Kansas 58, Kent State 38

11:58 left in the second half

Kansas' youngsters are playing physical to a fault, as it's resulted in a longer game and trips to the free throw line for the Golden Flashes.

However, it's also sent the Jayhawks to the line a few more times and that's helped them extend this lead to 20.

Kansas 43, Kent State 30

15:53 left in the second half

Cole Aldrich is doing whatever he pleases under the basket, but Kansas isn't feeding him too much because Collins and Taylor are handling themselves just fine in the lane.

Taylor leads Kansas with nine points, but there are several players right behind him in the scoring department. Kansas is holding Kent State to 39 percent shooting from the floor.

Kansas 31, Kent State 19

3:54 left in the first half

Cole Aldrich's offense is starting to catch up to his stellar defense, as he scored the only points since the last break.

Morningstar and Taylor are still tied with seven points, but the offense has stalled a bit in the past four minutes. Good teams go on a run before halftime, so let's see if these Jays have it in them.

Kansas 27, Kent State 14

7:35 left in the first half

Kansas is still playing tight defense and the offense is warming up, as KU just went on a 9-2 run.

Morningstar and Taylor have combined for 14 points and the team is 10-for-20 from the floor. The Jays are 3-for-4 from beyond the arc and a few more attempts would open up the already comfortable lead.

Kansas 18, Kent State 12

The Jays slowed down a bit, but they're still dominating the Golden Flashes defensively. Brady Morningstar has two steals and Kent State hasn't ventured into the lane since Aldrich's three blocks before the first media timeout.

Kansas isn't controlling the glass as it should, but I expect that to improve as we close out the first half.

Kansas 9, Kent State 5

15:34 left in the first half

The early news is bleak for the Golden Flashes. Cole Aldrich isn't allowing anything to get past him down low, while Kent State big man Brandon Parks has two early fouls.

Parks will watch most of the half from the bench and his team will suffer for it. Kansas only needs to feed its big men down low and they should be able to build a healthy lead.

Tip-off

Well, I've given you all the reasons why this game could be close, but I'm still going to take the Jays to win by 12. I'll go with 72-60.

And this just in: Brandon Parks is definitely not 6-foot-10, but he's all of 270 pounds. I think somebody just asked him how tall he wanted to be listed as.

7:55 p.m.

Here's a closer look at Kent State:

Guards Al Fisher and Chris Singletary lead the Golden Flashes in points and minutes played, but a secret to their success is point guard Jordan Mincy. Mincy has 14 assists, third most on the team, but only five turnovers. Controlling the ball will be a key tonight because Kansas can get up the court quick and turn those mistakes into points.

Another thing to watch is the production of center Brandon Parks. At 6-foot-10 and 270 pounds, he's got the size to hang with Cole Aldrich. But does he have the ability? I doubt it.

If Parks can't establish some kind of rhythm offensively then all of the scoring will have to come from Fisher and Singletary. That's fine, but Kent State at least needs Parks to play solid defense on Aldrich, otherwise it has no chance.

Should Parks get into foul trouble, coach Geno Ford will have to throw together some junk defenses to make up for the size difference. That means KU will dominate if it can hit a few jump shots, and that shouldn't be a problem.

7:35 p.m.

Pregame talk in the media room questioned why this game was on ESPNU, but I think the family of networks lucked into a great match-up with this one.

Kansas isn't close to the team that took down the nets and they will surrender some late leads. See: Syracuse.

And while the Golden Flashes don't strike fear into the heart of basketball fans, make no mistake: these birds can ball. Senior guard Al Fisher is a beast, and running mate Chris Singletary is a match-up problem for smaller guards.

The Kansan will have more analysis as we approach this non-conference game, and be sure to check back for scores and updates throughout the contest.