Senior guard Tyrel Reed called his shot against Missouri

By Gary Bedore     Mar 6, 2011

? In need of a big basket in Saturday’s game against Missouri, Kansas University’s basketball team turned to its senior go-to guy … Tyrel Reed. Who else?

“We had nothing going on, no juice with a minute left, and Tyrel makes the biggest shot of the game,” KU coach Bill Self said after the Jayhawks’ 70-66 victory over the Tigers in Mizzou Arena.

“I said, ‘Let’s run ‘C’ and get Tyrel a shot in the corner, and he said, ‘I’ll make it,”‘ Self added, relating how Reed, ala Babe Ruth on his home run to center field, actually called the shot.

The Jayhawks, who had seen a 15-point lead (63-48, with 4:11 left) dip to four points (63-59, 1:32), were bailed out by the Reed three at 1:05.

That three came out of a timeout.

“We were in the huddle. It’s not really a play. It’s one of our sets,” Reed said. “I don’t know who it was (who) set a good fade screen for me in the corner. I told coach I was going to knock it down. He said, ‘Make the shot.’

“I did and am happy about that,” added Reed, who finished with 11 points in 37 minutes.

A fired-up Reed stared in the direction of, and may have yelled something at, MU’s raucous student section, the “Antlers,” after hitting the critical three.

After the game, KU’s Marcus Morris waved to the Antlers before hopping in the hand-shake line with MU’s players.

“It means a lot. Every year it’s our goal to win the Big 12 championship. It looked like we weren’t going to a few weeks ago,” Reed said.

The Jayhawks were two back of Texas with three weeks left in the season.

“We were fortunate, caught some breaks and won it. I’m happy the way we competed today. I thought we played dumb (24 turnovers), turned it over a lot, but defended all right and found a way to win,” Reed said.

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37442Senior guard Tyrel Reed called his shot against Missouri