Sorry for the late posting here and lack of personal insight but until these start showing on TV and I can get a little more focused on basketball instead of football these generic news releases will have to do.  Any discussion or comments on everyone's part would be greatly appreciated especially those who are able to see that games right now.

LAWRENCE, Kan. - Sherron Collins scored 16 points to lead 23^rd-ranked Kansas to a 71-56 basketball victory against Missouri-Kansas City in the season-opener for the defending national champions.

The victory was not easy for KU, which after leading 5-3, did not pull ahead of the visiting Kangaroos until the 17:35 mark of the second half, a span of 21 minutes and 30 seconds either trailing or tied.

Kansas improved to 5-0 in its series with UMKC while the Kangaroos fell to 0-2 on the season.

The Jayhawks started their season with a victory for the seventh straight year, as well as the 17^th time in the last 18 seasons.  The win was also the 25^th straight home win for KU.

In addition to Collins, Cole Aldrich scored 13 points, all in the second half, while Tyrell Reed added 12 for KU.  Markieff Morris pulled down 15 rebounds, the most by a Jayhawk since Nick Collinson had 21 in the 2003 NCAA Championship game against Syracuse.

UMKC was led by Dane Brumagin, who had 14 points, including making four of eight three-pointers and Reggie Hamilton, who scored 13.

After UMKC opened the second half with a three-point basket to take a 35-32 lead, Kansas ran off 10 straight points as part of a 17-5 run which gave the Jayhawks a 49-40 lead.

Reed scored four points in the run, while Aldrich scored seven and Tyshawn Taylor had six.

UMKC fought back pulling within 49-44, but the Jayhawks proved to be too much inside.  KU outscored the Kangaroos 32-14 in the paint, while also out-racing UMKC and gaining a 16-0 advantage in fast break points.  

After shooting just 32 percent from the field in the first half, KU shot 65.2 percent in the second half.  KU struggled from behind the three-point line as after Collins made a three on the first possession of the game, the Jayhawks finished one of 13 from behind the line.

KU started the second half making 11 of its first 13 shots and cruised to the victory with a strong second half.

Kansas scored the first basket of the game, on a three-pointer by Collins, and led 5-3 after a basket by Reed.  However, the Jayhawks would not lead again in the half as UMKC built up as much as a seven-point lead at 16-9.

The visiting Kangaroos led for a 12:29 stretch of the half before KU tied the game at 21 with 6:36 left.  However, UMKC pulled back ahead and led the rest of the way until KU scored the half's final five points, including a Brady Morningstar layup to tie the game at halftime at 32.

Kansas did not score a basket from the 9:11 mark until Morningstar's layup at the end of the half.  KU scored 13 straight points on free throws in that stretch, while slowing chipping away at the UMKC lead.

Kansas will host Florida Gulf Cost in the second round of the Classic on Tuesday, Nov. 18 at 8 pm.  The game will be televised on ESPNU.

additional notes as well as postgame quotes after the jump...

Kansas Head Coach Bill Self

On the team’s overall performance:

"It was a struggle. Somehow Travis (Releford) sparked us at the end of the half and we went on a 6-0 run and got it tied. We shot a ton of free throws and didn’t make them. It was pretty frustrating, but we hung in there. We need to play a game like this, a grind it out game where we don’t make shots. When we got Cole (Aldrich) in the second half, we actually looked a lot better and we defended a little bit better. I thought that Cole obviously makes a huge difference but how about the three fouls that he had. I know that he is just a sophomore but he can’t do that. They were all just silly fouls."

On the team’s quick shooting:

"Playing fast means that you push it. You look to score early. The ball moves quickly and everything moves quickly. The first half they did not guard us. So what did we do, we just stepped up and shot the ball as soon as we had a look and didn’t make anything. That was frustrating. We have got to be smarter but we are young so we are going to make some mistakes.

Freshman Forward Markieff Morris

On his rebounding:

"Coach Manning just told me to keep going. He didn’t tell me until the end of the game. I could have had more, but I fell like five times."

On his nerves:

"I was nervous at the beginning. My teammates were telling me that it was going to be alright."

Junior Guard Sherron Collins

On the overall performance of the team:

"It’s the first game of the official season. A lot of people have to adjust, especially the freshmen. They’ve got sweaty hands. They’re scared a little bit. But we just didn’t make shots today. We were one of 13 from the three-point line. Things didn’t fall our way, but I think we did a pretty good job."

On bringing out the best in each opponent:

"We know we’re going to take everybody’s best shot. We’re still defending the National Championship last year, so we’ve got a bull’s eye on our back. We’re going to get everybody’s best shot. Especially because we beat a lot of people pretty bad last year, and this is their chance to get back at us. We’re rebuilding, but I think we’ve got some great pieces, and when we put it all together, we’ll be alright."

On the differences between the performances in each half:

"I think in the first half, we played a little bit conservative. We got into foul trouble. When Cole came back out, he gave us a better inside presence. Then we got a few easy buckets and we got a little bit more confidence and a little bit more energy. The second half, we came out and pressured a little bit more and got some easy turnovers."

Freshman guard Tyshawn Taylor

On a pivotal steal:

"I was waiting for him to take it out, but he lost it. It came right to me and I just laid it up. It seemed like a change of momentum a little bit. Everybody got hyped, and we started rolling from there."

On the differences between the performances in each half:

"I think in the first half, we shot a lot of threes. In the second half, we came out and just let the game come to us. We got a lot of easy buckets off of turnovers. Markieff had a bunch of outlet passes that that led to lay-ups."

 On playing without Cole Aldrich in the first half:

"It was tough playing without Cole in the first half.  Markieff (Morris) came in and helped with a lot of rebounds, and usually those are rebounds that Cole grabs.  He picked up the pieces for Cole and I think that helped us a lot.  We went down and at the end of the half we tied it up, possibly because we got a lot of rebounds on defense.  Losing Cole in the first half was tough, but all together we ground it out.  When he (Cole) came back he played his tail off in the second half."

On halftime adjustments:

"Coach told us to keep playing defense.  We missed a lot of shots that we usually make and they made a lot of shots, so we had to keep playing and grinding it out.  I think we knew that because if we continued playing hard, kept rebounding and getting easy buckets, we were going to come out with a win eventually."

HOME TEAM: Kansas 1-0

                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS

## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN

11 Quintrell Thomas.... f  0-3    0-0    3-7    2  2  4   0   3  0  0  1  0  12

45 Cole Aldrich........ c  5-7    0-0    3-4    2  3  5   3  13  2  1  1  1  22

04 Sherron Collins..... g  6-11   1-4    3-4    0  3  3   2  16  2  4  0  1  37

12 Brady Morningstar... g  1-4    0-1    3-4    0  2  2   0   5  1  1  0  0  22

14 Tyrel Reed.......... g  5-10   0-5    2-2    0  4  4   2  12  0  1  0  0  34

02 Conner Teahan.......    0-2    0-1    0-0    0  0  0   3   0  0  0  0  0   4

15 Tyshawn Taylor......    2-4    0-1    3-6    0  3  3   4   7  2  2  0  2  19

21 Markieff Morris.....    0-3    0-1    7-10   3 12 15   3   7  3  4  2  0  29

22 Marcus Morris.......    1-1    0-0    0-0    0  3  3   2   2  0  2  1  0   8

24 Travis Releford.....    3-3    0-0    0-0    1  1  2   2   6  1  0  0  2  13

32 Tyrone Appleton.....    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0  0+

   TEAM................                         1  4  5

   Totals..............   23-48   1-13  24-37   9 37 46  21  71 11 15  5  6 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half:  8-25 32.0%   2nd Half: 15-23 65.2%   Game: 47.9%  DEADB

3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  1-11  9.1%   2nd Half:  0-2   0.0%   Game:  7.7%   REBS

F Throw % 1st Half: 15-21 71.4%   2nd Half:  9-16 56.3%   Game: 64.9%    7Notes

Notes...

Kansas' win over UMKC...

... Marks the seventh straight year KU has won its season-opener.

... Gives the Jayhawks 17 wins in their last 18 season-opening games.

... Marks Kansas' 36th straight home-opening win.

... Makes the Jayhawks 5-0 all-time against UMKC.

... Improves Kansas head coach Bill Self's record to 143-32 at KU, 350-137 overall, and 5-1 against UMKC.

... Makes Kansas 1,944-785 all-time