Radford-Kansas Preview

Radford-Kansas Preview

Published Dec. 14, 2009 4:19 p.m. ET

With a succession of overmatched opponents visiting Allen Fieldhouse, Kansas has had no trouble defending its home court.

The top-ranked Jayhawks look to continue their dominance in Lawrence and extend the nation's longest home winning streak Wednesday night when they meet Radford for the first time.

Allen Fieldhouse is historically one of the toughest places for opponents to play, and the Jayhawks are 142-9 at home since the 2000-01 season. They've won 46 straight in Lawrence since a 69-66 loss to then-No. 10 Texas A&M on Feb. 3, 2007.

They've been winning with considerable ease at home this season.

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In five games at Allen Fieldhouse, Kansas (7-0) is averaging 98.8 points on 52.9 percent shooting while outscoring its opponents by an average of 44.0. The Jayhawks haven't faced the stiffest of competition with meetings against Hofstra, Central Arkansas, Oakland, Tennessee Tech and Alcorn State.

They're hoping to add Radford (4-2) to that list.

The Highlanders are 2-2 on the road, including a 104-67 loss at then-No. 9 Duke on Nov. 21. Radford, facing the nation's top-ranked team for the first time in school history, has been outscored by an average of 40.2 in losing all four games against top-10 opponents since 2007-08.

Although the notion of coming into Allen Fieldhouse and upsetting the Jayhawks seems highly unlikely for the Highlanders, their star center could give Kansas problems inside.

Art Parakhouski, the Big South preseason player of the year, is averaging 22.3 points and 14.8 rebounds. The 6-foot-11 Parakhouski had 23 points and 14 boards against Duke.

Kansas' Cole Aldrich, an AP preseason All-America pick, will have the responsibility of guarding Parakhouski. The 6-foot-11 Aldrich is averaging 10.1 rebounds and 3.6 blocks. He had seven points on 1 of 6 shooting and 12 rebounds in Saturday's 73-61 win over UCLA in the Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series.

At Pauley Pavilion, Kansas allowed the downtrodden Bruins to get within four early in the second half before pulling away and opening up a 17-point lead.

"They've had a lot of defections to the NBA and it's hard to keep reloading," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "We're going to look back on this game in February and be very proud because they're going to get better and better."

Markieff Morris scored a career-high 19, Xavier Henry added 16 and Sherron Collins finished with 14 for the Jayhawks, who received all but three of the 65 first-place votes in the latest AP poll.

Henry leads the Jayhawks' high-powered offense with an average of 16.9 points, while Collins - also named to the preseason All-America team - is second with 14.3 per game.

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