Having lost five of the previous six visits to Columbia, the Kansas Jayhawks went into perhaps the toughest place on their road schedule and came out with a perfect Big 12 record. Despite going more than eight minutes in the second half without making a field goal, Kansas held on to become the only NCAA team to go undefeated in conference play.

With a 95-92 victory over the Tigers, the Jayhawks became the first team in the history of the Big 12 to go undefeated in the league, and they became the first KU team to be undefeated in league play since the 1970-71 Jayhawks.

Missouri drew first blood, racing out to a 10-2 lead. “Racing” is an apt description of the first half, as Missouri played Kansas’ fast-paced game and did quite well for a while. After Kirk Hinrich’s three-pointer with 5:30 left in the first half, KU didn’t trail again until late in the game.

The Tigers went cold in the final four minutes of the first half, hitting just one field goal and missing six of 10 foul shots.

Absent from much of KU’s offense was senior Jeff Boschee, making his last visit to Columbia. He picked up three early fouls in the first half and a fourth just seven ticks into the second.

With Boschee on the bench, the two teams went toe-to-toe until it was the Jayhawks’ turn to go cold. During an eight-minute span KU only hit five foul shots as it saw its lead shrink. The return of Jeff Boschee and his timely three-pointer right at the eight-minute mark woke Kansas up.

Missouri kept slugging away, and took the lead with just under two minutes to play. The Jayhawks have seen their share of tough road games this season and were able to respond with a pair of baskets to go up by three with time running out.

MU burned a time out with 6.2 seconds left to set its final play. The Tigers could not find the basket and time ran out, ending the Big 12 regular season.

Nick Collison paced Kansas with his career-high 28 points. Hinrich had 25 points, Drew Gooden scored 15 and Keith Langford added 14. As a team, Kansas shot 49 percent from the floor and hit 21 of 30 free throws.

Clarence Gilbert led Missouri with 27 points. Mizzou hit just 43 percent of its shots but hit 10 of 24 three-pointers. Missouri outrebounded Kansas 46-42.

Next up for Kansas is the Big 12 Tournament. KU’s first game is noon Friday against the winner of Thursday’s Colorado-Nebraska game.

See tomorrow’s Lawrence Journal-World and KUSports.com, for full coverage of today’s game.