LAWRENCE, Kan. _ Kansas basketball fans cheered former Jayhawk guard/current Colorado coach Tad Boyle during pre-game introductions before Saturday's KU-Colorado game in Allen Fieldhouse.
Any lovefest between Boyle _ who played at KU from 1981-85 _ and the 16,300 spectators ended after Boyle's warm wave and acknowledgment with the words "Thank You," as the Jayhawks stormed to a 72-58 victory over the Buffs of the Pac-12 Conference.
Ochai Agbaji scored 20 points with a career-high 12 rebounds and Devon Dotson added 18 points, six assists and four boards as No. 2 KU (7-1) handed No. 20 Colorado a third-straight defeat at Allen Fieldhouse during the 10-year Boyle era. Udoka Azubuike contributed 12 points and six boards for Kansas.
Colorado standout forward Tyler Bey, who was guarded by Marcus Garrett, had just five points and nine boards in 25 minutes. Bey appeared to hurt his ankle battling Tristan Enaruna for a rebound with six minutes left and was helped to the locker room by trainers.
Overall, counting the eras of several different coaches, Colorado has lost 30 in a row in KU's tradition-rich building. KU won previous meetings over Boyle's Buffs in Allen by 26 and 36 points.
Overall, Boyle's teams are 1-5 versus KU with the Jayhawks set to make a return trip to Boulder next season.
The Jayhawks, who had 10 days between their Maui Invitational title game victory over Dayton on Nov. 27 and Saturday's contest, showed some signs of rust, but not on the defensive end, holding CU to 26.9% shooting the first half and 30% for the game.
KU, which hit 6 of 13 three-pointers to Colorado's 7 of 34, and 52.9% of its shots overall, missed all six three-point tries the first half to Colorado's 4 of 15, and suffered 10 turnovers to Colorado's nine. KU finished with 21 turnovers, Colorado 17.
However, thanks to eight points from Azubuike and Agbaji, seven from Dotson (with four rebounds) and six from quick-starting David McCormack, KU led 34-22 at the break.
The Jayhawks' effort was cheered by former KU guard/current NBA player Devonte Graham, who attended and sat behind the Jayhawk bench.
Colorado, which hit just 26.9% of its first-half shots to KU's 50 percent, had just one player score as many as six in the initial half.
Lucas Siewert hit two threes for his six points for Colorado. Preseason all-conference picks Bey and McKinley Wright (eight points, seven rebounds) combined for five points on 1-of-5 shooting in the half.
KU led by 18 points, 45-27, at 15:06.
KU sophomore power forward McCormack scored six points and KU led 8-3 at 16:51. The Buffs started in a zone despite playing just five possessions of zone all season entering the game.
KU used a 9-0 run to stretch a 10-9 lead to 19-9 at 9:34. Five players _ Agbaji, Azubuike, Silvio De Sousa, Dotson and Enaruna _ scored in the run.
KU stretched the lead to 23-12 at 6:47, but led just 23-16 at 5:45. Agbaji scored to make it 30-18 at 1:52. KU's Azubuike dunked but missed a free throw with 1.9 seconds left in the half, accounting for the 34-22 score at the break.
Kansas will next meet Milwaukee at 7 p.m., Tuesday, at Allen Fieldhouse.
