LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP)—Fort Hays State earned $30,000 and the thrill of playing in storied Allen Fieldhouse in return for getting clobbered 80-40 by No. 5 Kansas on Wednesday night.
The young, impressionable Jayhawks may have come away with even more. In its first game after dropping out of the No. 1 spot, Kansas got to play just about everybody while receiving a much-needed boost in morale.
“It was good for our team to get some confidence back,” said 6-foot-11 freshman David Padgett, who had 19 points and eight rebounds against the outmanned Division II Tigers.
The Jayhawks (4-1) were coming off a 64-58 loss to Stanford that dropped them out of the No. 1 ranking after only one week.
But by taking control early, there were plenty of minutes for other freshmen and backups.
“We were all disappointed with ourselves about the Stanford game,” Padgett said. “It was a good wake-up call for us. It’s good to get a win and get back on the right path.”
Freshman guard Omar Wilkes, in his first extended playing time, hit three of his first four shots and wound up with nine points in 11 minutes.
“Obviously it’s frustrating going from being the star of your high school team to not getting significant minutes. You can’t let it get you down,” said the son of former NBA star Jamaal Wilkes.
“It was great to play. I’d never got to play in front of the fans when it really meant something. I was really pumped up.”
Padgett scored seven points in a 17-2 run to start the second half and send the Jayhawks cruising past the Tigers (4-1). It could have been much more lopsided, but coach Bill Self liberally substituted throughout most of the game.
Nevertheless, the Tigers shot only 32 percent and were outrebounded 58-25. They also committed 18 turnovers and had 10 shots blocked.
“I think the big thing was the size difference,” Fort Hays coach Mark Johnson said. “Any time we got the ball inside with a nice drive, we just couldn’t finish. I don’t think they intimidated us. But Kansas is a lot bigger and stronger than us.”
Keith Langford and freshman J.R. Giddens each had double-doubles for Kansas with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Fort Hays State missed its first nine shots and trailed 12-0 before Dontaz Dean finally hit a short jumper. In the first five minutes, the Tigers had four turnovers, four blocked shots and were 0-for-7 from the field.
No Kansas starter was on the court the last five minutes of the game.
At one point in the first half, the Jayhawks were 16-for-26 from the field but then missed their last 12 shots.
Ryan Shriver had 12 points for Fort Hays.
A mixture of starters and bench players for Kansas did not score over the final 5:13 of the first half but still led 34-19.
Then Padgett, who was no match inside for any of the smaller Tigers, hit two quick baskets at the beginning of the second half and Giddens canned a long jumper.
“We knew that if we could handle this pressure and get to practicing with what we learned from this game, we are only going to get better once we start playing other teams,” Johnson said. “Games like this are about us trying to get better and playing as hard as we can.”
Wayne Simien, Kansas’ 6-9 junior forward, did not suit up after sustaining a slight muscle pull in practice.
Kansas plays a lower-division instate school every year during the regular season, a tradition former coach Roy Williams began 12 years ago. The guaranteed payday for Fort Hays was $30,000.
The Jayhawks are 12-0 in the series.