The Kansas Jayhawks took to the court on Saturday shortly after the #1 team in the nation Ohio State had dropped their first game of the season in Wisconsin. For Kansas, the game against Iowa State presented an opportunity to grab the #1 ranking and the Jayhawks capitalized.
Kansas used a solid early defensive effort to jump out early and put the Cyclones away in the first half. With just under five minutes to play, the Jayhawks led by 23 and had only given up 14 points to the Cyclones. The defensive effort and focus crept a little closer to where Bill Self would like to see it, and Kansas continued to play as well as anyone in the country on the offensive end.
What makes the victory and the recent stretch of Kansas games more impressive is that the Jayhawks have been able to compete at such a high level with a pair of key contributors on the bench. Josh Selby missed his third straight game on Saturday, while sophomore Thomas Robinson missed his first of what will be a two week stretch recovering from knee surgery.
The Morris twins carried the Jayhawks on the afternoon picking up right where they left off a month ago against the Cyclones in Ames. Marcus scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while Markieff contributed 14 points and 11 rebounds as well.
Kansas wins by a final score of 89-66 and now they wait until Monday to learn if they will find themselves as the #1 ranked team in the country headed into a Big Monday showdown with Kansas State.