DePaul basketball coach Jerry Wainwright tried and tried to stop the first-half bleeding.

He called two 30-second timeouts. He benefited from two more television stoppages. He emptied his bench, putting in a walk-on who had two minutes of playing time all season.

And yet the wound got bigger. Nothing worked in Saturday’s 84-66 loss to Kansas University. Not by a long shot.

So what’s a coach to do when nothing can be done?

“Try to find out where the house lights are,” Wainwright said, “and do something to cause a blackout.”

Funny thing is, that actually happened during a KU women’s basketball game at Allen Fieldhouse earlier in the week. But Wainwright had no such luck Saturday. After going up 13-12 midway through the first half, the Jayhawks went on a 24-1 run that lasted 7:58 and pretty much destroyed any of DePaul’s longshot chances.

“They lull you into a little bit of a comfort, and then, bang, all the sudden they strike,” Wainwright said of the Jayhawks. “Those kids are good.”

And on top of that, they were a poor matchup for the Blue Demons. DePaul (2-3) couldn’t defend the post well, leading to a combined 36 points by KU forwards Sasha Kaun, Darrell Arthur and Darnell Jackson.

DePaul’s Mac Koshwal, at 6-foot-10, was the only Blue Demon taller than 6-6 in the starting lineup. Another center, 6-9 Wesley Green, did not play Saturday after missing the team bus to the airport.

Though DePaul outrebounded Kansas, 39-34, the difference inside was hard to miss.

“We were a little bit undersized for this game,” Wainwright admitted.

And DePaul’s hot hand never got a chance to heat up. Draelon Burns scored 32 points in each of his last two games, but didn’t get his first points Saturday until there was 12:15 left in the game.

He finished with just 10 points on 3-of-11 shooting.

“They played real good D,” Burns said. “Once I got past one guy and got ready to shoot, they’d send a big guy, and then another guy was jumping up from the side. I had to pass up a lot of shots or shoot with a higher arc.”

It left the Blue Demons with very few options – especially considering the Allen Fieldhouse lights stayed lit throughout.

As Wainwright was eager to admit Saturday, the good team walloped the young team. That’s about all there was to it.

“There’s no negatives for me to say about my team,” Wainwright said. “The only thing I’d say is that (the Jayhawks) are deserving of their No. 3 ranking. When they get really healthy, they’ll make a great run for the national title. : I like their mix of kids.”