Rock, chalk, all talk
Published Jan. 25, 2000
It wasn't a classic, but it was one for the books.
Missouri hadn't sent a Kansas team home with a loss this big in 20 years. No Jayhawk team had been throttled like this anywhere in nearly 10 years.
It was almost easy. The Tigers jumped ahead early, repelled a couple of Kansas runs and kept piling up the points. When Kansas rallied to cut the lead to eight points early in the second half, MU guard Clarence Gilbert scored 15 points in less than four minutes to bury the Jayhawks by 17. When KU made one last run to cut the lead to 64-55 with 6:36 remaining, the Tigers fired back with nine unanswered points to seal the win.
Missouri ended the game by outscoring Kansas 17-4 despite losing Gilbert to a sprained ankle and senior forward Jeff Hafer to his fifth foul. Gilbert left the Tigers with the 27 points he scored. Hafer left his teammates with a message to finish what they had started.
"Jeff got us in the huddle when he fouled out and said hey, this is my senior year, this is the last time I'm playing them at home, you guys have to bring this victory home to me," junior guard Brian Grawer said. "We knew they would make a run. But we didn't fold as we have at times, and we matched it."
Gilbert, the leading scorer in Big 12 play, hit 10-of-18 shots, including 7-of-10 from three-point range to set a new career high. Gilbert's KU counterpart, sharpshooter Jeff Boschee, finished with three points on 1-of-6 shooting.
"Clarence Gilbert stopped the (KU) run," sophomore guard Keyon Dooling said. "I think he hit like three, three pointers in a row (actually five) and that takes the energy and life out of a team when a guy's on fire and there's nothing they can do about it. That run stopping was all Clarence.
"We got the hottest player in the country right now. Once he gets going, he gets everyone else pumped up. He doesn't surprise anybody on this team because we've seen him doing it in practice in the gym day in and day out. It might be a shock to you all, but we've seen it many times."
Missouri shot 54.7 percent from the field and hit half of its 22 three-point shots. Dooling scored a modest 12 points but also picked up seven assists. Center Tajudeen Soyoye, the Tigers' only answer for Kansas' big front court, nearly matched the combined production of Jayhawk center Eric Chenowith and forwards Nick Collison and Nick Bradford. Soyoye scored 16 points while the KU front line had 18.
In MU coach Quin Snyder's first shot at his new rival, the Tigers had every chamber loaded and ready to fire. Except for Gilbert. He had a hot howitzer cutting through the Kansas lines.
"It was fun, that's the only way I can describe it," Snyder said. "(Gilbert) had one of those moments. He was calling for it and we were trying to get it to him. They were some unbelievable shots that he was making. It was exciting to watch."
With a 22-point win, the rivalry may not have been in classic form. However, Snyder still got the perspective of experience after being a part of the MU-KU atmosphere.
"It's one of those things that, as much as I say I know what it's about, you probably don't until you live through it," Snyder said. "The highs are higher and the lows are lower when you get into a big rivalry game like that. I felt like it was important for our team for me to be steady because we're going to have dips anyway. But it's pretty tough to be steady right now. It's a neat win."