Robertson Lifts No. 15 Kansas

Ryan Robertson answered the taunts from Missouri fans with a strong statement on the court.

The fans, upset that the former Missouri prep star left the state to play at Kansas, booed him every time he touched the ball and even unfurled a banner that included Robertson's telephone number. But that didn't bother Robertson, who had 17 points and a career-high nine rebounds in No. 15 Kansas' 73-61 victory Monday night.

"I was looking up at them with a quizzical look because they had my phone number, my real number in Lawrence, on a banner," said Robertson, who is from St. Charles, Mo., but spurned Missouri coach Norm Stewart's recruiting pitch. "I was just wondering where they got it from.

"They can call it all they want. Call it til the wee hours in the morning, because I'll be up."

Kansas (12-3, 4-0 Big 12) held Missouri scoreless for more than eight minutes en route to a 17-point halftime lead, then held off a late surge by the Tigers (12-3, 3-1).

Missouri scored only 15 points in the first half on 5-for-31 shooting. Stewart said it was probably the Tigers' worst half in his 32 seasons at the school.

"I would say it's an all-time low," Stewart said. "We had such a poor half. We've got to get rid of this one and get on to the next one."

Winning at Missouri has always been tough for Kansas. The Tigers had won three straight at home against Kansas teams ranked either No. 1 or No. 3.

"We were due one over here," coach Roy Williams said. "I still think, and nobody's going to make me change my mine, that they're one of the best teams in this league."

Jeff Boschee added 15 points and had four 3-pointers for Kansas, which is 36-1 in Jauary the last three seasons.

The 61 points were a season-low for Missouri, which scored a season-high 96 points against Texas A&M on Saturday.

"They put it on us," center Monte Hardge said. "We dug too deep of a hole."

Albert White, Missouri's leading scorer with a 17.6-point average, didn't score until 13:02 remained and finished with nine points on 4-for-11 shooting. John Woods scored 13 points and Hardge had 11 for the Tigers.

Kansas took a 32-15 halftime lead despite shooting 29 percent from the field. Missouri missed its first six shots and trailed 10-0 before closing to 12-10. But Kansas then scored 14 straight points, including a pair of 3-pointer by Boschee, to take a 26-10 lead with 4:49 left in the half.

Missouri matched its first-half basket total in the first 4:35 of the second half and narrowed the gap to 10 points three times.

The Tigers went on a 9-0 run and pulled within 54-48 on White's driving shot with 4:37 left.

Kansas got the lead back to double figures when Marlon London was fouled while hitting a bank shot. He missed the free throw but Eric Chenowith, who finished with 13 rebounds, scored for a 61-51 lead with 3:01 remaining.

Robertson helped clinch it by making four free throws in the last 1:31.

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