Admit it, you thought it was a mismatch.

There Dionte Christmas was, less than a minute into KU’s 71-59 victory, stretching out his long, 6-foot-5 frame behind the three-point arc waiting for the Temple offense to set up. Here’s where it gets a little strange. Brady Morningstar walked toward him and put his body up against him. He’d been chosen to carry the defensive burden of Christmas.

Morningstar is 6-foot-3 and 25 pounds lighter than Christmas. He redshirted last year. The year before that he played seven games.

Although he’s played in every game this year and erupted for 21 points on one occasion, Morningstar’s basketball resume still pales in comparison to the one Christmas has crafted the past 3 ½ years at Temple.

Christmas is a scoring machine. He’s the reigning Atlantic 10 Player of the Year. He’s featured on Temple’s media guide wearing a Santa cap with the words “Five Months of Christmas” emblazoned above. Last week, he humiliated Tennessee, a top 10 team, going for 35 points in 32 minutes.

It was a stat line that folks at Allen Fieldhouse have grown accustomed to seeing. Two years ago, Texas’ Kevin Durant faded away and shot from seven feet behind the three-point line for 37 points in Lawrence. K-State’s Michael Beasley banged and hustled for 39 last March. Christmas didn’t quite have the same hype, but his scoring prowess was known. A game like Beasley’s or Durant’s wouldn’t have been a surprise.

But a big performance didn’t happen. Morningstar had a lot to do with it.

The possessions came and went in that first half. Morningstar stayed with Christmas, trying to seal away the passing lanes.

“He just didn’t let me touch the ball the whole first half,” Christmas said.

And the few times Christmas did touch the ball, Morningstar was there with a hand in his face. Christmas didn’t make his first basket until there was about three minutes left in the first half.

“I think he made Christmas earn every basket,” junior guard Sherron Collins said of Morningstar. “I think he contested every shot.”

The importance of Morningstar and the rest of the team’s defense on Christmas was apparent given the score. Kansas led by just eight at halftime and by as little as one late in the first half.

Had Christmas attempted more than four shots, the game could’ve been completely different. Morningstar and Collins said they knew this. They also knew that Christmas wouldn’t stay quiet the whole game.

He came out the second half and demanded the ball. Christmas said he used his teammates to get himself open, and when he did, he didn’t miss. Christmas scored 18 in the second half, with most of his three-pointers coming when Morningstar was just a split second too late.

“You’ve got to be there on the catch obviously and even if you are, he showed he can shoot that ball,” Morningstar said. “You’ve just got to keep your hand up and try not to get too much separation. That’s about all you can do.”

But Christmas could never completely take over. When Temple pulled within two after one of his threes midway through the second half, the defense buckled down. Kansas went on a 15-2 run. That was that.

So after the game, as the Owls packed up for a road game at Long Beach State, Christmas had nothing but compliments for Kansas. He loved the pregame video. Loved the tradition. Loved the Fieldhouse, said it was just like he’d seen on TV.

He also had good words for the defense and, of course, Morningstar. Other teams have held him down before. And he thought the Jayhawks gave him as much trouble as any of them.

“Kansas did a great job of having tremendous ball pressure,” Christmas said. “They were just more focused than us.”