stewart free throws, putting KU ahead 34-14.

Draelon Burns earned his way to the free throw line with just over three minutes to go, but missed both after tweaking his shoulder while drawing contact from Brandon Rush. The Demons’ leading scorer missed both charities, keeping him scoreless on the afternoon. Mac Koshwal suffered a similar free throw fate after getting himself to the line a possession later and Brandon Rush responded with two in the lane, giving him eight points on the day and pushing the Jayhawks ahead 36-14.

Jabari Currie scored for DePaul at the free throw line, and a Will Walker two a moment later gave the Demons their first bucket in awhile, snapping a 22-1 KU run.

3:46, first half, KU leads 32-14

Brandon Rush hit another three out of the timeout, and it was coupled with yet another KU steal, this time seeing a Rodrick Stewart dunk in transition to cap it off, extending KU’s run to 18-1.

DePaul continued to struggle offensively, this time with Russell Robinson swatting a Draelon Burns shot out of bounds, keeping DePaul’s leading scorer scoreless. After inbounding the ball, DePaul saw its sixth straight possession end in a turnover.

KU scored yet again, this time with Mario Chalmers scoring on an inbound feed from Sherron Collins underneath. It extended KU’s run to 20-1.

6:45, first half, KU leads 25-14

After an offensive foul on Darrell Arthur, following a free throw made by Mac Koshwall, Dar Tucker sliced down the baseline and flipped in two off the glass to pull DePaul within one at 12-11.

DePaul took its first lead of the game at the 10:39 mark wen Karron Clarke hit a pair of free throws to put the Blue Demons up 13-12 as the game’s pace was significantly slowed down.

Sasha Kaun came back to score his first points of the game in the paint and put the Jayhawks right back up. Kaun then got to the line after a DePaul turnover on the other end. Kaun sank both, giving him four straight points and handing the Jayhawks a three-point cushion at 16-13.

Will Walker then got to the line for DePaul in an extended possession and hit one of two free throws to keep it a two-point game. Kaun came back to score yet again for KU, this time on a post feed from Brandon Rush. DePaul’s response was an airballed three from Dar Tucker.

Brandon Rush then slashed to the hoop to try to score his first points of the game, but his runner clanked off the back iron. He missed it, but after a tipped rebound out to Mario Chalmers, he found Rush in the corner for an open three. The place then blew up after a Mario Chalmers steal. His layup drew nothing but glass, but Russell Robinson was there to slam it home with two hands as a follow-up, putting KU up by nine and forcing DePaul into a 30-second timeout. Chalmers swiped another one out of the steal and coasted again, this time hitting the layup to give himself four points. A travel call on DePaul sent the game into a full break with KU up by 11.

11:56, first half, KU leads 12-8

A DePaul turnover out of the timeout gave Mario Chalmers what looked like an easy transition layup. After the timeout, Brandon Rush and Sasha Kaun checked in in place of Rodrick Stewart and Darnell Jackson.

Sherron Collins then checked in at the 14:11 mark, making his first appearnce in more than three weeks coming off a stress fracture in his right foot. Dar Tucker then committed an offensive foul to send the ball back with KU, leading 10-5.

After a couple of turnovers, Mac Koshwal set up and hit a three up top over Darrell Arthur. Cole Aldrich answered back by collecting an offensive board and putting in two, keeping KU up by four at 12-8.

15:56, first half, KU leads 8-5

KU controlled the game’s opening tip, but after swinging the ball a bit, Rodrick Stewart had it knocked loose up top. A long outlet pass to Dar Tucker and an up-and-under layup gave DePaul a 2-0 lead right off the bat. A travel call against Mario Chalmers sent it back with the Blue Demons less than a minute in. On KU’s next trip, a lob to Darrell Arthur flipped out of the bucket when he tried to two-hand it, but Darnell Jackson collected the offensive board and put it in off the glass.

Jackson the collected a defensive board and came back to hit an 18-foot jumper to put the Jayhawks up 4-2. His second defensive board came moments later off of a Draelon Burns miss. Rodrick Stewart was called for a foul going for an offensive board, though, sending the ball back with the Blue Demons. DePaul’s offensive struggle continued with a travel call against Mac Koshwal. Koshwal just after that was called for goaltending, trying to swat away a Darrell Arthur shot. Jackson got defensive board No. 3 a moment later and another Arthur two put KU up 8-2, with the bigs again doing the damage, forcing Jerry Wainwright to call a 30-second timeout.

DePaul was finally able to silence the Allen Fieldhouse crowd a bit when Cliff Clinkscales hit a three with the shot clock expiring out of the timeout.

Pregame

Even though DePaul lost two players to the NBA from a team that stunned KU late a year ago in Chicago, 64-57, KU has revenge on its mind today as the Blue Demons (2-2) enter Allen Fieldhouse to take on the No. 3 Jayhawks (8-0).

The series record in this one tilts 7-1 in KU’s favor, but DePaul coach Jerry Wainwright has had solid success against Kansas in his coaching career. A 2-0 mark, to be exact. He brought his Richmond Spiders in here and won in the 2003-04 season and of course did the deed again a year ago.

While KU has blown throught its nonconference schedule so far this year almost without a hitch, the Blue Demons enter with a 2-2 mark, looking today to string together consecutive wins for the first time this year. In their last outing, an 85-70 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Nov. 28, senior guard Draelon Burns scored 32 points for the second straight game. Burns leads the Demons, averaging 18.8 points per game this year. He scored just nine last year against KU, but this season is one of three Demons averaging double figures in the points column. Senior Karron Clarke – a Miami transfer, averages 10.8 a game, while Dar Tucker – one of the top 50 high school seniors a year ago, according to rivals.com – is averaging 11 a night.

KU is hoping for the potential return of sophomore guard Sherron Collins, who has been out more than three weeks due to a stress fracture in his right foot. For the first time since then, he was active in warmups today and in uniform rather than street clothes. Also taking part in warmups was Tyrel Reed, who left with an ankle injury in Wednesday night’s 85-47 win over Eastern Washington. In that game, the post players dominated, with Darrell Arthur and Darnell Jackson getting plenty of touches early and often, combining for 32 points, including the Jayhawks’ first 15 of the night.

Tip time is set today for 1 p.m., with the game being televised on ESPN (Sunflower broadband channel 33, 233 in HD).