Kansas-missouri rivalry: 1 more?
Series finale may come in tourney
LAWRENCE, Kan. — They’re parting ways, Kansas and Missouri, their more than centuryold rivalry perhaps the greatest, most lamentable casualty of the recent wave of conference realignment.
One last, loud meeting possibly looms.
Kansas secured at least a share of its eighth consecutive Big 12 Conference regular-season title Saturday, clawing back from a 19-point deficit to beat Mizzou 87-86 in overtime. The teams almost certainly will carry the top two seeds into the Big 12 tournament in a couple of weeks, and there — on a neutral floor in Kansas City, Mo. — they could stage a fitting, championship game sign-off.
They’ve met once in the Big 12 final: the first one, in 1997.
“I wouldn’t have a problem settling it (there). I wouldn’t mind playing them again,” Kansas senior Tyshawn Taylor said. “Yeah . . . sign me up.”
That an emotionally charged rivalry dating to 1907 is ending isn’t sitting well at Missouri, where administrators and coaches have lobbied for its preservation. But the Tigers’ move from the Big 12 to the Southeastern Conference doesn’t sit well at Kansas, and the Jayhawks are insistent that they no longer care to share a playing field or court.
Their final home-and-home series was electrifying. Missouri erased an eight-point deficit in the final two-plus minutes Feb. 4, winning 74-71 in Columbia, Mo. Kansas trumped that Saturday, forcing overtime and enduring four lead changes in the final 40 seconds of the extra period before Taylor hit two decisive free throws with 8.3 seconds left.
Fifth-ranked Kansas (24-5) moved to 14-2 in the Big 12, two games up on No. 3 Missouri (25-4). Each has two games left. With Gonzaga felled in the West Coast, ending the Bulldogs’ string of league titles at 11, the Jayhawks’ eight-year run atop the Big 12 is the longest active in Division I.
“They’ve amazed me, to be real candid,” Kansas coach Bill Self said.
A team that lost nearly threequarters of its scoring and twothirds of its rebounding from last season — seeing the likes of Marcus and Markieff Morris, Josh Selby, Tyrel Reed and Brady Morningstar move on — lost to Kentucky and Duke in November and invited real doubts with a December loss to Davidson in Kansas City. Now it’s positioned for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
Thomas Robinson had his 20th double-double of the season Saturday, getting 28 points and 12 rebounds. Taylor, who had 24 points, is often spectacular at the point. And there are enough supporting contributions: four three-pointers from sixth man Conner Teahan and an eight-rebound, four-blocked-shot game from Loyola Marymount transfer Kevin Young against the Tigers.
“I can make an argument that I really believe, since conference play started, other than two or three teams out there, we’ve played as good as anybody in the country,” Self said.
“I said after we played Kentucky in (Madison Square) Garden: That’s the best team, to me, and they had more potential to get better because they were so young. And I think Syracuse (too). . . . That doesn’t mean somebody can’t beat them. We’ve kind of played ourselves in being in that next group of however many — 10 or whatever it is — that maybe can hope we have a chance.”