The Kansas Jayhawks head to Columbia, Missouri Saturday to finish out their regular season and are looking to continue their dominance over their heated rival, the Missouri Tigers in the Border Showdown. The Jayhawks are looking to improve to 29-2 and 15-1 in Big XII play, before heading into the Big XII tournament in Kansas City next Thursday as the #1 seed. Missouri enters this game with a 22-8 record and are tied for 4th place in the Big XII with a 10-5 record. Saturday’s game will be televised on CBS at 1PM CST.
The Jayhawks are looking to build up on their dominant performance against Kansas State on Wednesday and sweep the season series with the Tigers. Kansas State came out of the gates strong against Kansas, but withered under the weight of Kansas’ depth and some tight officiating en route to a 82-65 Kansas victory. Xavier Henry led the way for the Jayhawks against the Wildcats with 19 points on 6-9 shooting and was 3-4 from behind the three point line. Collins struggled shooting the ball in the first half, making just one of nine shots. Midway through the second half, however, he scored seven straight points in a key run, which spurred the Jayhawks to the victory. Collins has been a part of 125 victories in his KU career, the most of any Jayhawk in history. Two other Jayhawks reached double-figures in points as Tyshawn Taylor had 11 points and four assists and Markieff Morris scored 10 while pulling down nine rebounds.
The Missouri Tigers have exceeded expectations again this year and find themselves vying for a first round bye in the upcoming Big XII tournament when many had them predicted to finish in the bottom half of the Big XII. Missouri is third in the Big XII in scoring margin at 18.6 points per game and have been successful this year in imposing their system on opponents. Sophomore guard Kim English leads Missouri in scoring at 14.1 points per game and is second on the team with 43 steals and 59 three-pointers. Sophomore guard Marcus Denmon is scoring 11.3 points per game and has a team-high 67 three-pointers. Sophomore forward Laurence Bowers is shooting 56.2 percent from the field and is averaging 10.1 ppg, while his 5.2 rebounds are second on the team. Bowers has a team-high 39 blocked shots as well. Senior forward Keith Ramsey is second in rebounds with 5.8 rebounds per game, while scoring 5.9 points per outing. Senior guard J.T. Tiller is a starter who averages 8.7 points and has a team-high 86 assists this season. Freshman guard Michael Dixon scores 7.3 points, while senior guard Zaire Taylor scores 8.4 ppg and his 1.8 steals per game are second in the Big 12. Junior forward Justin Safford (8.6 ppg, 4.1 rpg) has missed the last two games due to a knee injury.
Key Losses for Missouri
@Baylor 62-64
@Kansas State 53-63
@Vanderbilt 89-83
Key Wins for Missouri
Texas 82-77
Kansas State 74-68
@Iowa State 69-67 OT
Illinois 81-68
Key Stats
Missouri is averaging 78.9 points per game this season and is shooting 38.1% from three point range.
Mike Anderson is in his 4th season as the head coach of the Tigers, and has a 87-42 record.
The Tigers average 36.1 rebounds per game and have a -1.7 rebound margin.
Mike Anderson has a 175-83 record as a Division I head coach, and spent four seasons as the head coach at UAB prior to coming in Missouri. Bill Self owns Mike Anderson with a 7-1 record during their careers.
The Series
Kansas leads the all-time series with Missouri, 168-94, including an 63-53 record in games played in Columbia. Missouri has won three of the five meetings in Mizzou Arena. Overall, Kansas has won seven of the last eight and 11 of the last 14 meetings with Missouri. Since the inception of the Big 12, KU holds a 21-9 series advantage against Missouri – 19-8 in regular-season play and 2-1 in the conference postseason championship. Today’s game will mark the 40th KU-MU game with one or both of the teams ranked. The Jayhawks lost the first-ever meeting with Missouri, 34-31, on March 11, 1907, in Lawrence. On Jan. 25, Marcus Morris scored 17 points and Cole Aldrich had 12 points, 16 rebounds and seven blocked shots in Kansas’ 84-65 win over MU in Allen Fieldhouse. Justin Safford led MU with 19 points, while Zaire Taylor had 11. KU outrebounded MU 56-28 and also doubled the Tigers in points in the paint, 36-18.
Prediction
The Missouri Tigers play a style of basketball that will cause most teams fits, but for some reason it doesn’t seem to affect Bill Self’s teams. Kansas came into Columbia last year and left with a loss, but the Jayhawks had the lead going into the final seconds and Missouri had a much better squad last season. Still, Missouri will keep this game close even though it shouldn’t be on paper, due to the Missouri crowd and it being senior night for the Tigers. If the Jayhawks exploit their advantage inside and if Xavier Henry continues to shoot the ball like he has for the last 6 games, expect the Jayhawks to walk away with a victory. If Missouri is able to force a large amount of turnovers and hold Kansas to jumpshots, the Jayhawks will more than likely leave Columbia with their second conference loss of the season.
Outcome
Kansas 82 Missouri 77
