Near-perfect Vick leads No. 4 Kansas past Long Beach State

LAWRENCE, Kan. -- Dan Monson never spent much time scouting Lagerald Vick in preparing to play Kansas.

It wound up being a big mistake.

The sophomore guard scored a career-high 23 points on near-perfect shooting, Svi Mykhailiuk added 14 and fourth-ranked Kansas rolled to a 91-61 victory over the 49ers on Tuesday night.

"That's what makes Kansas so good. (Vick) was not one we were focused on," Monson said, shaking his head. "He just opened up the game with his shooting."

Josh Jackson added 13 points and Devonte Graham had 12 for the Jayhawks (6-1), who doubled up the 49ers (1-8) at 50-25 out of the break and coasted to their 44th straight win at Allen Fieldhouse.

Vick was 9 for 9 from the floor, one shy of the school record held by Norm Cook and Danny Manning, and hit four 3-pointers. His only miss came on the second of two free throws with 5:47 left.

"It was pretty big," he said of the basket. "Pretty big."

Justin Bibbins had 13 points to lead Long Beach State, which has lost eight in a row -- all on the road and mostly to teams that will be in the NCAA Tournament.

"Kansas is a great team," Monson said, "and when you're a great team and you're better than the opponent, and then you play harder than them, it gets ugly."

Making his second straight start, Vick got the high-flying Jayhawks off to a quick start.

The paper-thin shooting guard knocked down a 3-pointer in the opening couple minutes, then showed his versatility with a shot-fake for an easy layup. Later in the half, he jumped in front of a pass and took it coast-to-coast for a reverse dunk that got the crowd on its feet.

"He did play well. He shot it great," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "He's improved a ton. He's confident. He's reacting instead of thinking, for the most part."

Vick matched his career-best of 15 points set last weekend in the first half.

"You could just tell during the game that he was hot," Graham said. "I kept telling everyone to keep trying to find him. That's what I tried to do."

Just about everybody from Kansas had a hand in the rout: Jackson continued to make his early case for freshman of the year with some dynamic passing to go with his scoring and rebounding, and Graham and Frank Mason II continued to show why they form arguably the nation's best backcourt.

Missing from the party was big man Landen Lucas, who has played crucial minutes for Kansas the past couple of years but has struggled this season. He missed the game with an oblique injury.

The Jayhawks got inconsistent production from the rest of their post players, too.

"You're not going to win consistently against good teams relying on making 3-point shots," Self said, "because there are times you're not going to make them."

STATS AND STREAKS

Kansas had a 41-24 advantage on the boards. ... The teams combined to go 19 of 37 from the foul line. ... Kansas was 14 of 26 from the 3-point line (53.8 percent) but 9 of 19 on foul shots (47.4). ... The Jayhawks committed 19 turnovers while the 49ers had 15.

BIG PICTURE

Long Beach State looked weary after the opening few minutes. The 49ers have one more game left on a nine-game trip that covers more than 15,000 miles, and has included losses to North Carolina, UCLA, Louisville, Washington and Wichita State.

Kansas had the final 20 minutes to toy with lineups, and Self emptied the bench for the second straight game. His son, Tyler Self, hit a 3-pointer to a huge roar in the final seconds.

TIME WARP

Long Beach State beat then-No. 1 Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse in 1993. Lucious Harris had 24 points to lead the 49ers to a 64-49 victory. It remains their only win in five meetings.

UP NEXT

Long Beach State finishes its grueling trip Saturday at New Mexico State.

Kansas continues its homestand against Stanford on Saturday.