Northern Colorado simply can’t keep up with Kansas in 109-72 rout

Kansas forward Perry Ellis (34) lays in a bucket against Northern Colorado during the first half, Friday, Nov. 13, 2015 at Allen Fieldhouse.

As so often becomes the case when a mid-major men’s basketball team visits Allen Fieldhouse, Northern Colorado coach B.J. Hill left Kansas University’s campus Friday night somewhat regretful of what he had just put his players through.

“Scheduling that game seemed like a good idea about a year ago,” Hill joked minutes after his Bears suffered a 109-72 loss at the hands of the No. 4-ranked Jayhawks.

Although Northern Colorado (0-1) often had no answer for KU’s size, speed and shooting, junior guard Cameron Michael scored a game-high 27 points and the Bears shot 42.9 percent in the first half, before Kansas out-scored the visitors 56-41 over the final 20 minutes.

“It was a great experience for our guys and our program,” Hill said after the season opener. “All you want is a chance to play against the best, and that’s a very impressive team. We appreciate the opportunity. We’re a young team and we’ll learn form it. I think it’s the second-youngest team I’ve had, but I like them. They play extremely hard, and we’ll get better.”

When KU junior forward Landen Lucas scored inside with 13:53 left in the first half, Northern Colorado already found itself in a 10-point hole.

Michael said all the Bears could do after getting run out of the gym was try to learn from it.

“I think we did good from the start,” the 6-foot-5 junior said, “but as things got down the stretch we kind of fell off a little bit among each other.”

Northern Colorado junior guard Anthony Johnson, who scored 17 points, said the game got away from the Bears when KU got out in transition.

“They would chase you from the get-go, just because they push the ball so well and it just feels like you’re flying around, never really getting your defense set the whole game,” Johnson said after KU scored 29 points off the Bears’ 21 turnovers. “With how many shooters and bigs they have, you can’t afford to be chasing or training the play at all.”

— See what people were saying about the game during KUsports.com’s live coverage.