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Hearnes hex KU loses 4th straight game at Mizzou with Top 10 team
Posted: Sunday January 23, 2000 10:06 AM
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) -- As usual, Kansas brought out the best in Missouri. Clarence Gilbert hit seven 3-pointers and scored a career-high 27 points despite sitting out the final six minutes with a sprained ankle in an 81-59 victory over the seventh-ranked Jayhawks on Saturday. "We tried different people, we tried different defense, we tried everything we have," Kansas coach Roy Williams said. "Nothing seemed to work." Kansas (15-3, 4-1 Big 12) has lost the last four times it has brought a Top 10 team into the Hearnes Center. This time, the Jayhawks sustained their worst loss since a 100-74 setback at Oklahoma on Feb. 27, 1990. "I think we broke their hearts," Missouri forward Johnnie Parker said. "I was talking to a couple of their guys after the game and they were really down, and I've really never seen Kansas that way." Kansas had won seven in a row, and had held four of its five previous opponents to sub-40 percent shooting. Gilbert was 7-for-10 from 3-point range and hit his first four of the second half to help Missouri (11-6, 4-1) take a 20-point lead. In the last five games, Gilbert, who entered the game tied for the Big 12 scoring lead with a 21-point average, is 26-for-46 from 3-point range. Gilbert, who topped his previous career best by one point, said he was inspired by the jabbering of Kansas forward Kenny Gregory and by the reputation of Jayhawks guards Jeff Boschee and Luke Axtell. "There's a new guy in town," Gilbert said. Missouri was 11-for-22 from long range and shot 55 percent overall to combat Kansas' height advantage. The Tigers pestered the Jayhawks on defense into 37 percent shooting. "If they get it inside, it's pretty hard for us to guard them," coach Quin Snyder said. "So we'd better guard them out on the floor and play to our strengths." T.J. Soyoye had 16 points and Keyon Dooling added 12 points and seven assists as Missouri won its fourth straight and ended Kansas' seven-game winning streak in front of a record crowd of 14,098. Gilbert injured his left ankle with 6:09 to go and Missouri ahead by nine points and didn't return, but the Tigers pulled away without him. "That kind of made us mad, because we looked at it like they did it to him on purpose," Parker said. "So we stuck to them even harder." This was Missouri's biggest margin against Kansas since a 14-point victory in 1989 and the largest in Columbia since a 23-point victory in 1980. "A 20-point loss is going to hurt, regardless," Kansas forward Nick Collison said. "We'll see in Allen Fieldhouse if they're 20 points better than us." Missouri and Kansas conclude the regular season March 5 in Lawrence, Kan. Missouri beat Kansas seven times in the 1990s when the Jayhawks were ranked in the top five, including three times when they were No. 1. Former coach Norm Stewart, who retired in April, made his second visit to the Hearnes as a spectator. After Kansas cut the gap to seven points early in the second half, Gilbert hit three 3-pointers in a span of 1:05 for a 53-39 lead with 13:55 to go. He hit again from long range with 12:41 left for a 17-point advantage. Gregory had 15 points and led Kansas' early second-half rally, but the Jayhawks finished well below their Big 12-leading average of 85 points. Center Eric Chenowith was 2-for-8 and was held to six points and five rebounds by the 6-9 Soyoye, who gave up four inches. "He's a very good player," Soyoye said. "But there's no way he can outquick me in the post." Jeff Boschee, Kansas' second-leading scorer, was 1-for-6 with
three points and Drew Gooden, also averaging in double figures, had
two points.
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