The 272nd edition of the Border War began with a raucous Mizzou crowd cheered by various chants and ended with the Missouri Tigers defeating the No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks 76-67 on a historic night. The victory helps catapult the Tiger program to levels never seen in the Dennis Gates era.

With a restless crowd having not seen the Tigers win in this tie for almost 13 years, it was vital that head coach Dennis Gates’ side got off to a good start. By turning aggressive defense into offense, the Tigers did just that, taking an early 22-11 lead just over 10 minutes into the game.

A well-known statistic before the game was Kansas’ fortitude in going into a game despite a loss, as the Jayhawks had lost to Creighton in their previous game. Kansas under Bill Self was 119-20 after a loss, but is 1-1 against Mizzou within that time frame and parameters.

Getting the crowd involved in the game via the Mizzou offense repeatedly led to bad possessions for the Kansas offense. KU recorded a massive 13 turnovers in the first 15 minutes of play, most of which came from jump passes, accidental touches on the sideline and passes to no one.

Defensively, the Tigers switched quickly and were obviously very careful to stay in close proximity to all kU ballplayers. This Hound-the-Intruder style of defense resulted in the Jayhawks shooting just 42% from the field in the first half.

Tamar Bates was an integral part of the Tigers’ hot start as he hit a couple of three-pointers early on to get the crowd on their feet. Alongside Bates was Mark Mitchell as the two did an excellent job of driving strongly to the basket to block contact and pick up fouls. Bates scored 29 points on 9-for-15 shooting while Mitchell scored 17 points, eight of them on free throws.

On the other hand, the task was clear, as Kansas’ offense would run through Wooden Award hopeful Hunter Dickinson. The center stands at 6-foot-10 and Josh Gray, Missouri’s own 7-footer, was in charge of this matchup for most of the game. Gray collected six rebounds in his first eight minutes of play, surpassing his average of 5.3 per game earlier in this game.

Missouri shined in the paint early, as the ball was touched in the paint on 15 of its first 21 possessions, giving them 23 points. Points in the game later played a crucial role in the outcome of this game, with the Tigers leading in that category 32-28.

The real catalyst for Mizzou being up 14 points after the halftime whistle was the charity jersey. Getting to the line was one of our keys to the game and Mizzou shot 14 of 16 from the line while kU only shot five and made three. That’s an 11-point blowout in fouls, and it wasn’t really the fault of the refs, but mostly the Tigers’ willingness to make contact.

The opportunism didn’t end in the first half, as the Jayhawks desperately searched for a spark to start the second half and Mizzou faced more defense-to-offense behavior that resulted in a foul on a drive 21st made -point deficit. The lead was as high as 24 before a 15-0 run by kU caused great unrest among the Tiger supporters.

The run was eventually stopped by a Hunter Dickinson turnover forced by Anthony Robinson, which led to a second-chance layup by Tony Perkins. Robinson and Bates combined for 10 steals for the Tigers, the most steals by two players in a single game all season.

Most teams limit the opponent’s scoring opportunities through their own offense, but Mizzou was unable to generate that offense and instead turned to defense. After Perkins’ layup, kU remained scoreless for almost four minutes thanks to hard fighting.

The deficit was reduced to its smallest in the final period of the game when a deep two by Gray was answered by a 6-0 run by the Jayhawks, bringing the score to 62-57 in favor of the Tigers. Self’s group got into transition rebounds much quicker in the second half than they did in the first half, which allowed them to make easy shots.

A three-point play from Harris brought the game within two points, but a kickout three from Mitchell made the loud night even louder. On the ensuing possession, a missed shot by Dickinson led to a foul on Gray, which put him at the line for two crucial free throws. Gray sank both to the delight of the home fans.

This great performance was all the Tigers needed to pull off a masterful victory at Mizzou Arena. An unforgettable day in Colombia where fans will celebrate like it’s 1997.

Our own Matt Harris tried to decipher via the RockM+ forums what exactly Gates’ group was doing to trigger such a disastrous response to visitor pressure. His explanation was that the Mizzou guards were very aggressive on pick-and-roll and design handoff plays against Zeke Mayo and Dajuan Harris, which took away the former’s ability to move forward in the mid-range and the latter’s ability took to drive. This aggressiveness also made it difficult for the kU guards to make access passes to Dickinson, which is a key aspect of their offense.

Overall, Missouri made 44% of its shots from the field and 31% from three-point land. Likewise, kU shot 40% from the field and 36% from beyond the arc. Missouri was outrebounded by the Jayhawks 40-28, while the visitors had 22 turnovers and the Tigers had 11.

Missouri now prepares to host Long Island on Saturday, December 14th at 11 a.m. CT on SECN/ESPN+.