🏀 Rivalry Renews Saturday as Jayhawks Host Missouri

LAWRENCE, Kan. – After a 22-day hiatus at Allen Fieldhouse, No. 8/7 Kansas (7-1) will host Missouri (5-4) in the HyVee Hoops Border Showdown on Saturday, Dec. 11, at 2:15 p.m. (Central). The game will be televised on ESPN.

This will be the 270th meeting in the HyVee Hoops Border Showdown rivalry. Kansas and Missouri were conference members from 1907 to 2012. KU leads the overall series 174-95, which includes a 93-87 exhibition win in 2017. The Jayhawks have won seven of the last eight meetings with MU.

Kansas is No. 7 in the first NET released by the NCAA for 2021-22 through games played Dec. 9. The Jayhawks are second among Big 12 teams with Baylor at No. 4. Kansas leads the Big 12 in scoring offense (85.4 ppg), which is 13th nationally, field goal percentage (51.8%, fifth nationally) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.6, 16th nationally).

Senior Ochai Agbaji leads the Big 12 and is third nationally in scoring at 22.6 points per game. Agbaji has scored 20 or more points in six of eight games this season. Kansas is the only Big 12 school that has two players ranked in the top five in the Big 12 in scoring with Agbaji first at 22.6 and junior Christian Braun fifth at 16.8 ppg. Braun has scored 51 points in his last two games. Braun was named the Big 12 Player of the Week on Dec. 6 following his career-high 31 points at St. John’s (12.3). It was his second Big 12 Player of the Week honor for his career.

No. 8/7 Kansas is 7-1 after its 78-52 win against UTEP on Dec. 7 in the Jayhawk Shootout at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri. Through seven games, Kansas leads the Big 12 in scoring at 85.4 points per game and has a plus-16.0 scoring margin. The Jayhawks lead the Big 12, and are fifth nationally, in field goal percentage shooting 51.8 percent. KU also leads the league in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.6, 16th nationally, and scoring offense at 84.5 ppg, 13th nationally. KU pulls down 36.5 rebounds per game with a plus-7.3 rebound margin. KU averages 17.4 assists, 4.1 blocked shots and 7.9 steals per game.

Missouri is 5-4 on the season after its 72-44 win against Eastern Illinois on Dec. 7. The Tigers are coached by Cuonzo Martin, who is 71-60 in his fifth season at MU and 257-181 in his 14th season overall. Missouri averages 66.6 points per game with a plus-3.1 scoring margin. The Tigers pull down 39.1 rebounds per game with a plus-7.3 rebound margin and average 5.0 three-point field goals made per game.

This HyVee Hoops Border Showdown series dates back to 1907, when both schools were members of the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (1907-28), then the Big Six (1929-47), Big Seven (1948-58), Big Eight (1959-96) and Big 12 (1997-2012).

The next action for Kansas comes on Saturday, Dec. 18, at 7 p.m. as the Jayhawks host Stephen F. Austin at Allen Fieldhouse.