Columbia, Mo. ? Win or lose today, Kansas University’s men’s basketball team will be recognized as the 2002-03 Big 12 Conference champion.
But it will take a victory over unranked Missouri (18-8 overall, 9-6 league) for the No. 6 Jayhawks (23-6, 13-2) to claim the league crown outright.
“It’s a championship game,” KU sophomore guard Aaron Miles said of the 1:05 p.m. battle at Hearnes Center. “We want this championship to be ours. We do not want to share it. Nobody wants to be a co-winner.”
Kansas and Texas (22-5, 13-3) will be regular-season co-champions if the Tigers break their four-game skid against their rivals today. The Jayhawks, however, already have wrapped up the No. 1 seed for next week’s Big 12 tourney regardless of today’s outcome. KU took care of the tiebreaker by beating Texas, 90-87, Jan. 27 at Allen Fieldhouse.
“Co-champions … I don’t even like the way that sounds,” KU sophomore guard Keith Langford said. “Nobody wants to be a co-champion. If you want to be a co-champion, you are settling. Nobody on this team wants to settle. We want to win it outright and be best in the Big 12 back to back.”
Last year, KU completed a 16-0 run through the league by stopping the Tigers, 95-92, in the season finale at Hearnes.
“That is something we would like, to have the whole thing by ourselves,” KU coach Roy Williams said. “I don’t think there’s any question about that, but if it’s Kansas and Missouri, I don’t think this game needs anything else. If we’re playing for the difference between fourth and fifth place, I think it would still be an extremely important game.”
Quin Snyder’s Tigers dropped a narrow 76-70 decision Feb. 3 in Lawrence. Kirk Hinrich and Nick Collison led KU with 24 and 22 points, while Ricky Clemons led the Tigers with 19 points off 7-of-19 shooting.
“I was impressed with them and thought, perhaps, they played even better that day than we did,” Williams said. “We were able to have more at the end.”
Led by junior guard Clemons, who hit five three-pointers, the Tigers knocked down 10 of 28 shots from behind the arc to KU’s 2-of-8 three-point shooting. MU junior center Arthur Johnson, one of the league’s finest pivots, had 14 points and 11 rebounds. Forward Rickey Paulding, who had 17 points versus KU, averages a team-leading 16.9 points a game, followed by Johnson’s 15.6 and Clemons’ 15.5.
“Their big guys can rebound, block shots, get baskets inside and cover you,” Williams said of Johnson, Travon Bryant (8.9 ppg) and Kevin Young (2.5 ppg). “They are a really good basketball team, an NCAA Tournament team. It will be a big-time challenge for us.”
Missouri has not lost at home this season.
That’s right. The Tigers — who beat Oklahoma, 67-52, Feb. 26 at Hearnes, just three days after the Sooners beat Kansas — are 14-0 at home overall, including 7-0 in league games. Mizzou went 2-6 on the road in Big 12 games this season.
MU last went undefeated at home with a 15-0 mark in 1993-94.
| When: 1:05 p.m. today. Where: Hearnes Center, Columbia, Mo.Television: CBS (channels 5, 13).Records: No. 6 Jayhawks (23-6 overall, 13-2 Big 12 Conference) vs. Tigers (18-8, 9-6).Line: KU by 5 1/2. |
“This will be as big, if not the biggest, challenge we’ve had,” Williams said. “They play very well at home — 14-0. They haven’t played as well on the road (3-7 in true road games and 1-1 on neutral courts), but we’re not playing them on the road. We’re playing them in their building. The fact we are playing there gives them so much more confidence we’ll have to dig a little deeper.”
Just like last year.
“I do remember last year seeing Kirk get that rebound (off final MU shot) and busting out on that side, dribbling the ball and continuing running with his hands up,” Williams said of the closing seconds of the historic KU victory.
“That’s the most recent memory I have so I’ll stick with that one. But we’ve had some great, great games over there, games that went to the wire. It’s been a fantastic rivalry.”
