Self’s fourth-ranked Jayhawks finally did subdue the Bears, even without the help of a 3-point basket for the first time in almost eight years. But Curtis Jerrells, Henry Dugat and LaceDarius Dunn kept Kansas hopping all Saturday night before the buzzer finally sounded with Kansas on top 100-90.
“I told people - their guards are really, really good,” Self said.
Jerrells had 30 points, the highest total of any player against Kansas this year. LaceDarius was 5-for-10 from the 3-point arc and had 23 points. Dugat had 15.
“I’m not sure offensively we’ll play any guards that will actually play better than what Baylor’s played tonight,” Self said.
Darrell Arthur had 23 points and 10 rebounds and Russell Robinson had 22 and helped fuel a 17-6 spurt in the second half that pulled the Jayhawks (23-1 overall, 8-1 Big 12 Conference) away from the stubborn Bears.
Sherron Collins, who’s been erratic the past couple of weeks, had 17 points and was also key in the second-half run that kept Baylor winless in eight trips to Allen Fieldhouse.
“Shady (Arthur) was terrific. Russell was solid,” Self said. “But Sherron was the spark tonight. I thought in the second half he changed the pace of the game and got us easy baskets in transition.”
Despite its second-highest point total of the season, Kansas was 0-for-9 from behind the arc and failed to hit a 3-point bucket for the first time since February of 2000 - a span of 271 games.
The Jayhawks trailed by as many as seven points in the first half. When Dunn connected for a rare four-point play about 7 minutes into the second half, it was tied 50-all. But then Mario Chalmers, taking a long pass from Darnell Jackson, dropped in a short jumper and Collins followed with a three-point play to ignite the take-charge spurt that assured Kansas of its 11th victory in its last 12 meetings with Baylor.
“You can’t show any fear,” Jerrells said. “You can’t go out there and look at the name on the jersey or that (No. 4) ranking by their name. That’s why you play the game. On any given night, anybody can win. They played 40 minutes tonight and we didn’t.”
The Bears (17-5, 5-3), nationally ranked two weeks ago for the first time in 39 years, lost for the third time in four games and fell to 0-8 in Allen Fieldhouse, where the Jayhawks have won 21 in a row overall.
Baylor had 12 3-pointers, including five by Dunn and four by Jerrells.
“I think our team has been successful all year because we believe in ourselves,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said. “We know what work we’ve put in. I think a game like this is just another game for the people throughout the nation to see that Baylor has really improved and taken their program to another level.”
Arthur’s bucket gave Kansas a 50-46 lead, but Dunn tied it at 50-all when he hit a 3 from the top of the key as he was fouled and then sank the free throw.
During the spurt that pulled them into the lead, Collins hit a bucket for a 63-56 advantage, then fed Rush for a fast-break basket. After a Baylor turnover, he drove inside for an easy basket that gave the Jayhawks their biggest lead, 67-56.
Baylor’s 85 points were the most this season by any Kansas opponent and the second half was the highest-scoring half of the season for either teams.
The Jayhawks, who have won at least 23 games 19 years in a row, did not have a single rebound the first few minutes while the Bears had seven and seized a 10-4 lead - the biggest deficit Kansas had faced in any home game this season.
Kansas clipped the lead down to one point a few minutes later on buckets by Rush and Arthur, but then Jerrells and Dunn hit back-to-back 3s to boost the lead to 20-13. Robinson’s bucket ignited a 7-0 run that tied it 20-20 before another Jerrells 3 put Baylor back on top.
Mario Chalmers had nine points for Kansas and Rush, playing without a brace on his right knee for the first time since undergoing ACL surgery last June 1, had nine points and seven rebounds. He threw a scare into the crowd at one point when he slipped and fell, apparently without re-injuring the knee.
