Jayhawks cruise past Buffs

So much for momentum.

Following their home victory over Oklahoma on Wednesday, the Colorado men’s basketball team was unable to capture the elusive first road win of the season, falling to No. 1 Kansas 94-74 Saturday night.

Junior center Cole Aldrich had 17 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks for the Jayhawks (26-1 overall, 12-0 Big 12), while freshman Xavier Henry led his team with 24 points, and added six boards of his own.

Freshman guard Alec Burks led the Buffs with 17 points and seven rebounds, while junior Marcus Relphorde poured in 16 for Colorado (12-14 overall, 3-9 Big 12), who trailed the entire the game.

After pushing the top-ranked Jayhawks to overtime in their first matchup of the season in Boulder, Colorado proved no match for a Kansas team that stretched their nation-best home winning streak to 57 games, which is five shy of their school record.

Two other records for the program are about to be broken as well. Kansas currently sits at 1,996 wins in their history, and if they win their remaining four games they will reach the 2,000 win milestone this season.

Also senior guard Sherron Collins, who had 13 points and a team-high seven assists in the victory, won his 123rd game as a Jayhawk, tying him with three former players, including former first-round draft pick Raef LaFrentz, for the most wins by a player in program history.

As for Colorado, Burks, who missed CU’s first game with Kansas due to a knee injury, led the Buffs in both scoring and rebounding for the 11th time this season. He also passed Donnie Boyce for third place all-time on the freshman scoring list with 421 points, now trailing only Chauncey Billups and Richard Roby.

With the loss, the Buffs slipped to 10th in the Big 12 standings, and will now head east to face division-rival Missouri at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in Columbia, Mo.

Contact CU Independent Staff Writer David Starcer at David.starcer@colorado.edu.