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COLUMBIA, Missouri (Ticker) -- Nick Collison helped Kansas complete a historic run. Collison scored a career-high 28 points as the top-ranked Jayhawks became the first team to complete the Big 12 Conference schedule unbeaten with a 95-92 victory over Missouri. Kansas (27-2, 16-0 Big 12) won its 14th straight game and finished with an unbeaten conference mark for the first time since a 14-0 record in the 1970-71 season. "We do feel good about that, but the same thing I said this week, that was not our goal," Kansas coach Roy Williams said. "We were trying to win the conference. Once it became 15-0, then it did become our goal." Missouri (20-10, 9-7) rallied from an 11-point first-half deficit and took a 92-91 lead on a three-point play by Arthur Johnson with just under two minutes remaining. Collison found himself open from 17 feet on the next possession and nailed his jumper to give Kansas the lead for good. "It felt good, to go up there and shoot them and not worry about it," Collison said. "I haven't shot good all year, but I did today." Drew Gooden scored inside with 26 seconds left for a three-point cushion. Missouri had one final chance, but guard Clarence Gilbert missed a 3-pointer as time expired. "This is a tough loss to take," Missouri coach Quin Snyder said. "It'll be hard to get back up, but certainly we will." Collison made 9-of-12 shots and 10-of-12 from the free-throw line to offset a sub-par outing from Gooden. A leading candidate for both national Player of the Year awards, Gooden made only 5-of-17 shots for 15 points and eight rebounds. "Drew didn't have his best game," Williams said. "We feel very, very fortunate but Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich were really big-time for us today." The smaller Tigers actually held a 46-42 advantage on the glass as Johnson, Travon Bryant and Kareem Rush all had eight. Gilbert led Missouri with 27 points and Rickey Paulding added 23 on 8-of-12 shooting. Rush missed a jumper with 74 seconds left that would have given the Tigers the lead and Gilbert had a costly double-dribble violation on the next possession. The Jayhawks led the entire second half until Gilbert drained a 3-pointer for an 87-87 tie with three minutes left. The teams traded baskets before freshman forward Keith Langford, the hero of last Sunday's victory at Nebraska, scored inside to give Kansas a 91-89 lead. Hinrich scored 25 points to go with nine rebounds and four assists. Langford made 6-of-7 shots for 14 points off the bench. "I was just going to try to come out and be aggressive," Hinrich said. "We had already won the title coming in, but it was an accomplishment to win over here." Kansas swept the season series from Missouri for the first time since the 1994-95 season. Rush, the preseason Big 12 Player of the Year, scored 22 points but misfired on 15-of-22 shots. He has made just 13-of-41 shots in two losses to Kansas this season, while primarily being defended by Hinrich. "I was frustrated," Rush said. "A lot of guys have chances to hit shots, and I had a couple that I thought could've went in but they didn't fall." Kansas finished with a 16-0 conference record for the first time since the 1922-23 team won all 16 Missouri Valley Conference games under legendary coach Phog Allen. |
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