Markieff Morris had 16 points and his twin brother Marcus added 14 to lead No. 4 Kansas to an 81-68 victory over No. 13 Memphis on Tuesday night in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden.
Tyshawn Taylor had 13 points and Thomas Robinson added 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Jayhawks (8-0), who had lost in both of their previous appearances in the event that raises money for the V Foundation, a cancer research project that has raised over $100 million.
Will Barton scored 16 points to lead the Tigers (7-1), who are 1-2 in the Jimmy V and who have lost four straight against Kansas, including the 2008 national championship game.
Kansas had trouble with turnovers in the first half, finishing with 12, which was more than its average for a game this season (11.9).
The Jayhawks opened the second half on an 11-4 run to take a 48-39 lead with 16:08 to play.
Suddenly the turnovers stopped and the Jayhawks started defending hard on the perimeter, stopping the Memphis guards from driving.
The Tigers missed 16 of their first 23 shots in the second half and Kansas took advantage of the poor shooting, taking a 67-54 lead on a jumper by Marcus Morris with 6:19 left. Memphis didn't get closer than 10 points the rest of the way with Kansas' biggest lead coming on a 3-pointer by Brady Morningstar that made it 74-59 with 3:33 to play.
Marcus Morris had eight rebounds and Markieff grabbed seven for the Jayhawks, who finished with a 44-31 advantage on the boards.
Chris Crawford had 15 points, 12 in the first half when he was 4 of 6 from the field. The Jayhawks didn't give many open looks in the second half and he made one of four shots in the final 20 minutes.
Kansas shot 57.1 percent for the game (32 for 56), just above the Jayhawks' percentage entering the game (56.9).
The Jayhawks finished with 22 turnovers, seven above their previous high this season and Memphis had 14 steals and turned those miscues into 29 points.
