Why Mizzou Tigers couldn’t hang with KU Jayhawks’ high-octane 2nd half of hoops
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- Kansas built a 12-2 run, then dominated the second half to win 80-60.
- Jayhawks shot 55.2% and went 4-for-6 from three after the intermission.
- Missouri produced two double-digit scorers and has lost five straight.
As the first half of the 2025 Border War men’s basketball game was winding down Sunday afternoon at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, the Missouri Tigers found themselves on the wrong end of a 12-2 run by the Kansas Jayhawks.
That KU run lasted about 4 minutes and seemed to reset the flow of a game that, to this point, had featured six lead changes. But most problematic for coach Dennis Gates Mizzou squad is that the Jayhawks’ dominance spilled into the second half en route to an 80-60 Kansas win.
Offense was part of the problem. Kansas City native Mark Mitchell was the only Tiger with more than one made field goal in the opening half (he had nine points at halftime).
Mitchell could only do so much. The Tigers’ poor shooting sealed their fate in the fifth of six Border War hoops games — the current series is scheduled to end after next year’s meeting.
Mizzou has now lost five of the last MU-KU matchups overall in men’s basketball. The Tigers’ lone win in that span was last year’s 76-67 upset in Columbia. KU was the No. 1-ranked team in the country at the time.
The 2024-25 Tigers were known for grabbing early leads, and they did so in that game. Mizzou led by 14 at halftime of that matchup, with three players (now-graduated Tamar Bates had 29, Mitchell 17 and Anthony Robinson 11) reaching double-figures.
The 2025-26 Tigers are finding early leads more elusive. They were 0-for-4 from the field before Robinson sank a contested 3-pointer at the 15:39 mark Sunday.
Mizzou grabbed a four-point lead at one point. But Tre White drained a buzzer-beating 3 for KU late in the opening half and the stage was set for the Tigers to play catch-up for the remainder of the afternoon.
Missouri struggled to contain the Jayhawks in the second half. KU shot 55.2% from the field and 4-for-6 from 3-point range after intermission, while MU shot 41.4%.
“I think we just need to adjust to the other team’s adjustments,” Mitchell told media in Kansas City afterward. “I think coming out of halftime, teams make adjustments, teams find things that are working for them.”
The former Bishop Miege standout also singled out what transpired before halftime, late in the opening half, when KU embarked on its decisive run.
“We’ve got to close out halves better,” Mitchell said. “I had a bad shot in the half that led to that run-out (White’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer). The last game (a loss to Notre Dame), we didn’t close out the first half. I think that closing out the first half will help us start the second half a little better.”
Another glaring issue was the Tigers’ 3-point shooting: Mizzou attempted 15 threes in the second half, making just five. Gates lamented errant shooting after last week’s loss to the Fighting Irish, saying that’s “how the game got away” from the Tigers.
Missouri was just 7 of 27 from deep (26%) against KU overall on Sunday. Mizzou went 11-for-21 at the free-throw line against the Jayhawks after shooting 17-for-25 from the line against Notre Dame.
Gates was asked what’s missing from MU’s offense right now.
“Free throws and those open looks,” he told reporters in Kansas City. “We generated the shots, we just didn’t knock them down. And it didn’t go our way.”
As was the case against the Irish, Mitchell and Jacob Crews were Mizzou’s scoring leaders. Mitchell finished with 21 points, Crews 11. But once again, they were the only Tigers to hit double-digits.
“It was an honor,” Mitchell said of playing in KC. “It’s a blessing. Me being from Kansas City, I’ve probably been here 10, 20 times.”
With the exception of Shawn Phillips Jr. (seven points), no one else wearing an MU uniform scored more than five Sunday. The Tigers were tasked with defending star freshman Darryn Peterson in his first game back from a hamstring injury, and Peterson — who missed seven games — scored 17.
“We treated it like he’d played every game,” Mitchell said of preparing to play Peterson. ”A guy with that much talent, you know he’s going to be a high-end draft pick, so we treated it like he had been playing nine, 10 games.
“We knew the talent he had, we knew what we were going to do coming in, and obviously he had a pretty good day.”
Missouri returns to action on Thursday against Alabama State at Mizzou Arena. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m.
This story was originally published December 7, 2025 at 2:38 PM.
