Brothers Marcus Morris (22) and Markieff Morris (21) both go up for a defensive rebound against Longwood during the first half, Friday, Nov. 12, 2010 at Allen Fieldhouse.

Versatile Kansas University junior forward/center Markieff Morris put up some eye-opening numbers in several categories on Friday night in Allen Fieldhouse.

“For a guy to get 14, 15, 5, 4 and 2, that’s a pretty good statistical game, especially when you play only 26 minutes,” KU coach Bill Self said, referring in order to points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks in the Jayhawks’ 113-75 season-opening rout of Longwood University.

The numbers were so impressive, media asked Morris if he was thinking about a possible triple-double during the second half.

“‘D’ told me I was close. I said, ‘How many more assists do I need?’ He said, ‘Seven,”’ Morris said, apparently referring to a conversation with assistant coach Danny Manning. “I said I was gonna go get seven. He said, ‘No, you don’t need seven to get it.’

“If it comes, it comes. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t, but I would like it,” Morris said of someday recording the second official triple-double in school history.

Morris’ former teammate, Cole Aldrich, had 13 points, 20 rebounds and 10 blocks in a second-round NCAA Tournament victory over Dayton on March 22, 2009, in Minneapolis.

“Cole had a lot of blocks that game. They were just throwing it at his hands,” said Morris, who was a freshman at the time.

“I don’t think I could jump to get as many blocks as he did,” added Morris, who indicated any possible triple-double of his would consist of points, rebounds and assists.

Joining Markieff Morris in double-figure scoring Friday were Marcus Morris (18 points), Tyshawn Taylor (17, with 10 assists), Thomas Robinson (16, with seven boards) and Tyrel Reed (11 points).

“It’s misleading,” Self said, asked to comment on balance shown by five players scoring in double digits and Brady Morningstar and Jeff Withey right behind with eight points apiece. “When you score 113 points, there have to be guys in double figures. Are you going to have balance like that when you score 70? I would look at it differently. We scored 113 points, and the most shots anybody took was 11 (Taylor, hitting seven). That means you have balance. When everybody is sharing the ball, nobody is taking a ton of shots themselves.”

The offense looked great at times. The defense? Self is concerned heading into Monday’s 7 p.m. game against Valparaiso, a team that defeated IU Northwest, 111-64, in its opener Friday.

“In the second half it became brother-in-law ball: ‘I’ll let you score if you promise not to touch me and let me score,”’ Self said.

“It’s hard to be a team of spurts when you don’t get back-to-back-to-back stops. That’s what we are not doing now. I love our guys, but this is the softest team defensively. We relax. This team doesn’t have the killer instinct that other teams have. Thomas, Mario (Little), we haven’t got it yet that if the other team gets a good shot it’s bad defense whether it goes in or not. Certainly we have to have all those guys stepping up. One good thing about Jeff Withey is that he’ll make sure those other guys guard better because if they don’t, I’ll have his butt in the game the whole time.”