The Kansas Jayhawks looked for road win #2 as they traveled up to Ames, Iowa to face the Cylones and to once again go up against the mythical ‘Hilton Magic.’ Unfortunately for the Cyclones, 95% of the magic was used up by their sophomore star Craig Brackins. Outside of him, there was little the Cyclones did to amaze the Jayhawks as they left Hilton with the 82-67 win.
Led by junior guard Sherron Collins, the Jayhawks looked poised to run away with the victory early on in Ames. Collins hit two threes, helping the Jayhawks jump out to a quick 8-0 lead which would eventually stretch to a 12-3 lead by the first television time out mark.
The Cyclones rallied behind the terrific play of their star Craig Brackins. Brackins would score 12 of the Cyclones first 14 points, getting the Cyclones within three of the Jayhawks. Not to be out-done, the Jayhawks Sherron Collins, who had scored 11 of the Jayhawks first 17 points, continued to score himself as the two hot hands for both teams would go back and forth before the Jayhawks would eventually widen the lead going into halftime, 44-38, thanks to a last second bank shot by sophomore guard Brady Morningstar.
In the second half, it became apparent that the Cyclones had no ‘Robin’ to Brackins ‘Batman’ like performance. A quick 18-9 run in the opening minutes of the second half allowed the Jayhawks to widen their lead to 15, 62-47. Much of that was due to the fact that the Cyclones struggled from the field, only shooting 28% in the second half. The Jayhawks shot a scorching 52% from the field in the half, but a lot of the credit for the Jayhawks second half push was thanks to the Jayhawks big man getting warmed up in the second half. Cole Aldrich was hounded during the first half, finishing with four points and two rebounds. In the second half, Aldrich would get his 11th double double of the season by scoring 12 of his 16 points in the half and corralling 10 of his 12 rebounds.
Despite a poor shooting performance in the second half, and at one point a 17 point defecit, the Cyclones didn’t go down without a fight. Brackins hit a three to cut the Jayhawks lead to six and giving him 38 points in the game with 6:36 left to go. The basket gave the Cyclones all the momentum they could want, and sent their crowd into a frenzy.
Finally, Kansas broke their over two minutes scoring drought at the 5:52 mark in the game as Cole Aldrich threw down a thunderous dunk off of a Sherron Collins missed lay-up. After trading a few possessions, the Jayhawks re-gained complete control of the game when Sherron Collins found sophomore guard Tyrel Reed in the corner for the three late in the shot clock. The shot gave the Jayhawks an 11 point lead and the Clyclones couldn’t muster up another rally.
Key Stats:
Sherron Collins tied his career record with 26 points and he also became the 51st Jayhawks to record 1,000 points in his career.
Cyclones sophomore Craig Brackins came up one point short of tying the single game scoring record in the Big XII. Brackins ended with 42 points on 11-18 shooting to go along with his 14 rebounds. The 42 points by Brackins was the fourth best in the history of Iowa State basketball.
Kansas once again held an opponent under 50% shooting. The Cyclones ended the game only shooting 35% from the field.
Kansas was hot from the field shooting 51%.
Cyclone guard Cameron Lee recorded one minute of play on Saturday. Not unusual for some back-ups late in the game. What was unusual during Lee’s one minute, is that he recorded 5 fouls, including 4 in 16 seconds of play.
Kansas had 4 players score in double digits and two more that finished with 9 points.
Iowa State attempted 27 FT’S in the game. 21 of them were attempted by Brackins, who made 17.
Only one Iowa State player besides Brackins scored over 5 points for the Cyclones. Forward Jamie Vanderbeken finished with 8 points.
Both teams did well in the turnover category. The Jayhawks finished with only 11 turnovers while the Cyclones finished with only 9.
Five Kansas freshmen saw time in the game. Combined, they shot 4-16 from the field, but did combine for 16 of the Jayhawks 39 rebounds.
The win marks the seventh straight over the Cyclones and fifth straight inside Hilton Coliseum.
Up Next:
The win improved Kansas to 15-4 overall and 4-0 in conference. The Jayhawks will look to go 5-0 in conference Wednesday night as they travel to Nebraska. Tip off is 6:30 c.s.t. on ESPN2.
