Orange specks dotted the student section Monday night, an attempt at an orange out.

The fans who donned the orange shirts wanted to show their superiority over Missouri in football, to prove that Kansas had the better season even though it lost to the Tigers.

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Kansas Basketball vs. Missouri

They don’t have to resort to those gimmicks in basketball. No way. Kansas defeated the Tigers 90-71 Monday night at Allen Fieldhouse for its fifth victory in a row against its rival. It ties the amount of consecutive victories Kansas had against Missouri from 2001 to 2003 and is one less than the six straight the Jayhawks won from 1965 to 1967.

This one came relatively easy.

Kansas showed no signs of offensive sluggishness as it did against Colorado. Junior guard Brandon Rush hit a contested three on his team’s first possession. Sophomore forward Darrell Arthur slammed it home and hung on the rim on the next. The offense was so good that senior center Sasha Kaun scored by pulling on the rim and not even touching the ball. Twice. This was good old-fashioned athletic Kansas basketball.

But the offensive blitz and relentless crowd didn’t frighten the Tigers at first. They were nearly a full team now, with everyone back from suspension except senior guard Stefhon Hannah, and they played like it. Missouri responded to every KU basket with one of its own until late in the first half.

That’s when Kansas started to pull away. Rush made another three-pointer. Freshman center Cole Aldrich made a couple free throws. Sophomore guard Sherron Collins and junior guard Mario Chalmers scored on drives to the hoop. Soon, the Jayhawks were up double digits and led 45-33 at the half.

The scoring run impressed MU guard Keon Lawrence.

“They were able to do what they wanted to do,” he said, “and were more physical than us.”

Perhaps other than Rush, no one may have been as important to the Jayhawks in the first half than Kaun. A couple of his baskets were lucky, but the rest of his game was legit. From the 17-minute mark to the 10-minute mark, he scored eight of Kansas’ 16 points. Kaun finished with nine in the first half.

“The shots were falling,” Kaun said. “That helps build up the confidence a little bit.”

He was filling in for Arthur off the bench. Aldrich was doing the same. He grabbed nine rebounds, five of which were on the offensive glass.

“Cole and Sasha really bailed us out offensively,” Self said. “Collectively, those guys were terrific. They really rebounded the ball and went after the ball.”

Kansas outrebounded Missouri 48 to 23 for the entire game. Senior Forward Darnell Jackson, Arthur, Kaun and Aldrich all outperformed DeMarre Carroll, Vaidotas Volkus and Leo Lyons inside. Carroll led that trio in rebounding, and he had only three boards.

It would have been close to a perfect game for the Jayhawks if the guards had played better. Self wasn’t too happy with their defense. They let Keon Lawrence score 25 points and only got three steals. Self also said they were part of the reason Kaun and Arthur got into foul trouble.

“They were quicker than us,” Self said. “I shouldn’t say that, but their guards went anywhere they wanted.”

Still, Kansas mostly did what it wanted in the victory just like it has during its other four victories in the last two years. This victory over a rival felt good, especially less than a week after losing to another major rival, Kansas State.

Just not quite good enough. Kansas wants to succeed in both rivalries and continue to stay atop the Big 12 rankings.

“This is great tonight. I’m happy we won and all that stuff,” Self said. “But this doesn’t feel as good as that felt bad. Hopefully we can get a win in the future that will feel that good.”

—Edited by Sasha Roe