Morningstar and Reed Lead No. 1 Kansas To 89-63 Victory Vs. Colorado
Feb. 19, 2011
Postgame Videos Coach Self | Morningstar, Mc. Morris, Mk. Morris
Boxscore in PDF Format 
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Starting guards Brady Morningstar and Tyrel Reed took over midway through the first half and Markieff Morris recorded a career game to lead No. 1 Kansas to an easy 89-63 victory against Colorado Saturday afternoon.
Kansas improved to 25-2 overall and 10-2 in Big 12 play as the Jayhawks bounced back from its second loss of the season last Monday against Kansas State. Colorado dropped to 16-11 and 5-7 in Big 12 play.
The victory was KU’s 44th in its last 45 meetings with Colorado, which is leaving the league for the Pac-10 after this season. KU won its 28th straight against the Buffaloes in Allen Fieldhouse.
Morningstar scored all 16 of his points in the first half while Reed scored eight of his 13 in the first period. Markieff Morris led the Jayhawks with a career-high 26 points and a career-high tying 15 rebounds. Marcus Morris and Tyshawn Taylor scored 16 and 10 points respectively as all five KU starters reached double-figures.
Colorado featured a balanced scoring effort as well, as Alec Burks netted 15, Cory Higgins 14, Levi Knutson 13 and Marcus Relphorde 12.
Morningstar hit each of his first four three-point attempts in the first half en route to 16 points at the break. He and Reed combined for 18 of 20 KU points in a stretch where the Jayhawks turned a 24-12 lead into a 44-23 advantage.
Markieff Morris recorded his Big 12 Conference-leading 10th double-double of the season as he surpassed his previous scoring best of 21 points vs. California earlier this year and matched his best rebounding mark for the third time.
After leading 48-31 at halftime, Kansas extended its margin to 22 points (55-33) at 16:04 of the second half after a Marcus Morris layup. However, the visiting Buffaloes went on a 15-5 run over the next six minutes to get within 60-48.
From there Marcus and Markieff Morris combined for KU’s next nine points and Kansas cruised to the victory.
KU hit eight of 12 three-point shots in the first half before finishing 11 of 22 for the game. The Jayhawks made 52.4 percent of its shots from the field, while holding Colorado to 39.7 percent shooting, including a two-of-16 day from three-point range. KU also out-rebounded the visitors 41-30
Colorado started the game slowly, trailing 7-0 as the Buffaloes missed two shots and committed three turnovers before getting its first points on a Levi Knutson layup three minutes in.
Markieff Morris was strong early for the Jayhawks scoring 13 points on five of six shooting and grabbing five rebounds in the first half.
Kansas will host Oklahoma State Monday night in a game televised on ESPN at 8 p.m. Central.
