Texas A&M
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(#5) Kansas
5th-Ranked Kansas Cruises to 100-70 Win Over Aggies
Jan 20, 2001 | Men's Basketball
January 20, 2001
Kirk Hinrich keeps finding Kansas' shooters, and they keep paying him off with big numbers in his assists column.
The sophomore point guard had 10 assists Saturday, his fourth double-digit game of the season, and No. 5 Kansas shot 52 percent from the field in a 100-70 victory over Texas A&M.
"Kirk pushes the ball up the court nonstop. He doesn't get tired," said forward Drew Gooden, who had 19 points and 10 rebounds for his team-leading sixth double-double of the season. "He's like a cross country runner out there, and he distributes the ball really well."
Gooden, whom Kansas coach Roy Williams has used in a sixth-man role for much of the season, had his double-double in just 19 minutes.
"It really tells you something when players like Drew Gooden are not even starting," Texas A&M coach Melvin Watkins said. "When you have McDonalds All-Americans, Burger King All-Americans and whatnot, you've always got a good player on the bench."
Nick Collison, Kansas' other standout sophomore, also had 19 points on 9-for-11 shooting from the field. Gooden shot 7-for-11 as the Jayhawks went over 50 percent for the 12th time in 16 games.
They shot percent (36-for-69) overall on Saturday and had five players score in double figures.
The Jayhawks (15-1, 4-0 Big 12) have won six straight against Texas A&M (6-11, 0-5).
Jeff Boschee went 4-for-6 from 3-point range and scored 14 points for Kansas, off to its sixth straight 4-0 conference start and its first 15-1 opening to a season since 1997-98.
Kenny Gregory added 12 points, and Luke Axtell had 10.
"When you play a team with one or two big scorers, you can usually focus on shutting them down," Collison said. "But if you have to play us straight up, it's going to be tough, because one-on-one, we've got a lot of good players."
Bernard King led the Aggies with 18 points and six assists but shot 5-for-18 from the field -- including 2-for-9 on 3-pointers -- under heavy defensive pressure from Boschee.
"We knew Bernard was going to get points because he is a good player, but I think Jeff really bothered Bernard," Williams said.
Boschee hit two quick 3-pointers as Kansas took an 11-2 lead, but the Aggies' persistence on the offensive boards -- they matched Kansas 11-11 in rebounding at that end in the first half -- helped A&M pull within two points three times.
But after Carlton Brown's follow shot cut Kansas' lead to 26-24 with 8:42 left in the half, the Jayhawks went on a 24-5 run -- including a 12-0 streak -- to go up 50-29 with just under a minute left before the break.
"Last year we'd let down a little bit and let a team claw their way back up," Gooden said. "This year, we know how to compete better. Teams aren't going to claw their way up that often."
Gregory and Gooden had six points each in that run, while Kansas held the Aggies without a field goal from the 6:44 mark until 57 seconds remained in the half.
"We just do not have the size or the bodies to match up with all of their big men," Watkins said. "We did our best on the offensive rebounds, but we just could not keep up."
An 18-5 run in the second half, capped by Boschee's final 3-pointer with 5:05 left, gave the Jayhawks their biggest lead at 88-50.
Texas A&M shot 33 percent (24-for-72) from the field for the game. Brown had 14 points, and Jamaal Gilchrist added 10.
