LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) -- Minus a wisdom tooth, Ashante Johnson didn't figure to play much for Kansas (No. 11 ESPN/USA Today, No. 12 AP) on Wednesday night.

But Johnson, who took painkillers before the game after having the tooth pulled two days earlier, played 20 minutes and scored a career-high 16 points as the Jayhawks defeated Princeton 82-67.

	Kansas' Kenny Gregory pulls in a rebound against Princeton's C.J. Chapman, left, and Ahmed El-Nokali.

"To tell the truth, I didn't think I would play," Johnson said. "I was still feeling woozy before the game. At the start of the game, I was low on energy because of the painkillers and not eating any good food for two days.

"But I'm an offensive player. I'm a scorer. I've been a scorer all my life. It's my defense that I need to work on. Offense has never been a problem for me."

Nick Bradford added a season-high 17 for the Jayhawks.

Kansas (9-2) outrebounded the Tigers 24-5 in the first half and finished the game with a 41-18 advantage to end Princeton's five-game winning streak. The five rebounds was the fewest in a half by a Kansas opponent since 1975.

"We knew we had a size advantage coming in," forward Nick Collison said. "We knew we had to crash the boards because that was one of our advantages. They only have about three big guys on their whole team. We knew that was one area where we could beat them."

Eric Chenowith had 10 rebounds, and Johnson and Collison each had eight for the Jayhawks, who shot a season-low 35.2 percent in an 84-70 loss to Illinois on Saturday. Kansas shot 48 percent against Princeton.

Chris Young scored 20 to lead Princeton (6-5), while C.J. Chapman added 15.

"They're a big team," Chapman said. "They were getting boards from all angles. Definitely, they were bigger and more athletic. I don't know what happened on the boards. It was just one of those days."

Johnson had two baskets in an 11-2 run that carried the Jayhawks to a 61-41 lead with 11:39 remaining. The Jayhawks led 74-52 on a pair of free throws by Luke Axtell with 5:17 to play.

Kenny Gregory, Kansas' leading scorer, was held in check much of the first half, but scored five straight as the Jayhawks pulled away to a 31-22 lead with 4:29 remaining in the half. Gregory, averaging 15.5 points, finished with nine.

Kansas led 41-28 at the half after freshman Kirk Hinrich dribbled down the clock for a turnaround jumper in the lane at the buzzer.

The Tigers stayed close for much of the half as the Jayhawks committed their ninth turnover with about 7½ minutes remaining.

Bradford, who scored just 11 points in his last four games, started quickly and had 11 in the first nine minutes.

But Kansas led just 24-20 with 6:24 remaining after a pair of free throws by Spencer Gloger before Gregory got started.

Kansas freshman Drew Gooden sat out with a hip pointer suffered in practice when he took an elbow from Johnson while the Jayhawks were going through a box-out drill.