Mizzou drops Border War game for first loss, 95-67
Kansas got Missouri out of character.
Through the first nine games of the season, the Tigers were No. 1 in the country with 93.0 points per game, No. 2 in the country with a 1.83 assist-to-turnover ratio, No. 4 in the country with 21.3 turnovers forced per game and No. 1 in the country with 22.2 fast break points per game. Mizzou established a winning formula: pressure the ball, rip it away from the opponent and score in transition.
But the No. 6 Jayhawks proved in a 95-67 win against Missouri in Columbia, Mo., on Saturday they weren’t like any other team the Tigers had faced. They weren’t just better than Mizzou’s first nine opponents. They were better than Mizzou.
“There's a reason why Kansas is top 10 in the country,” Tigers head coach Dennis Gates said. “There's a reason why Bill Self is a Hall of Fame coach.”
The visitors exploited the weaknesses the Tigers have struggled with all year long, particularly on the defensive end. The Jayhawks missed a pair of layups with their opening possession, then didn’t miss again for another seven minutes, draining 11 consecutive field goals and opening up a 28-14 lead that Missouri wouldn’t come back from.
But the Jayhawks also took away everything that made the Tigers successful. Missouri had just eight assists while coughing the ball up 21 times. The hosts only swiped the ball away five times. They scored 10 points off of fast break points — Kansas had 22. Each mark was the worst of the season for Mizzou.
“I thought Kansas did a great job of that, forcing us into ill-advised shots that we normally would not take in transition,” Gates said. “We usually would try to get to the foul line, get to the basket. But more importantly, I thought our missed shots led to us being discouraged.”
There were times the Tigers looked like they could make it challenging. Freshman forward Aidan Shaw blocked a shot at the rim against Jayhawks freshman guard Gradey Dick and Mizzou senior guard D’Moi Hodge splashed in a 3-pointer on the next possession. Senior point guard Nick Honor stole the ball away the next trip down and lobbed it up to Shaw for a dunk on the fast break.
But spurts like that never sustained. They were too few and far between. The hosts went into the locker room at halftime down 50-33. They wouldn’t trail by any fewer than 15 in the second half.
“I would just say we just didn't execute how we planned,” Honor said. “We knew coming into the game the crowd was gonna be big-time. But things just didn't go our way today.”
Every team has off nights — even the Jayhawks didn’t go into Saturday’s game undefeated. And losing to the No. 6 team in the country doesn’t mean doesn’t doom Mizzou’s postseason aspirations. It just means the Tigers aren’t as good as Kansas yet.
It’s a tough pill to swallow for a team that didn’t want to let its fans down as the Border War returned to the city for the first time in 10 years. But there’ll be more opportunities for Missouri to get a signature win under its belt as the season wears on — three of its next four opponents are currently ranked in the top 17 in the AP poll.
But for Mizzou to do so, the formula has to add up.
A true sell-out
Mizzou Arena was at full capacity during Saturday’s game, with an announced attendance of 15,061.
Students were allowed inside 90 minutes before tip-off — The Antlers filled up their section seconds after the front doors were opened. The crowd remained raucous throughout the evening, never getting tempered down even as the game slipped further out of reach.
“The crowd was very welcoming,” Jayhawks head coach Bill Self joked. “In all honesty, we want to be in environments where people care. And there was obviously a caring environment today.”
It didn’t matter that it had been 10 years since the game had been in the state. And it didn’t matter that the stakes were lower now that the two teams are in different conferences.
The Border War still matters in Missouri. There hasn’t been any love lost in the past decade.
“It's a beautiful sight,” Gates said. “I think this is what college athletics, college basketball, is all about. This is what separates amateurism with professionalism. These games are generational games, right? You have family, friends, loved ones circled on calendars, making plans to get back, get in front. It was the hottest ticket in the country and I truly believe the atmosphere resembled resemble that.”
Up next
Missouri (9-1) heads to the Orange Bowl Classic in Sunrise, Fla., to take on UCF on Dec. 17 at 11 a.m.
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