How the Missouri Tigers shocked No. 1-ranked Kansas Jayhawks in basketball stunner

The Missouri Tigers don’t play Kansas in basketball very often anymore.

You wouldn’t have known it Sunday. Mizzou Arena rocked and rolled like old times as MU built a 14-point halftime advantage over the No. 1-ranked Jayhawks in Columbia.

Scratch that. For Mizzou, it was like the very best of times. The Tigers extended their lead to 24 points in the second half, then held on late to topple the hated Jayhawks 76-67 on Norm Stewart Court.

The Tigers (8-1) won their eighth straight game after starting the 2024 season with a loss to Memphis. Missouri hasn’t lost since then.

Missouri also beat a No. 1-ranked opponent for the first time since 1997. A court-storming followed the final whistle.

As one might imagine, there was a lot of history imbued in Sunday’s outcome. Mizzou knocked off the top-ranked team in the country, with KU’s loss its second in a row after a midweek defeat at Creighton.

Missouri and KU (7-2) entered this year’s installment of the Border War with matching 7-1 records. That further electrified the setting for a rivalry that lay dormant for nearly a decade following MU’s exodus from the Big 12 to the SEC in 2012.

The Tigers played inspired defense and shot it well from the opening tip Sunday. KU countered with sloppy possession after sloppy possession.

When Anthony Robinson II drained a 3-point rainbow from the wing, pushing MU’s lead to 18, chants of “M-I-Z ... Z-O-U” were reverberated throughout the arena.

Mizzou coach Dennis Gates rotated his trio of 7-footers effectively. Together, they helped blunt the typically game-altering effects of talented KU big man Hunter Dickinson.

Dickinson still had a double-double — 19 points and 14 rebounds — but that impact was limited.

Combo guard Tamar Bates was MU’s unstoppable force, especially in the first half when he hit a pair of 3-pointers and then sank all three of his free throws after being fouled in the process of shooting another.

Bates had 18 points at halftime and finished with 29 to lead all scorers.

“It just means a lot more to the team, a lot more to the guys,” Bates said in the postgame TV interview when asked the importance of Sunday’s win. “We came up short the last two years against Kansas.”

The Tigers forced a remarkable 15 KU turnovers in the opening half. Dickinson was responsible for five of those giveaways.

Bates, meanwhile, played with extra fire. A Kansas City, Kansas native who played at Piper High School and then IMG Academy, he’d drawn heavy interest from KU and coach Bill Self in 2020.

Bates committed to Texas instead. The Longhorns released him from his commitment when coach Shaka Smart left Austin, and Bates signed with Indiana. He transferred to MU before last season after starring for the Hoosiers for a couple of years.

“Being from Kansas,” Bates said, “I just wanted to show that this is a place that you can come play ball and win big-time games, too.”

KU cut Missouri’s lead to nine points with about eight minutes remaining. Tony Perkins scored on a putback to end a Tigers scoring drought that extended more than six uncomfortable minutes.

It was 59-48 Mizzou at the 7:21 mark and 63-57 at 2:58. Then KU’s David Coit sank a 3-pointer to make it 63-60 with two and a half minutes remaining — things were tenuous for the Tigers.

But Bates and Mark Mitchell made buckets to help keep the Jayhawks at bay down the stretch. Mitchell finished with 17 points and Robinson added 11.

Missouri and Kansas will add another chapter to their rivalry in Kansas City next year. MU and KU are in the fourth year of a six-season agreement, playing one game annually through 2026.

The final two games in the six-year pact between the Tigers and Jayhawks will be contested at T-Mobile Center.

MU still trails KU in the overall series 175 wins to 96.