Kansas clinches share of Big 12 title 102-66

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Hours after learning they’d climbed to the top of the polls, the Kansas Jayhawks found themselves climbing a ladder.

Drew Gooden, Kirk Hinrich, Nick Collison, Roy Williams, and all of the Jayhawks got their chance at a celebratory snip of the Allen Fieldhouse net after Monday night’s 102-66 shellacking of Iowa State.

The victory gave No. 1 Kansas a share of the Big 12 title for the first time since the 1997-98 season. The Jayhawks would clinch the championship outright if Baylor defeats Oklahoma tonight in Waco. Otherwise, KU could achieve the feat by beating Nebraska in Lincoln on Sunday.

“This is something we’ve been working toward all season,” Collison said. “Not that we want it to stop here, but it’s a great, great feeling right now.”

And the Jayhawks made sure to savor it.

Rather than wait until his team clinched the title outright, Williams opted for a net-cutting ceremony Monday. Wearing shirts and hats that read “Big 12 Champions,” each player took his turn with a pair of scissors at the net that hung from the north goal.

The Jayhawks, however, stopped short of tearing the net completely away from the iron rim. It still dangled after the gym had emptied.

“We didn’t want to show any disrespect to Nebraska, Kansas State or Missouri – the three teams we have left to play,” said Williams, whose team improved to 24-2 overall and 13-0 in the Big 12.

“Hopefully, they will see it that way. We just declared part of the conference championship and left part of the net up there.”

If Kansas plays its next three games the way it did against Iowa State, their achievements won’t stop with a conference title. The Jayhawks shot 62.5 percent and forced 18 Cyclones turnovers. Gooden scored a game-high 26 points in just 26 minutes while Collison (16), Wayne Simien (15) and Hinrich (10) also reached double figures.

“We just couldn’t stop them,” Iowa State coach Larry Eustachy said. “I told Roy after the game that I appreciated him taking out his superstars and putting in his stars because they could have scored 150 points on us.

“They just beat us in every way that they could.”

The Jayhawks opened the game on a 17-6 scoring run and extended that lead to 24 points, 49-24, by halftime.

Defensively, the Jayhawks were just as solid. Cyclones forward Tyray Pearson, who entered the game averaging 19.1 points, scored just three points. Shooting guard Jake Sullivan, who torched KU for 27 points on Jan. 23, had only 14 on five-of-12 shooting.

As good as Monday’s victory felt, Kansas players said they know they can’t get complacent as the conference season nears its end.

“Coach Williams told us not to get fat and happy,” said freshman Keith Langford, who scored eight points. “We still have business ahead. If we don’t step up these last couple of games, then we’ll have cut those nets down for nothing."

Jason King, Knight Ridder Newspapers

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