LAWRENCE, Kan. — Sherron Collins scored 25 points and dished out key assists during an early 18-1 run, and No. 15 Kansas stretched its nation-leading home court streak to 40 in a row Sunday with a 90-65 victory over No. 11 Missouri.
Cole Aldrich had 19 points and 14 rebounds in a surprisingly lopsided win that puts Bill Self’s young Jayhawks (24-5, 13-1 Big 12) on the cusp of a fifth straight Big 12 title and ninth in 13 years.
Picked fourth in the conference preseason poll after losing all five starters off their NCAA championship team, they’re the first Kansas team to win 13 of its first 14 league games since the senior-laden 2001-02 squad finished 16-0.
Leo Lyons had 20 points and DeMarre Carroll had 16 for Missouri (24-5, 11-3), which had won seven in a row and exceeded last year’s victory total by eight games.
Tyshawn Taylor had 15 points for Kansas as the Jayhawks beat their archrivals in Lawrence for the 10th straight year.
In a 62-60 victory at Missouri last month, the Tigers erased a 14-point Kansas lead. But in the rematch, the Jayhawks put up a big early lead and then answered every Missouri surge.
Missouri was leading 4-3 when any thoughts of another close game evaporated. Markieff Morris had two buckets to ignite an 18-1 run as Missouri went more than 4 minutes without scoring. The Jayhawks seized a commanding 21-5 advantage en route to a 45-19 halftime bulge.
The 6-foot-11 Aldrich, who had his 17th double-double, put an exclamation point on the big win when he took a lob from Taylor, leaped into the air and brought 16,300 fans to their feet with a thunderous one-handed jam that made it 86-60.
Missouri’s pressure defense which led to 27 Kansas turnovers in their first meeting was not nearly as effective in the rematch. Kansas had only 16 turnovers and shot a robust 56 percent from the floor.
Missouri, the fifth-highest scoring team in the nation, hit only 36 percent and was just 3-of-17 from behind the 3-point arc while Kansas went 8-for-14.
Only three Tigers scored in the first half, and Lyons had 11 of their 19 points.
Lyons and Carroll sparked a brief Missouri spurt beginning the second half, with Lyons cutting the lead to 19 points with a pair of free throws. But Collins and Tyrel Reed drilled back-to-back 3-pointers and the Jayhawks led 60-35.
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