Big 12 Roundup: Mizzou bounces back

No. 22 Tigers trip No. 8 Virginia, 81-77

? Missouri answered some of the questions that arose after a humbling loss to archrival Kansas.

Kareem Rush rebounded from one of his worst games of the season to score 26 points as No. 22 Missouri handed No. 8 Virginia its third straight loss, 81-77 Sunday.

Kareem Rush is mobbed by MU fans who stormed the court following the Tigers' victory over Virginia.

It’s a win that could keep Missouri, ranked as high as second earlier this season, in the Top 25 despite Monday’s 105-73 loss to No. 2 Kansas.

“I’m not going to fall into ‘The sky is falling and now all of the sudden it’s 85 and sunny,”‘ coach Quin Snyder said. “I think we can play better, but it’s good to be able to come tomorrow to practice and have that to say, ‘Hey, we did that.”‘

Virginia had won 27 straight regular season games outside the Atlantic Coast Conference since Dec. 4, 1999. The streak included an 85-72 victory over Missouri last year in Charlottesville, Va. Missouri (16-6) won for the first time in five tries against the Cavaliers.

“Nothing that I did say this week or didn’t say last week made a difference,” Snyder said. “We’ve made adjustments, obviously, but nothing really changed. Our kids are growing up.”

Perhaps none more than Rush, who finally turned in a fine performance against a ranked opponent, topping 20 points for the first time this season against a team in the Top 25. He scored just 13 points on 6-of-19 shooting against Kansas.

He was 10-of-20, including 4-of-6 from three-point range, on Sunday.

“I wasn’t worried about my scoring,” said Rush, who also had four steals. “Once I lose focus on scoring, it tends to come a little bit easier. Coach has been saying that all year, and you want to believe him, but sometimes you just don’t.”

Arthur Johnson scored 16 for the Tigers, Ricky Paulding added 14 and Clarence Gilbert 11. Missouri played a team ranked in the Top 10 for the third time in four games.

“We needed it real bad to kind of let people know we’re not the biggest joke around,” Johnson said.

The Cavaliers’ three straight losses have all come against ranked teams. Virginia (14-5) started the season 9-0.

“We lose games like this, I can live with it,” Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. “I hate losing more than anybody in our locker room, but I’m as proud tonight as I was when we got some good wins early in the year.”

Johnson rebounded and laid-in a botched alley-oop to give Missouri a 62-56 lead with 10:03 left. Virginia closed to 62-61, but the Tigers went on a 12-2 run, getting seven points from Paulding, to take a 74-66 lead with about three minutes left.

Virginia pulled to 75-72 with 1:19 remaining, and Roger Mason Jr.’s jumper with 32 seconds left made it 77-75.

The Cavaliers started fouling, and around Jermaine Harper’s inside bucket with 16 second left, Rush and Gilbert were perfect in trips to the free-throw line.

Chris Williams led the Cavaliers with 18 points. J.C Mathis and Mason added 13 each, and Elton Brown had 12.

“We’ve had a tough week playing Duke and Maryland, a game we should’ve won,” Gillen said.

“But for them to put forth that great of an effort against a good team like Missouri, I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

Baylor 97, Texas A&M 45

Waco, Texas Wendell Greenleaf and his Baylor teammates had something to prove Sunday. They did so convincingly. Two weeks after Baylor lost 63-60 to Texas A&M in College Station, the Bears pulled off one of their most lopsided victories defeating the Aggies 97-45. It was the Aggies’ second worst loss in school history.

Lawrence Roberts scored 25 points and pulled down 11 rebounds for Baylor (13-8, 3-5 Big 12). Greenleaf added 18 points and John Lucas had 13.

Leading 43-28 at halftime, Baylor outscored the Aggies 36-7 in the first 11 minutes of the second half.