The Jayhawks (17-2, 6-1), who took a No. 3 national ranking into Monday night’s game against unranked Mizzou (14-6, 5-2), unraveled early in falling behind by 17 points, rallied and actually took the lead before succumbing, 75-66, at MU’s sold-out building.

It marked the fifth time in six years Kansas traveled to Mizzou ranked in the top eight, only to lose to an unranked Tiger squad.

“Give credit where credit is due. It’s Missouri’s players,” KU coach Roy Williams said after Tigers Kareem Rush and Brian Grawer burned the Jayhawks for 27 and 14 points respectively in an building that’s been unfriendly to the Jayhawks throughout the years.

“They get more enthused to play us. I wish we’d get more enthused to play them. We play them again and hopefully we’ll be that way (March 4).”

The Jayhawks did not take the Tigers lightly “that’s not our club,” Williams said so there had to be some other explanation for KU’s horrendous first half. The Jayhawks missed a batch of open shots and committed several unforced turnovers in falling behind, 30-15, after 14 minutes.

KU lagged, 37-23, at halftime, for KU’s biggest halftime deficit since a 17-point deficit at Texas last year.

Kansas trailed Wake Forest by 13 on Dec. 7 in an eventual 31-point loss.

“Yes I was a little surprised at the lack of poise early,” Williams said. “Drew Gooden (19 points) misses a dunk, Kirk (Hinrich, seven points, 3-of-12 shooting) a dead layup. Drew, Jeff (Boschee) and Nick (Collison) let a pass go through their hands out of bounds.

“It was like a Keystone Kops routine.”

Hinrich his clutch three-point basket was the shot that capped an 18-0 KU run to give the Jayhawks a 44-43 lead with 12:20 left had an explanation for the early woes.

“Everybody was a little excited. We needed to calm down,” Hinrich said. “The effort was there, the adrenaline got to us a little bit. We didn’t play well and they played well.

“It wasn’t just free throws (KU made seven of 18). I missed three layups. We missed a lot of chippies early. We were tense.”

Yep, KU was tense on a night the Hearnes Center was at a fever pitch with 13,545 fans jazzed over a halftime ceremony dedicating the court in former coach Norm Stewart’s name.

“At halftime (as Stewart was honored), I told our guys, ‘I truly believe we’ll be there at the end.’ But at the same time we have to execute and have the effort to get there,” Williams said.

KU trailed 43-26 following a one-hander by Arthur Johnson with 18:11 to play.

That’s when the Jayhawks clicked.

KU rolled, 18-0, over six minutes, grabbing a 44-43 lead at 12:20. Hinrich scored five points to go with a pair of Boschee threes in the run.

“Early in the second half we were sensational. It was our A-game,” Williams said.

Missouri managed to regain the lead, 51-50, with 9:17 left. That’s when the Tigers won the game, courtesy of a 16-6 spurt that forged an 11-point lead at 67-56 with 4:53 left.

Grawer freed himself for three threes, while the silky-smooth Rush had seven points, including a conventional three.

“Grawer hit three threes and Kareem had some big drives. It’s kind of like the ‘Little Engine That Could.’ We didn’t have enough to get over the hill,” Williams noted.

Williams used a lot of point zone defense to protect Collison, who scored nine points in 28-foul plagued minutes.

“Early the zone was effective. We had some breakdowns and they found where we had the breakdowns,” Williams said.

Hinrich did a good job defensively on MU’s Clarence Gilbert, who hit just five of 16 shots for 12 points. But on this night it was Grawer and Rush excelling late as KU could not cut the deficit lower than five down the stretch.

KU hit just six of 13 free throws the second half.

“We missed a possible six points in a row from the free throw line,” Willliams said.

Still, he was not devastated by the defeat, KU’s first in 11 games.

“I was very proud what we did early in the second half. Last year when we got down we stayed down,” Williams said of the Jayhawks, who placed fifth in the Big 12.

“We were too keyed up early. It’s not the Kansas basketball team I saw the last four or five weeks.”

Still, the fact KU made it a game made the coach admit he felt better than after the Wake Forest loss, KU’s only other loss this season.

“For a 10-minute stretch tonight, we were very good,” Williams said. “There was not a 10-second stretch at Wake Forest I thought we were good.”

“Wake Forest was ridiculous,” Hinrich noted. “Today we competed.”