Big 12 Tournament Bracket
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March 6, 2005
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By R.B. FALLSTROM
AP Sports Writer
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - Thomas Gardner matched his career best with 23 points
and Linas Kleiza tied his with 14 rebounds, helping Missouri upset No. 7 Kansas
72-68 on Sunday, denying the Jayhawks the outright Big 12 title.
Fans from the first sellout of the season at the Mizzou Arena streamed onto
the court at the finish as Missouri ended a four-game losing streak to its
bitter border rival.
Wayne Simien had 17 points and eight rebounds for the Jayhawks (22-5, 12-4),
who were bumped to the second seed in this week's Big 12 tournament behind
co-champion Oklahoma. Simien, who had 57 points and 32 rebounds in his previous
two games, went more than 15 minutes between field goals in the first half.
Jimmy McKinney added a career-best 21 points and Kleiza had 15 as the Tigers
(15-15, 7-9) played one of their best games of the season four days after
losing by 18 points at Iowa State.
McKinney helped fill the void when starting freshman point guard Jason
Horton was suspended Sunday on a game-to-game basis for "conduct detrimental
to the team."
Kansas erased a 15-point second-half deficit before Missouri clinched it at
the free throw line and with the help of two turnovers in the final 90 seconds
by Jayhawks point guard Aaron Miles. Missouri had only two field goals over the
final 10{ minutes, but was 7-for-10 at the line in the last 5 minutes.
Miles and J.R. Giddens, whose 3-pointer tied it at 64 with 3:26 to go, each
added 13 points for Kansas.
Missouri, which had lost its previous two games, gets the eighth seed in the
tournament after coach Quin Snyder won for only the fourth time in 11 chances
against Kansas.
Kansas enters the tournament having lost four of six. Coach Bill Self had
been 7-0 against Missouri, including three victories with Kansas.
Missouri built a 43-34 halftime lead on uncharacteristically accurate
3-point shooting, going 8-of-10. The Tigers led by 49-34 with 17:36 to go and
were still comfortably ahead at 61-50 with 7{ minutes left before Kansas scored
nine straight points to shave the deficit to two.
But Kansas, who had scored the first eight points of the game, was never
able to regain the lead.
