Upset of Kansas a pinch-me triumph for Mizzou coach: ‘You don’t get those moments’

Missouri men’s basketball won its first Border War matchup against Kansas since 2012 on Sunday ... and a massive black-and-gold party ensued afterward.

The sold-out Mizzou Arena crowd rushed the court with fury as the Tigers defeated the No. 1 Jayhawks 76-67 at Mizzou Arena.

“Mizzou played great today, but that court storm may have been even better than Mizzou played,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “That was a big-time court storm.”

The victory was also the Tigers’ first against a No. 1 team since 1997 — also against Kansas — and fifth time in program history MU has taken down a top-ranked squad in the nation.

Amidst the swarm of fans screaming “beat KU!” to The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside,” graduate center Josh Gray was seen dancing, wearing a rubber horse mask, and a Mizzou fan posed while hanging on the rim.

“I think when Ant (Robinson II) got fouled with 30 seconds left, I was like, ‘I need someone to get my mask. They’re going to storm the court,’” said Gray, who finished with seven points, 10 rebounds and two assists. “It was a great moment with the fans. They got to see me all happy and joyful.”

Coach Dennis Gates stood near the drums where the Mini Mizzou pep band was situated, taking in what may have been the biggest win of his coaching career.

“I just wanted to see it. I just wanted to view it, and I wanted to take it in, because you don’t get those moments,” Gates said. “We live in a cellphone world; people with their cellphones (on the court), did they really enjoy it? I know I did. I took it in, and I was able to view it in a special way.”

Minutes before the final buzzer sounded, the PA announcer warned fans to not storm the court. Gates took exception to that.

“You got to be kidding me,” Gates said. “I was about to, in-game, take the mic and say, ‘Rush the damn court.’”

Before the storm and postgame antics, there were the shots.

Mark Mitchell caught the ball in the left corner and drained a 3-pointer to put Missouri up 68-63 with 2:03 remaining, and Tamar Bates iced the game a few plays later with a layup to extend the Columbia squad’s lead to 72-63 with 1:16 left.

Mitchell finished the game with 17 points, four rebounds and one assist.

Prior to the pair of makes, the Tigers (8-1) were struggling to hold onto a 24-point second-half lead as Kansas (7-2) embarked on a 15-0 run.

Kansas center Hunter Dickinson was responsible for seven points during the Jayhawks’ barrage, making a 3-pointer and two 2-pointers. The graduate finished the game with the team-high 19 points to go with 14 rebounds, four assists, four blocks and one steal.

Graduate guard Tony Perkins kept Mizzou’s hope for a win alive after snapping a scoring drought of more than six minutes, converting a contested fast-break layup with 7:32 remaining in the final frame.

The Jayhawks trimmed the lead to as little as two points (65-63) with 2:20 left, but the initial double-digit MU advantage was too daunting to overcome.

The combined five points from the Kansas City products Bates and Mitchell fueled the second-half resurgence the Tigers needed to clip the wings of the Jayhawks and their late-game comeback attempt.

Bates served as the commanding general for Mizzou, players and fans alike, in this edition of the Border War, which was renewed in 2021 after the Tigers left the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference following that 2011-12 season.

“We knew we lost a voice with (Caleb) Grill, and he’s done nothing but step in,” Gates said. “It’s almost like he beats me to these statements that I need to make in the huddle, and players are looking at me like, ‘Yeah, Tamar just said that.’”

After driving to the basket and being fouled by junior guard AJ Storr with 8:43 left in the first half, the 6-foot-5 guard walked to the baseline near the student section and delivered fist pumps to the raucous crowd of Mizzou Arena.

“If our fans show up like that, no matter who we’re playing, especially when we get later on down the road to January and February,” said Bates, who scored the game-high and season-high 29 points along with one rebound and an assist.

“We have one of the best fan bases in the country, so, if we just show up, we got one of the best environments in the country.”

Bates made the pair of free throws that gave the Tigers a 24-14 lead, contributing to his 18-point first half. He sunk four more free throws, drilled two 3-pointers and made three 2-pointers in the opening half.

“Tamar was the best player in the game hands down,” Self said. “We couldn’t guard him. He went around us and played to his size. We started small, and they made us look slow in that first half, for sure.”

The energy was contagious amongst the MU players hours before the doors to Mizzou Arena opened. Bates was seen fist-pumping and hooting and hollering as he took Norm Stewart court for warmups.

Bates had his fingerprints all over the Tigers win, recording an 11-point second half by way of two jump shots, two layups and three free throws.

A trio of his points in the closing half came when Bates intercepted a pass from Storr, dribbled the ball the length of the floor and cashed in a layup for an and-1 opportunity. The senior made the ensuing free-throw, putting the Tigers up 50-30 with 16:15 remaining in the contest.

Missouri won the free-throw and turnover battles, shooting a combined 83.9% (26-for-31) at the line with just 11 turnover. KU was 81.8% (9-for-11) on free throws but turned it over 22 times.

Dickinson was the primary culprit in the Jayhawks’ inability to take care of the ball, committing a game-high seven turnovers.

The Tigers were outrebounded by Kansas 40-29, but Gates presented a positive outlook there.

“They’re outrebounding us because we had more attempts and we had less turnovers,” Gates said. “Keep playing defense, keep defending your butts off and continuing to force a team who normally don’t turn the ball over into turnovers.”

Missouri’s “tough, physical and disruptive” defense, established by its “defensive coordinator” Ryan Sharbaugh, lived up to its reputation against Kansas.

Bates and Robinson plucked the ball away from the Jayhawks five times each, with four other Tigers — Mitchell, Perkins, Trent Pierce and Aidan Shaw — contributing one steal respectively to the Tigers’ 14.

Mitchell and freshman center Peyton Marshall rejected four shots in the matchup, with the former totaling three blocks and the latter swatting away a shot attempt.

The Tigers were without Grill, who remains sidelined with a neck injury sustained in the first half of an 81-61 rout of Lindenwood on Nov. 27 at Mizzou Arena. Grill, who leads MU in points per game with 13.6, stood center court during warmups and plays a key leadership role while inactive.

“In his absence, his words, his encouragement every practice has been as if he’s between the lines,” Gates said.

Gates said Friday that the 6-3 guard is being treated day-to-day with no timeline for his return.

The Tigers next take the court against Long Island (4-7) at 11 a.m. Saturday at Mizzou Arena.

Copyright 2024 Columbia Missourian

This story was originally published December 8, 2024 at 6:21 PM.