Balanced Offense Sends No. 2 Kansas Out With 88-66 Win at Texas Tech
Feb. 1, 2011
LUBBOCK, Texas –
Box Score in PDF Format 
A balanced Kansas offense saw five players score 11 or more points as the No. 2 Jayhawks defeated Texas Tech 88-66 at the United Spirit Arena Tuesday night.
The win was KU coach Bill Self’s first win in Lubbock as the Jayhawks improved to 21-1 overall, including 6-1 in Big 12 Conference play. Kansas’ last win at Texas Tech was a 65-56 win on March 3, 2003.
TTU had its three-game win streak spoiled as it dropped to 11-12 on the season and 3-5 in league play.
Junior Marcus Morris led all Jayhawks with 18 points. Sophomore Thomas Robinson was close behind adding 17 points for the second-straight game and finished just shy of a double-double with nine rebounds, also for the second consecutive outing. Markieff Morris led KU on the boards pulling down 12 rebounds.
KU got off to a hot start hitting eight of its first 11 shots to take a 19-6 lead just over seven minutes into the game. The Jayhawks also took advantage of their height scoring their first 10 points in the paint and 28 for the half. Kansas finished the game with more than half of its points in the lane scoring 48 of its 88 tallies in the paint.
Kansas retained a comfortable double-digit lead for the remainder of the half. Despite TTU trying a variety defensive strategies from zone, full-court press and man-to-man defense, the Jayhawks finished the first 20 minutes shooting 57.9 percent (22-for-38) from the field, including 4-for-8 from beyond the three-point arc, for a 50-29 halftime lead.
Senior Brady Morningstar scored 10 of his 12 points during the first half while freshman Josh Selby had 14 points in the contest, including nine in the opening period. The pair also dished a team-high four assists each.
After the break, KU cooled a bit from the field sinking just two of its first eight attempts. TTU briefly got the crowd into the game with an alley-oop at the 15:45 mark but the Jayhawks soon found their stride again expanding its advantage to 20-plus points with 12:14 on the clock with the help of four free throws by Robinson. Robinson finished 5-for-5 from the charity stripe despite KU hitting 8-of-15 shots (53.3 percent) at the free throw line.
KU prevented any kind of Red Raider run as it continued to coast to its 88-66 victory, which tied for its largest margin of victory (22 points) in Lubbock.
Kansas continues its two-game road swing at Nebraska on Saturday, Feb. 5 at 3 p.m. on the Big 12 Network. It will be KU’s last trip to Lincoln, Neb., when KU and NU are members of the Big 12 as Nebraska will participate in the Big Ten Conference starting in 2011-12.
