March 06, 2005

Jayhawks Fall in Border Showdown

March 6, 2005

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The University of Kansas men’s basketball team fell to Missouri 72-68, Sunday in Columbia. With the loss the Jayhawks will be the number two seed at this week’s Big 12 Conference Tournament at Kemper Arena in Kansas City.

The Jayhawks trailed by 15 in the second half, but fought back to tie the game at 64-64 with 3:26 remaining.

Senior Wayne Simen led the Jayhawks with 17 points and nine rebounds.

Senior Aaron Miles and sophomore J.R. Giddens each added 13 points in the loss, while junior Jeff Hawkins and freshman Alex Galindo each chipped in with eight points off the bench.

Senior Keith Langford scored five points, but played just three minutes in the game because of a first half injury.

“We have made the Big 12 tournament tougher on ourselves now,” Kansas head coach Bill Self said. “If we are fortunate to get by Kansas State or Texas A&M, which won’t be easy, we are going to have a very tough road to win the tournament.”

Sophomore guard Thomas Gardner led all scorers with 23 points, while junior Jimmy McKinney scored 21 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field, which included 3-of-3 from three-point range.

Sophomore Linas Kleiza had 15 points and grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds in the win.

With KU’s 12-4 record in conference play, the Jayhawks have tied Oklahoma for the regular season Big 12 Championship. Kansas (22-5 overall) will await the winner of Kansas State and Texas A&M in the second round of the Big 12 Tournament, Friday night at 6 p.m.