COLUMBIA -- A different version of the Missouri Tigers showed up Saturday.
After averaging 93 points per game, making the Tigers the top-scoring offense in the country in the team’s 9-0 start to the year, Missouri was held to its worst offensive performance of the season in a 95-67 loss to the No. 6 Kansas Jayhawks in the return of the Border War to Mizzou Arena.
It was the first time Missouri scored under 80 points this season.
“There’s a reason why Kansas is top-10 in the country,” Missouri coach Dennis Gates said. “There’s a reason why Bill Self is a Hall of Fame coach. I thought we showed and displayed different things throughout the game where we almost had runs going, but somehow, some way, whether it was a missed free throw or a turnover, it sort of took the wind out of the sail.”
Missouri entered Saturday shooting 51.6 percent as a team, the Tigers made only 40.4 percent of their shots against the reigning national champions and only 33.3 percent in the first half. The Tigers were averaging 21.6 assists per game, but totaled only eight Saturday. As a team, Missouri was producing 14.1 steals per game, but could garner only five against Kansas.
None of Missouri’s usual tricks were working.
But everything worked early for the Jayhawks.
After missing its first two shots, and allowing Missouri its only lead of the game at 4-2 with 18:23 left in the first half after a DeAndre Gholston layup, Kansas connected on 11 consecutive field goals to build a 28-16 lead with 12:44 left before the break.
Freshman standout Gradey Dick powered the Jayhawks’ early run, connecting on his first six shots for 15 first-half points.
“The start of the game, that’s about as well as we’ve played for any stretch,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “We got good looks, we passed great, we handled pressure well … That first 10 minutes that was pretty good. And of course when Gradey shoots like that to get us started.”
Dick completed his impressive first half with an open 3 in transition with 8:53 left to stretch Kansas’ lead to 33-17, then he assisted Joseph Yesufu for a 3 to make it 36-17, the biggest lead Kansas would have before the break.
D’Moi Hodge ended a three-minute scoreless run for Missouri with a free throw, one of his co-team-high 15 points, but the Tigers’ rough offensive stretch continued as they went just 1-of-13 across seven minutes.
“Their field goal percentage offense was too high,” Gates said. “First half, they made 11 straight baskets and ultimately shot 60 percent. That’s going to put you behind, especially if you’re not shooting 60 percent as well, or getting to the foul line and cutting the clock. That first half was a little bit rough.”
The originally raucous crowd had died down during the stretch, but Missouri got it back involved when Hodge connected on a right-wing 3 off a Nick Honor assist, one of his team-high five, then Hodge stole a pass under the basket and tossed it ahead to Honor, who threw up a lob to Aidan Shaw for an alley-oop Shaw could have dunked on a 12-foot basket, sending the packed Mizzou Arena back into a frenzy.
Honor spun through the lane for a layup with under 3:35 left to cut Kansas’ lead to 44-31, but Kansas was able to build back to a 50-33 lead at halftime and quiet the crowd once again.
“We just didn’t execute how we planned,” senior guard Nick Honor said. “… Things just didn’t go our way today.”
Kansas stormed out of the break on a 9-0 run to extend to a 26-point lead and held at least an 18-point advantage for most of the second half.
Missouri was able to cut it to 15 with an 11-4 run ending on a 3 from Noah Carter and a Gholston fast break layup, but Kansas let the Tigers get no closer and extended back to as much as a 29-point advantage after a Jalen Wilson 3, three of his game-high 24 points with 17 coming after halftime.
“That second-half run, you could clearly hear the excitement,” Gates said. “But a timeout, a top-10 team in America regroups. We didn’t execute how we needed to execute.”
Kansas outrebounded Missouri 35-33 and outscored the Tigers off turnovers (28-15), in the paint (46-28), on second-chance points (8-4) and on fast breaks (22-10).
The Jayhawks connected on 20-of-31 (64.5 percent) of their shots in the first half to build their initial lead before totaling a 35-of-61 (57.4 percent) day overall. Kansas connected on 10-of-22 (45.5 percent) of its attempts from 3 and 15-of-19 (78.9 percent) of its tries from the line.
Missouri hit 23-of-57 (40.4 percent) overall, 6-of-20 (30 percent) from beyond the arc and 15-of-23 (65.2 percent) at the line.
Four Tigers reached double-digit scoring with Hodge and Honor leading the way at 15, Carter scoring 12 (putting him two away from 1,000 career points) and Gholston adding 11.
Hodge and Carter shared a team high with seven rebounds each.
Four Kansas players surpassed or neared 20 points. Wilson scored 24 and added 10 rebounds for a double-double, while Kevin McCullar had 21 points and five steals. KJ Adams regularly seemed to lose Missouri defenders in the paint on his way to 19 points and six boards, while Dick had 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Rock Bridge graduate Dajuan Harris dished out nine assists for the Jayhawks.
Missouri (9-1) will have a week off before it hits the road to face UCF at 11 a.m. next Saturday.