Columbia, Mo. ? Missouri was playing its first home game in three weeks, and the Tigers had the momentum of an eight-game win streak.
“It’s funny,” long-time Missouri coach Norm Stewart said. “We felt that’s to our advantage.”
It wasn’t. Kansas led from start to finish, forging a lead of as many as 19 points early in the second half, and throttled the Tigers, 102-89, on Monday night at Hearnes Center.
Since its last home game, Missouri had defeated Illinois in St. Louis, Washington in Seattle, SMU in Dallas and Nebraska in Lincoln.
“We got home on Saturday and we got to rest, and we practiced on Sunday, then had a shoot-around today,” Stewart said.
Kansas, meanwhile, played a late game at SMU on Saturday night and bused to Columbia on Sunday.
“You feel you’ve really got something going for you,” Stewart said. “They’re at Dallas and the game isn’t over until 11 o’clock, and they have to get back.
“I feel sometimes as a coach you put players in a little adversity and they play a little better.”
Kansas certainly didn’t play like a tired team in becoming the first KU team ever to reach the century mark in Columbia.
“They played well, shot well and made free throws down the stretch,” Stewart said. “They did all the things good teams do. Maybe we aided it a little bit by our inadequate play, particularly in the first half.”
Missouri lagged 47-34 at the break, mainly because the Tigers shot 40 percent (12 of 30) and were outrebounded 25-16.
“We came out and dug ourselves a hole,” Mizzou forward Julian Winfield said. “I guess against Kansas you can’t do those things and snap your fingers in the second half and win the ball game.”
Nevertheless, the Tigers came awfully close in the second half.
“We came back out and I thought we showed some organization,” Stewart said, “but, really, the ball game was theirs from start to finish.”
A missed dunk by Winfield in the late going — it would have cut the gap to four points — wasn’t spilled milk Stewart was crying over.
“The way (Kansas) played, who knows what’s going to happen,” the MU coach said. “You look at Kansas and say they played a heckuva ball game. They really showed why they’re one of the top five teams in the country … and they deserve it.”
Missouri whittled Kansas’ lead from 19 points to as few as five.
“We had a little flurry in the second half, that’s about all,” Stewart said. “But (Kansas) really showed the strength of their team.”
Kansas made 39 of 69 shots for 56.5 percent.
“That’s the first time somebody’s shot over 50 percent on us in a long time,” Stewart said.
A check of the records showed Missouri had a streak of 37 straight games of holding opponents under 50 percent.
Missouri will come to Lawrence on Feb. 25. Will Winfield, a reporter asked, circle that date on his calendar?
“I’ll circle the date of our next game,” he replied.
That’s on Thursday night against Notre Dame, also in the Hearnes Center.
