Update #10: Final, KU wins 89-52

Brady Morningstar scored his first points of the game on a long two from the left wing, thanks to a feed from Brennan Bechard. Darnell Jackson followed it by going nearly coast-to-coast on a defensive board, then finding Matt Kleinmann underneath in smooth fashion. The redheaded sophomore couldn’t finish though. He made up for it, scoring on a scooping two the next trip up the floor with just under two minutes to go.

Jackson then tipped in a Rodrick Stewart miss, making him the sixth Jayhawk to score in double figures on the night.

Mario Chalmers led all scorers with 18 points, while Darrell Arthur had 15 points to go with 11 rebounds, good for his second straight double-double. Sherron Collins, Sasha Kaun, Julian Wright and Jackson were all in double figures as well, as KU shot 52.2 percent from the floor, and outrebounded ISU 47-30.

KU (25-4 overall, 12-2 Big 12) swept the Big 12 North for the first time since 2001-02, and will have a quick turnaround, taking on Oklahoma down in Norman Monday night at 8 p.m.

Update #9: 2:55, second half, KU leads 83-47

After the timeout, a foul on Corey McIntosh put KU in the double bonus, and Sherron Collins hit the first two attempts to give him nine points on the night. Rashshon Clark came back to hit a three in the corner for Iowa State, followed by two points inside from Darnell Jackson after a Sasha Kaun miss.

Kaun then scored following a Cory Johnson hoop on the other end, giving Kaun double digits in the scoring column for just the fourth time in conference play. It was also just the second time he’s done so since the last time KU and Iowa State played.

Darrell Arthur checked in to play some final minutes on the afternoon, and spun to hit another fadeaway jumper, giving him 15 points on the night. Sherron Collins followed it with his second three of the game, making him the fifth Jayhawk to score in double figures on the night, giving him 12 points to go with six assists.

Update #8: 7:47, second half, KU leads 72-37

Mario Chalmers hit his third three of the game after the timeout to give him 17 points on the night and matching his point total from Monday at Kansas State.

Dodie Dunson came back with an Iowa State three, but Darnell Jackson was able to respond with a couple triple-taps on the chest as he sank his first two free throw attempts of the evening.

Chalmers bested his total from Monday by hitting the back end of a pair of free throws, giving him 18 points on the night. It came after he recorded teh team’s 12th steal of the night. Jackson then added two more free throws, putting KU up by 38, as Iowa State has responded with a couple of sloppy hoops.

Update #7: 11:35, second half, KU leads 64-26

Julian Wright went up and under after the timeout for his fourth bucket of the game, and Darrell Arthur then poked into a passing lane to create a turnover after the KU hoop, sending the ball back in the Jayhawks’ direction. Wright used the possession to make himself the second Jayhawk to score in double figures, giving him 10 points on the night.

Sherron Collins then hit his first three of the game, forcing Iowa State into a timeout, with KU leading 59-22 after a 7-0 run.

Corey McIntosh hit a pair of free throws after the timeout, but not before Darrell Arthur followed Julian Wright into double-digit scoring territory with a fadeaway jumper from in close. He then followed up a Mario Chalmers miss to give himself 13 points, as KU is shooting 60 percent from the floor. Mario Chalmers then hit a free throw to put KU up by 40 points before taking a seat on the bench, making way for Brady Morningstar.

Update #6: 15:25, second half, KU leads 52-22

Sasha Kaun, just as he did in the first half, scored the second half’s first points after each team had an empty possession to start. And again, just as in the first half, Jiri Hubalek answered for Iowa State.

But KU continued to gain separation, as Mario Chalmers slashed to the basket for an easy layin while drawing a foul. The subsequent free throw put KU up by 29.

Chalmers scored again after Sherron Collins picked off an errant ISU pass in the halfcourt set, giving him a game-high 13 points.

Sasha Kaun, who grabbed his first rebound of the game on the defensive end following Chalmers’ hoop, scored his fourth field goal, banking it in off the glass yet again, to continue another KU offensive spurt. It was coupled with Julian Wright scoring on a turnaround from close range to put KU up 52-17.

Dodie Dunson hit a three to answer back for Iowa State, and Brandon Rush’s tough night inside the three-point arc then continued, as he missed another pull-up jumper from about 12 feet. Wesley Johnson backed inside to score again for the Cyclones.

Update #5: Halftime, KU leads 41-15

Rahshon Clark went to the free throw line after a timeout on the floor, where he hit both, giving him four points on the night, but left ISU still trailing by 21. Wesley Johnson then made it four unanswered KU points, after a feed inside from Mike Taylor.

Rodrick Stewart’s defense was then paid back with some offense, as he finished a Sherron Collins dish inside, but couldn’t hit a long three on the next trip down the floor.

Brandon Rush kept KU’s run going, as he hit a three from the left corner, following a pair of missed Collins free throws, with just over a minute left until the half.

KU’s Brady Morningstar, who checked in late in the half for Julian Wright, drew a foul while going for a defensive board and earned a one-and-one trip to the line, but he missed the first shot, giving the ball back to the Cyclones. KU forced yet another ISU turnover, though, which went down as the Cyclones’ eighth of the game, giving KU the ball with less than 30 seconds to play.

Darrell Arthur capped off his stellar first half with a tip-in off a Collins miss to end the half, putting KU up by 26 points. Arthur led KU both in scoring and rebounding in the first half, with nine in each category.

Update #4: 3:16, first half, KU leads 34-11

Brandon Rush got his first points of the game registered with a three from the right wing after the timeout as KU continued to pull away early, now leading 25-8.

Darrell Arthur’s solid start continued with his fifth rebound coming off of a Cory Johnson missed tip-in. He slinged it ahead to Mario Chalmers, who found Julian Wright inside for his first points of the game. Arthur grabbed rebound No. 6 after yet another Iowa State miss, but Brandon Rush couldn’t extend the lead any more, as his three from the corner missed. Mario Chalmers did the deed, though, after a Julian Wright defensive board near the five-minute mark, putting KU up 30-8.

Iowa State called another timeout, and out of it, Mike Taylor hit his first three of the game over Darrell Arthur. Julian Wright, though, came down to score his second field goal of the game with a foul to accompany it. Wright couldn’t hit the free throw, but Arthur then took down his seventh rebound of the game. He was fouled after hauling it down, and it put KU in the bonus. He missed the front end, but corralled another rebound, and it eventually turned into a one-handed dunk inside for Wright, giving him four points on the trip down the floor.

Update #3: 7:40, first half, KU leads 22-8

Mario Chalmers got half of his hand on a Corey McIntosh jumper from the right wing, and the ball was pushed quickly the other way. Chalmers took the feed and went up himself for two, and was fouled while draining it off the glass. The three-point play gave KU a 10-point advantage.

KU then forced Iowa State’s Jiri Hubalek into an awkward and rushed jumper on the right baseline with just one second left on the shot clock. KU took the ball the other way off of a Brandon Rush defensive board, and Darnell Jackson registered his first points on an 18-foot jumper from straight on. It forced Iowa State coach Greg McDermott to call a 30-second timeout.

Out of the quick break, Mike Taylor missed his second three-point attempt of the game, and KU again pushed the ball in hurried fashion. After the first attempt to get the ball inside went out of bounds, Darrell Arthur hit a short hook inside to put KU up by 14. Then, Rodrick Stewart forced a turnover near midcourt, and after missing a close-range layup, Darrell Arthur followed him up, putting KU ahead 20-4. Taylor came back to score his first points of the game, ending a Cyclone offensive drought which lasted nearly seven minutes.

KU’s defense kept the heat turned on, as Rodrick Stewart led another fastbreak thanks to stingy defense. This time, he slipped the ball to Sherron Collins for a duck of a layup.

Wesley Johnson hit a pair of free throws for ISU to help the Cyclones continue to push back somewhat, but after his second one went in, KU re-inserted its entire starting lineup.

Update #2: 11:53, first half, KU leads 11-4

Rodrick Stewart, Darnell Jackson and Darrell Arthur all checked in after the break, with Bill Self trying to instill some form of life into KU’s doormant and loose offense of the opening minutes.

Sherron Collins used a headfake to work his way into the lane, feeding the ball to Arthur, who was hacked on his way up. Arthur made one of his two looks, putting KU up by three. Wesley Johnson’s rough start then continued, as he missed a three-pointer wide off the right base of the backboard. On the other end, Arthur again went up strong, missed, grabbed his own board and missed again, but was fouled, getting himself back to the stripe.

Arthur this time made both free throws, with the first falling after a high bounce off the back iron.

After Mario Chalmers was stripped of a defensive board to watch it bo out of bounds back to Iowa State, Darnell Jackson forced an ISU turnover, resulting in Sherron Collins slashing and hooking down the lane for his first points of the game, putting KU up 11-4.

Update #1: 14:01, first half, KU leads 6-4

Iowa State’s Rahshon Clark controlled the opening tip, and it turned into a quick possession, as Wesley Johnson was short on a free throw line jumper. KU came back to have Mario Chalmers get a close look from inside, but it rattled out of the rim after banking off the glass, back to the Cyclones.

Sherron Collins forced a turnover near midcourt after that, in his second career start, but couldn’t angle in an awkward-looking layup with his right hand.

Collins then grabbed his first defensive board of the game after Mike Taylor missed from the right wing, and Sasha Kaun scored the game’s first points with a leaner from the left block. Jiri Hubalek answered for Iowa State with a fading jumper on the right side from about 10 feet out.

Kaun looked to extend the lead with a shot similar to the one he’d just it, but this time it was long off the glass, though KU got the ball right back thanks to a travel call on Mike Taylor.

KU again scored in close, this time with Chalmers closing the door on a layup thanks to a back-door feed from Julian Wright, putting KU up 4-2 just over three minutes in.

Kaun doubled the lead the old-fashioned way, taking a feed from the hands of Chalmers into the post, backing down Hubalek, turning and rolling one in off the back iron. KU had a chance to balloon the lead even more, but Kaun was called for an offensive foul before the possession had time to bloom.

Wesley Johnson missed another shot long, but Julian Wright collected the defensive board, only to see another KU possession go empty when Brandon Rush missed a one-handed floater from the right side of the lane. Hubalek missed inside for Iowa State, and KU took the ball back with under 15 minutes to go. And again, the Jayhawks went scoreless. Rahshon Clark finally answered back for ISU, scoring his first points of the game and making it a 6-4 contest.

Nothing says dominance in your half of the conference like an unblemished record. And with a win tonight over visiting Iowa State in the second-to-last home contest of the season, KU would improve to 10-0 on the season against its five Big 12 North counterparts.

KU moved to 9-0 Monday in what was the most hostile environment the Jayhawks have faced all season, taking care of Kansas State in Bramlage Coliseum 71-62 in front of maybe the loudest audience in the arena’s 19-year history. KU also won its 24th straight road contest over the ‘Cats, led by 20 points from freshman reserve guard Sherron Collins.

Collins, though, will no longer be a reserve tonight in Allen Fieldhouse. With junior Russell Robinson having sprained the bottom of his right foot Wednesday afternoon in practice, the freshman from Chicago, Ill., will make his second career start, and more than likely his third Monday night when KU travels to play Oklahoma at 8 p.m. He has scored in double digits while coming off the bench in all but two of the Jayhawks’ conference games this season.

KU got all it could handle from Iowa State when the two teams first met in Ames on Jan. 13. KU sophomore Brandon Rush went on an offensive tear late in the contest, lifting his team to a 68-64 overtime win and, at the time, improving the Jayhawks to 2-0 in conference play.

The two Cyclone players who did the most damage in that contest are the two to again watch in red and gold tonight. Junior guard Mike Taylor went for 21 points in the inaugural meeting, but was just 4-of-16 from three-point range. He leads the team in scoring, averaging 16.5 points per contest. Freshman forward Wesley Johnson is the squad’s second-leading scorer (12.1 ppg) and its leading rebounder (8.3 rpg).

KU, 24-4 overall and 11-2 in the Big 12, is trying to stay tied atop the conference standings with Texas A&M, who held off Baylor at home today, 97-87. Iowa State, with marks of 14-13 and 5-8, has lost eight of its last 11 games, beginning with the first contest against KU, and is still faintly alive for a potential NIT berth, but will have to win out in the regular season and make some noise at the Big 12 Tournament to do so.