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Kansas used a 52-point second half performance, led by Russell Robinson’s 21 points after halftime, to beat Texas A&M 83-73 at Reed Arena in College Station, Tex. Wednesday night. Robinson finished with a career high 24 points and was joined in double figures by Brandon Rush with 22, Mario Chalmers with 15 and Darnell Jackson tossed in 12. Acie Law led the Aggies with 17 points; Joseph Jones and Josh Cater had 15 each. The first half was played at A&M’s pace, and they did what they wanted while KU seemed to struggle for everything. Jackson had 11 points and Rush 10 for the Jayhawks at half. A&M’s largest lead was seven, and the Jayhawks never led by more than one. The Aggies would get a small lead, and KU could catch them, but never really get over the top and establish a lead. The final 12 minutes of the half were played pretty much to a draw. Statistically the teams were very close at the half, with A&M making two more field goals and KU three more free throws. The Aggies led at half 33-31. "We really didn't play bad once we settled in," said Jayhawk coach Bill Self. "We played bad the first eight minutes." Coming out of halftime, the Jayhawks hit the Aggies with a 16-0 run that could have sealed the game. During the run Robinson had eight points, including a trey and a traditional three point play. Rush contributed four points and a nice assist to Sasha Kaun, who opened the second half scoring with an authoritative dunk. After the run KU lead 47-33. A&M went a full six minutes without scoring to close the first and open the second half. The Aggies fought back, slowly chipping away at KU’s lead. Josh Carter hit at least three NBA length three-pointers, and Dominique Kirk hit a three and a free throw on separate trips down the floor to cut KU’s lead in half and after a pair of Jones free throws, KU lead by only four with 10 minutes to play. The Jayhawks employed a 3-2 zone to slow the Aggies down, and the strategy seemed to work as A&M went another three-plus minutes without a basket. Jones did hit four free throws during the stretch, and after another Carter three broke the drought, KU led by seven with 6:43 to play, 62-55. With four Robinson free throws and a Rush dunk followed by Kaun hitting one of two from the line, the lead was re-expanded to 14 and all KU really needed to do was take care of the basketball and hit their free throws to secure the victory. But over a 84 second stretch, KU could only hit four of nine from the line. Fortunately, when Rush missed the second of two charities the ball was tipped out to him, and he was able to drive to the hoop, hit a layup and convert the traditional three-point play for a four-point trip down the floor. Still, after treys by Carter and Chris Walker, the lead was only six with a minute to go. Did anybody else have flashbacks to the Missouri game? Robinson and Chalmers came up big in the final minute, hitting all six of their free throws. That effectively sealed the deal as A&M wouldn’t score again except for a meaningless, uncontested layup by Acie Law as time expired. After going 3-7 from TreyLand in the opening half, Kansas only shot two threes after halftime, making one. The Jayhawks made but one more field goal in the second half, compared with the first. The difference in the game was free throw shooting. KU hit 6-8 from the charity stripe in the first half, but hit 27-36 the rest of the way "We told our guys going in you're going to shoot free throws," said KU coach Bill Self. "The majority of the guys stepped up to the line and knocked them down." For the game the Jayhawks were an impressive 33-44 from the free throw line. Robinson and Chalmers combined to go 20 of 21 free throws. After KU’s big run to open the second half, the game quickly turned into a free throw shooting contest as the teams combined for 40 second-half fouls. (They had but 13 in the opening stanza.) A&M went 16-20 in the second half from the line, keeping the game close for most of the second half. Between the two teams one player fouled out, seven more had four fouls each, and an additional four players had three fouls each. No wonder the second half took an hour and a half to play. Kansas started the remaining three freshmen, after Micah Downs left the team. Julian Wright made his first start, but was scoreless in six minutes of play. Jackson stepped up nicely in the first half, and C.J. Giles played solid defensively, as did Kaun (who chipped in eight points as well). Christian Moody played only four minutes. The switch to zone gave A&M some trouble and probably kept Kaun and Giles in the game. On the other hand, KU didn’t demonstrate an ability to shoot over a zone, but great patience in working the ball in and out. KU struggles some with the full-court press, but that will be handled with practice and experience. If the Jayhawks are to get into the NCAA’s they will have to go with what they’ve got, which is solid guard play and Rush. It would seem as if Chalmers and Robinson can generally handle the load, as they get better with each passing game. Kaun and Giles seem to improve at a much slower rate, and Kaun will struggle with quicker players. But it was nice to win a game from the free throw line, especially after the Missouri meltdown. Thanks to all the second half fouls we can classify this as a somewhat ugly win, but it’s still better than a pretty loss. Mark Howe is a freelance writer currently residing in Milford, IN. He is a former ticket taker, usher and security worker at Allen Fieldhouse, and can be reached at mhowe (at) rockchalk (dot) com.