Border War basketball game between KU, MU won’t be played this season
The much-anticipated continuation of the Border War basketball series between Kansas and Missouri will have to wait a year.
A source close to the situation told The Star on Tuesday morning, and it was later announced by KU, that the KU-MU contest, set for Dec. 12 at T-Mobile Center, will be postponed until 2026-27 as a result of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, which has forced teams to adjust their 2020-21 schedules.
The two schools last October agreed to a six-game series spanning six seasons. The series will now begin during the 2021-22 season in Allen Fieldhouse.
KU and MU will play in Allen Fieldhouse in 2021-22, at Mizzou Arena in 2022-23. Then it’s back to Allen Fieldhouse in 2023-24 and Mizzou Arena in 2024-25. The series will conclude with games in T-Mobile Center in 2025-26 and 2026-27.
“When the NCAA moved the start of the basketball season from November 10th to November 25th, like everyone else, we went to work on creating a new schedule,” said KU athletic director Jeff Long. “With the Big 12 Conference games also being adjusted, and the likelihood of only 10-20% of fans permitted to attend the game due to the pandemic, it became clear that we should delay the series. We appreciate Missouri agreeing to the delay and we look forward to renewing the Border Showdown at Allen Fieldhouse on December 11, 2021 with a sellout crowd.”
Noted KU coach Bill Self: “I was excited about beginning this series with Missouri again on December 12th, however, it is in the best interest of both of our schools and especially our fans to push this back a year. This rivalry goes back a long way and we want our fans to be able to witness it again in-person. So, delaying it a year was an easy decision.”
The Star has learned KU will not play Colorado, USC and Missouri this season as originally planned. The Big 12 is expected to announce the 2020-21 conference schedule in the near future.
The KU-MU series went on hiatus in 2012. Until 2012, the KU-MU series was known as the longest continuous rivalry west of the Mississippi River. The Jayhawks lead the all-time series 174-95.
KU had refused to play Mizzou after the Tigers left the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference, though the teams played one charity exhibition game at Sprint Center in 2017.
This story was originally published October 13, 2020 at 10:54 AM.
