No. 1 Kansas, Missouri set to battle in Border War

The Border War — the game between Kansas and Missouri — will be as contentious as ever in the 2024 edition on Sunday afternoon as the No. 1 Jayhawks travel to Columbia, Mo., to square off with the Tigers.

The teams first met in 1907. Kansas leads the all-time series 176-95 and has won 14 of the past 16 games against its former Big 12 foe. If the Jayhawks are to continue their success against Missouri on Sunday, they’ll have to regroup following their first loss of the season.

Kansas (7-1) fell 76-63 at Creighton on Wednesday, shooting just 35.7 percent from the field and 34.8 on 3-pointers in a game it never led.

“(Creighton) dared us to shoot, which was a good game plan obviously,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “We didn’t exercise enough patience to give our offense a chance to work. … I thought we could have put some real game pressure on them, but we never did, and that was disappointing. When you don’t make shots and don’t run good offense, and the other team is able to shoot the ball and be as good as they were offensively, it doesn’t take much.”

Preseason All-American and leading scorer Hunter Dickinson, who is averaging 14.5 points per game, was held to six points on just 2-for-4 shooting from the field.

“We’ve got to figure out a way to get the ball to (Dickinson),” Self said. “Creighton had four guys in the paint, so there was a reason why he didn’t get as many touches, but we’ve got to do a better job of feeding him the ball.”

Zeke Mayo adds an average of 11.8 points per game, while Dajuan Harris Jr. chips in 10.4.

Sunday will mark Kansas’ fifth game already against a power conference team, while Missouri prepares for just its second.

Last time out, Missouri (7-1) trailed by 18 late in the first half at home against Cal in the SEC/ACC Challenge before scoring 63 second-half points en route to a 98-93 win. Guard Anthony Robinson II led the Tigers with a career-high 29 points.

“You can look on the stat sheet and look at certain things he did, but what’s telling is his leadership and tenacity,” Missouri coach Dennis Gates said of Robinson. “Having Anthony on the court can help us in so many ways.”

Duke transfer Mark Mitchell added a season-high 21 points for the Tigers, who opened the second half on a 12-1 run.

“I would love to take all of the credit, and sometimes head coaches sit here and do that, but I credit our players,” Gates said. “They challenged themselves; they knew what we had to do. The right voices were talking, and it showed those first couple of minutes coming out of the gate at halftime.”

Missouri was without its leading scorer, Caleb Grill (13.6 ppg), who suffered a neck injury against Lindenwood on Nov. 27. Tamar Bates and Mitchell follow with averages of 12.3 ppg apiece.

Grill has been ruled out of Sunday’s game.

With a win, Missouri would match its victory total from last season, a campaign that saw the Tigers go 8-24 overall and 0-18 in Southeastern Conference play.

–Field Level Media