It’s been a long time since the Kansas men’s basketball team looked to a freshman to lead it to victory.

It didn’t matter that Brandon Rush was a freshman on Saturday in Kansas’ 73-46 romp of No. 21 Kentucky. The Kansas City, Mo., native looked like a veteran on the hardwood, taking control of the KU offense and swarming toward the basketball to grab crucial rebounds.

Rush was the most aggressive player on the floor in a game that the Jayhawks dominated from the beginning. The freshman guard ended the game with a double-double: 24 points and 12 rebounds.

Rush had a simple response following the game to whether this was his most complete game of the season.

“Yes, by far,” he said.

Rush consistently drove to the basket and worked the mid-range jump shot to his advantage. He also flashed other parts of his game, gliding to the basket for lay-ups and short jumpers.

“I just felt I was taking too many jumpers so I started attacking the glass,” the Jayhawks’ leading scorer said. “It turned out better than just sitting back and shooting.”

Rush was also effective from the outside, knocking down 2-of-4 three-point attempts.

Kentucky coach Tubby Smith said he was irate after the game regarding his team’s defense on Rush.

“You would think somebody would have read the scouting report and made him go left one time, but that didn’t happen,” Smith said. “He is a great player. Just a great athlete. We just made him spectacular.”

Not only was Rush scoring, but he was grabbing critical rebounds on the defensive end, enabling the Kansas offense to move quickly up the floor to establish the fast break.

Megan True / KANSAN

Freshman guard Brandon Rush takes the ball downcourt during Saturday's game against Kentucky.

This was Kansas’s most prominent victory of the season. The Jayhawks were able to hold the Wildcats to under 30 percent shooting. They handed Smith his worst loss in his time of coaching Kentucky basketball – a program that has more victories than any other team in NCAA history.

Kansas build a large lead early and led by 21 at halftime. The Jayhawks held the Wildcats to 19 first-half points. Kentucky did not tally an assist for the entire first half.

“Nobody was screening. Nobody was passing. They did a good job of pushing us out of our offense,” Smith said. “You have no chance of even competing if you don’t pass the ball.”

Rush said he was not necessarily expecting the dominance that Kansas displayed on Saturday.

“I am kind of surprised. We just came out and played hard, we wanted it more and everything was falling for us,” Rush said.

Kansas coach Bill Self said the game was an important victory, but the team now had to focus on the first conference game of the season against Colorado on Wednesday.

The victory gave Kansas a six-game winning streak. The only thing that seemed to possibly go wrong for the Jayhawks was when Rush took the ball on the baseline to inbound the ball. He started running along the baseline, but the referee blew his whistle and called Rush for traveling – freshman mistake.

Notes:

Former Kansas basketball players Brett Olsen and Jeff Graves were in attendance for Saturday’s game.

ESPN commentator Dick Vitale was honored at halftime by the Kansas Athletics Department and was presented with a bronze Jayhawk from Athletics Director Lew Perkins.

Actress and Kentucky fanatic Ashley Judd sat immediately behind the Kentucky bench.

Rush’s 24 points were a career high.