The Missouri VS Kansas game has been a rivalry in football for ages and has become a rivalry in every sport. Regardless of who is having a good season the intensity of matchups is always high and both sides bring out the best in each other. With Missouri being in the Big 12 up until July 1, 2012, this match-up was considered the Border War up until the time Missouri left to join the Southeastern Conference. Kansas came into the game with the number one seed and Missouri was trying to redeem last year’s performance by going 8 – 24 and not winning a game in conference play.
As we walked into the building, we felt the intensity of the rivalry and knew that this would end up being a great game. The game started off very back and forth, with no lead larger than five points by the Missouri Tigers. KJ Adams Jr. (6 – 7, 235 F) received too many quick fouls in the beginning of the first half. In addition, Kansas was not able to take care of the basketball, with 14 turnovers in the first half, and the score was 39 – 25.
Tamar Bates (6 – 5, 195 G) led all players in scoring with 29 points on 9 – 15 shooting from the field, 2 – 5 from the 3-point line and 9 – 9 from the free throw line. He did a great job throughout the game not forcing the issue and consistently putting pressure on the defense by trying to get to the basket.
Mark Mitchell (6 – 9, 230 G) was the second leading scorer for Missouri with 17 points on 4 – 14 from the field. When the game got close he hit a wide-open three-pointer from the right corner to give the Tigers some breathing room. His aggression caused the big guys for Kansas to get into early foul trouble and he ended up going 8 – 12 from the free throw line for the game.
Hunter Dickenson (7 -2. 265 C) was the leading scorer for the Jay Hawks and made it a habit of knocking down fifteen-footers consistently. He ended the game with 19 points, 8 – 15 from the field and 2 – 4 from the three-point line. While in the game he did a great job of protecting the rim and ended up with four blocks.
The Kansas Jayhawks got down as many as twenty points and were able to make a comeback in the second half to get the lead down to two points. The Missouri crowd who was very loud and intense began to wonder if the number one team would end up coming back to win the game. Missouri ended up holding off to win the game by nine points and the biggest difference in the upset was Kansas with twenty total turnovers and Missouri getting to the free throw, shooting thirty-one free throws to the Jayhawks eleven. This marks the fourth time that Missouri has beaten Kansas when they were a top seed and the fast versatile play worked in speeding Kansas up consistently throughout the game.