The Jayhawks extended their eight-point halftime advantage to as many as 11 points, but the Tigers fought back while Kirk Hinrich sat the bench after picking up his fourth foul.
Rickey Paulding heated up in the second half, and Arthur Johnson hit two big shots down low in the final few moments of the Tigers’ come-from-behind victory.
Missouri (21-9) broke a five-game losing streak to Kansas (25-7) by outshooting KU, 44.6 percent to 35 percent from the field.
Nick Collison led KU with 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Keith Langford added 15 points, six boards, three assists and two blocks. Hinrich scored 12 points and grabbed five rebounds, and Jeff Graves added six points and 10 boards.
Paulding led all players with 21 points and added four rebounds. Travon Bryant scored 18 points grabbed seven boards and blocked two shots, and Johnson added 12 points, seven rebounds and three blocks.
Michael Lee scored five points for the Jayhawks, Aaron Miles had four points, and Bryant Nash and Moulaye Niang each scored two points.
KU was 21-of-60 from the field, 18.8 percent (3-of-16) from three-point range, and 78.3 percent (18-of-23) from the foul line.
Missouri was 25-of-56 from the floor, 30 percent (6-of-20) from beyond the three-point line and 63.2 percent (12-of-19) from the free-throw line.
KU outrebounded MU, 42-35, but turned the ball over two more times, 13-11.
HALFTIME REPORT
The Jayhawks led by as many as 10 points, 16-6, before the Tigers tied the game with a 13-3 run. Kansas, shooting less than 33 percent in the first half, has held Missouri at bay, though, with 13-of-16 shooting from the foul line.
Nick Collison leads KU with nine points and seven rebounds, and Jeff Graves has continued his hot play in Dallas with four points and seven rebounds.
Keith Langford has seven points and three boards, and Michael Lee and Kirk Hinrich each have five points. Aaron Miles and Moulaye Niang both have two points for KU.
Travon Bryant and Rickey Paulding lead MU with eight points. Arthur Johnson has four points, and Ricky Clemons, Jimmy McKinney and Jeffrey Ferguson each have two points.
KU shot 32.1 percent (9-of-28) from the field, 60 percent (3-of-5) from three-point range and hit 81.2 percent of its free throws.
Missouri shot 44 percent (11-of-25) from the floor, 22.2 percent (2-of-9) from beyond the three-point line and 66.7 percent (2-of-3) from the charity stripe.
The Jayhawks outrebounded the Tigers, 20-15, and have turned the ball over six times to Missouri’s nine turnovers, seven of which were KU steals.
Both teams have some foul trouble, as Collison and Miles have two fouls for KU. Paulding has three fouls for MU, and Bryant and Johnson have two fouls each.
Kansas and Florida looked to come to New York City and slug it out for the preseason NIT championship. They will still play, but the prize will be not leaving the Big Apple with two straight losses. Roy Williams has never lost a pre-season NIT game until tonight. His team was unable to recover from 21 turnovers and UNC’s fabulous freshmen, who played like seasoned veterens.
It was a game of spurts. Kansas drew first blood with a Kirk Hinrich three-pointer, only to be answered by a North Carolina bomb – and two more quick baskets for a quick UNC lead. Kansas responded with the game’s next five points to regain the lead. A Tarheel three-pointer and Nick Collison bucket later and the game was knotted at 10 each about five minutes into the game.
Kansas scored ten points in the first four-plus minutes to go toe-to-toe with North Carolina. In the following five minutes they managed just four points to UNC’s nine. Only a pair of Nick Collison free throws pulled KU back to within three points about halfway through the first half.
Keith Langford ended the first half in foul trouble with three transgressions. Kirk Hinrich was lying prone by the Jayhawk bench, stretching out his back. Kansas held a rebounding edge, but committed 11 first-half turnovers, resulting in a 9-1 Tarheel run to end the first half.
The second half started with something that the first half never saw: North Carolina free throws. Kansas – despite Keith Langford’s foul trouble – did not let the Tarheels get to the charity stripe. UNC made good on its first two attempts of the game to extend their halftime lead to 17 points early in the second half. UNC went on to double-up Kansas through the next 12 minutes of play, 24-12, pushing their lead past 20 points for the first time.
Kansas mounted somewhat of a second-half comeback, scoring six straight points during a 13-3 run to cut into the Tarheels’ lead, but time ran out on the Jayhawks.
UNC’s Rashad McCants led all scoring with 25 points. Jawad Williams was second for the Tarheels with 15.
Nick Collison paced Kansas with 19 points, followed by Kirk Hinrich with 13 and Wayne Simien with 11. Keith Langford added seven, and Aaron Miles, Bryant Nash and Jeff Graves each scored two.
As a team, KU shot just over 41 percent from the floor, including 2-of-9 from beyond the arc. Kansas hit just 10 of 16 free throws.
North Carolina hit over 47 percent from the floor, and nine of their 12 foul shots.
North Carolina moves on to face Stanford, who upset Florida in the early game. Kansas and Florida face off at 5:30 CST on Friday in the consolation match.
Four different quarters seemed like four different games. Kansas came out firing and held Bowling Green to just one first down, and two three-and-out possessions in the opening frame. The second quarter opened with a KU touchdown, but ended badly: a pair of late first-half fumbles resulted in 15 Falcon points. The third? The Falcons took the kickoff and drove 80 yards in four quick plays. By the fourth quarter, the Falcons were playing ball controll with their reserves on the field and few fans left in the stands.
Kansas knew that they could not take today’s opponent lightly – last week Bowling Green completely dismantled Missouri. That said, Kansas controlled nearly every early aspect of today’s game, but gave the game away with a slew of horrible mistakes.
Bill Whittemore, deep in his own end late in the second quarter, lost control of the ball into the end zone. Bowling Green’s Mitch Hewitt was quick to jump on it to give the Falcons the lead.
Kansas could not control the ensuing kickoff, and Bowling Green had a short 22-yard field to work with. Three plays later, the Falcons connected on a halfback pass to a wide open Josh Harris – he’s their quarterback.
The Jayhawks started the game by taking the opening kickoff across midfield, holding the ball for nearly five minutes. They had to punt, but pinned the Falcons deep, limiting them to the first of two three-and-outs in the quarter.
Kansas continued to get strong defensive play, especially from Greg Cole and Johnny McCoy. Cole has already registered a sack, and McCoy has a tackle for a deep loss.
Box score: BG 39, KU 16
Hear the coach: Mangino’s post-game
Game pictures: KU vs. Bowling GreenScores:Big 12 | Top 25 | Div. 1-AOn the offensive side of the ball, the Jayhawks are showing some variety, gaining at least one first down on all but three possessions. One highlight was a successful fourth-down conversion, with Clark Green plunging for one more yard than he needed to move the chains.
On what has to be the best weather for a home game in some time, Kansas is playing the most confidence they have shown this season. They were certainly outplaying the Falcons, but due to simple, bad, and simply bad mistakes, the Jayhawks took themselves out of the contest.
Early in the third quarter, KU officials announced to the press corps that the temperature had dropped 13 degrees since kickoff, and that the wind had increased to 30 mph out of the North. Perhaps KU’s performance it tied to the weather? Either way, the Jayhawks’ early confidence got blown away.
How bad did things get? Bowling Green’s backup quarterback Andy Sahm burst up the middle in what was assumedly a ball-control move. He rambled 67 yards to the KU one-yard line. Only a fumble two plays later saved the score from getting any more lopsided.
How would you grade KU’s performance against Bowling Green?
Watch the replay tonight on Sunflower Cable channel 6 at 11 p.m.
For full coverage of today’s game, read tomorrow’s Lawrence Journal-World, and see KUSports.com.
