LAWRENCE, Kan. — Marcus Morris had a career-high 23 points and 10 rebounds, and Sherron Collins scored 19 to help No. 1 Kansas hold on for a grinding 75-64 win over Michigan on Saturday.
Kansas (10-0) wasn’t always crisp in winning its 48th straight home game, using a big first-half run to take the lead and hanging on from there. Xavier Henry had 15 points and the Jayhawks held Michigan to 5-for-28 shooting from 3-point range to overcome 14 sometimes-ugly turnovers and numerous breakdowns on the defensive glass.
Collins was 7 of 10 from the floor after a 1-for-12 game against La Salle.
Michigan (5-5) was again hurt by sporadic defense, playing well for stretches, breaking down completely on others in losing to Kansas for the first time.
Ranked 219th in field goal percentage against, the Wolverines neutralized Kansas center Cole Aldrich, holding him to five points and no field goals, but allowed the Jayhawks to shoot 52 from the floor. Michigan stayed within reach by grabbing 14 offensive rebounds, but couldn’t pull closer than nine points after Kansas’ first-half run.
DeShawn Sims had 19 points and Manny Harris 16 for the Wolverines, 1-21 all-time against No. 1 teams.
After a week off for final exams, Kansas faced its first real home test of the season in Michigan.
Despite some early-season struggles, the Wolverines represented a much stiffer challenge than the likes of Oakland, Alcorn State and Radford, teams the Jayhawks beat by 30 or more in opening 6-0 at Allen Fieldhouse.
Michigan has a good history against Kansas, too. The Wolverines entered 5-0 all-time — the most wins without a loss in Kansas’ 111-year history — which coach Bill Self made sure his players were well aware of.
With a matchup like this, Allen Fieldhouse was louder than it’s been all season, even with a pre-noon start.
Turned out to be not much of a test after all.
Shaking off a sluggish start, the Jayhawks gave a grinding game a flash of life with 15-2 run midway through the first half, going up 33-16 on Collins’ fastbreak layup.
Kansas hit eight straight shots to overcome a 2-for-11 start, getting an elbow-above-the-rim tomahawk dunk by Thomas Robinson, a couple of 3-pointers from Tyrel Reed, even a shake-and-bake scoop by Tyshawn Taylor as he was falling away from the basket.
Even with four sloppy turnovers in the closing minutes, Kansas went into halftime leading 42-31.
Michigan had all kinds of trouble against Kansas’ aggressive man defense, working just to get shots off every possession. The Wolverines hit four straight shots to end the first half 11 of 33. They finished at 36 percent overall.
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