Monday, February 4, 2008
That was fast.
Nearly three days after Kansas State knocked Kansas from the top of the Big 12 rankings on Wednesday, the Jayhawks are back in first place — thanks to a little help from the Missouri Tigers.
Sasha Kaun, senior center, blocks a shot from Colorado guard Richard Roby. Roby was the high scorer of the game with 22 points.
While Kansas was struggling to put away a plucky Colorado team during the first half on Saturday, Missouri was 700 miles away in Columbia, Mo., finishing up a come-from-behind upset victory against K-State. The loss ruined the Wildcats unblemished league record and dropped them to 5-1 in the Big 12.
Minutes after Missouri’s upset was complete, the final score was announced over the speakers at the Coors Events Center back in Boulder, Colo.
Missouri 77, Kansas State 74.
The 4,000 or so Jayhawk fans in attendance responded with a raucous applause, while junior guard Mario Chalmers smiled, clapped and huddled with junior guard Brandon Rush.
“Let’s just turn it up,” Rush recalled saying to Chalmers, “so we can get this win and keep it even.”
Kansas did more than that.
With its 72-59 victory against Colorado, Kansas improved to 6-1 in the Big 12, and regained sole possession of first place. The victory put the Jayhawks percentage points ahead of the 5-1 Wildcats.
Not every Jayhawk immediately heard the news. In fact, sophomore guard Sherron Collins was confused. Were Kansas fans really cheering for a Missouri victory?
“I didn’t really hear during the game,” Collins said after Saturday’s game.
“The crowd started cheering. I thought they said K-State beat Missouri.”
Bill Self made sure his team knew that Missouri beat K-State at halftime. With Kansas and Colorado tied at 30, the Jayhawks looked like they were still worn out from the K-State game on Wednesday and feeling the effects of the Colorado altitude
“I told the guys at half time that K-State got beat,” Self said. “That may have put a little pep in their step.”
No doubt, Kansas played inspired in the second half, outscoring Colorado 42-29 after intermission.
breakbox
Team Big 12 Overall
Kansas 6-1 21-1 Kansas State 5-1 15-5 Texas 4-2 17-4 Baylor 4-2 16-4 Texas A&M 4-3 18-4 Oklahoma 3-3 15-6 Texas Tech 3-3 12-8 Iowa State 3-4 13-9 Missouri 3-4 13-9 Nebraska 2-4 13-6 Oklahoma St. 1-6 10-11 Colorado 1-6 9-12
“In the back of their minds they probably thought, we caught a break, now we need to make something of it,” Self said.
Self, who’s trying to win his fourth consecutive regular season Big 12 title, stood outside the Kansas locker room in the Coors Events Center and tried to make sense of the muddied Big 12 standings.
“If I’m not mistaken we’ve got two teams with one loss, and several with two,” Self said.
Almost.
Kansas and K-State sit in first and second with one loss each, while Texas and Baylor are the only two loss teams in the conference following Texas’ 80-72 victory against Baylor in Austin, Texas on Saturday. Texas A&M and Oklahoma are both 3-3 after the Aggies beat the Sooners Saturday in College Station, Texas.
“It’s going to be interesting,” Self said.
For one day at least, Kansas celebrated a Missouri victory, and Self and the Jayhawks accepted the Tiger’s Big 12 gift – even if they had to do it begrudgingly.
“I told our guys that I’m happy Missouri won,” Self said. “But you don’t want to feel to good about those guys, they’re probably our most hated rival.”
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