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KU vs. Albany

Will Brown strolled down Massachusetts Street on Monday afternoon, looking for a long-sleeve Kansas University T-shirt for his 6-year-old son, Jackson.

Brown, the eighth year head basketball coach of the University at Albany, stumbled upon Joe-College.Com at Seventh and Mass. Intrigued by the litany of shirts in the window, he went inside.

“They had pictures of KU women that had the little stick figures with all the curves. Then on the back it said, ‘Missouri women‚’ and it had this big heavy-set lady,” Brown said Tuesday following UAlbany’s uninspiring 79-43 loss against Kansas. “I’m walking around, I was laughing my rear end off for about 10 or 15 minutes.”

He didn’t purchase anything for his son there. Aside from the obvious reasons, the store didn’t carry any long sleeves. The excursion, however, left Brown thinking of one person in particular: Albany’s 6-foot-11 center, Brett Gifford.

“I came back and said, ‘Hey, Giff man, you’re a Missouri boy, you gotta go down there,’” Brown said.

But Gifford isn’t just a Missouri boy. He’s a Columbia, Mo., boy, perhaps the most loathed city to Lawrencians because of its connection with conference rival Missouri University.

And the Allen Fieldhouse faithful let Gifford have it during pregame introductions.

Gifford, introduced last in the visiting starting lineup, received arguably the most ruthless boos an opposing player has endured since Missouri’s team entered Allen Fieldhouse last February. Wearing black and gold uniforms Tuesday night probably didn’t help.

“I expected it,” Gifford said. “I mean, it’s a big rivalry out here. I’ve always been an MU fan most of my life.”

Gifford, a junior for the Great Danes, grew up on Tigers basketball, and he made it known he wasn’t a huge supporter of Jayhawks hoops as a kid.

He attended Rock Bridge High, where he led his team to a 25-2 record and earned an all-state nod on the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association Class 5 team. He did not receive any Big 12 scholarship offers and said he knew his playing abilities fit better at the mid-major level. So, he chose UAlbany when the coaches showed interest at his AAU tournaments.

Despite the mid-major status, he received major pregame attention.

Gifford’s teammates went wild as he chest-bumped his way through the introduction line.

“I was fired up,” Gifford said. “I embraced the boos.”

Gifford carried that feeling over for the first three minutes, when he scored a layup and drew a foul on the other 6-11 center on the floor, KU’s Cole Aldrich, at the 18:01 mark. On the Great Danes’ next possession, Gifford scored another layup to draw UAlbany within 9-6.

That’s pretty much where the highlights stopped.

The Great Danes (8-5) provided no bark and even less bite for the rest of the night. They shot just 30 percent (18-for-60), including 0-for-15 from three-point range.

Gifford drew his second foul with 10:57 left and didn’t return for more than eight minutes. Upon his re-entrance, he picked up a frustration third foul, hacking Marcus Morris 94 feet from the basket following a missed layup.

Point guard Anthony Raffa led Albany with 11 points. Gifford finished with those four points and six rebounds in a foul-plagued 18 minutes.

Not the way Gifford envisioned his rivalry night ending.

“I wanted to play really well,” Gifford said. “I have a lot of family and friends up here since it’s not that far from Columbia. I wanted to show them how well I’m playing. I’m just disappointed.”