photo by: AP Photo/L.G. Patterson

Missouri's Tamar Bates (2) celebrates a basket in front of Kansas's Zeke Mayo (5) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024, in Columbia, Mo.

Columbia, Mo. — As much as Kansas struggled on the road last season, the Jayhawks hit a new low in the first half on Sunday.

In committing 14 of its 22 total turnovers within the first 16 minutes at Mizzou Arena and giving up 18 early points to Missouri guard Tamar Bates — producing a first half on par with its catastrophic early showings at Texas Tech or Houston last winter — KU fell behind 39-25 by halftime.

The Jayhawks banded together for a 15-0 run midway through the second half, but by the time that began they were already down 24 points.

As a result, KU could only get the score as close as 65-63 with just over two minutes to go before Mark Mitchell hit a critical corner 3 for the Tigers. The Jayhawks’ valiant charge fell short, and Missouri won 76-67.

“When you play away from home, you can’t afford to dig yourself into a hole like that because the comeback almost has to be flawless,” KU coach Bill Self said. “And then if it’s not flawless, two possessions you go from getting it back to two and now it’s seven, it’s like ‘Damn.’ So that’s why we got to be so much better earlier.”

KU lost to its rival for the first time since Feb. 4, 2012. The Jayhawks became the second straight power-conference team to lose to Missouri this season after the Tigers had gone a year without such a victory.

Meanwhile, after entering the week as the No. 1 team in the country, KU suffered back-to-back losses to fall to 7-2 on the year and will return home to face N.C. State at 2 p.m. Saturday.

“I think we may be too confident at times, because we’re not coming out ready to play, you know what I’m saying?” guard David Coit said. “I think that we have to do a better job respecting our opponents, understanding that everybody (is) going to give us their best game, and we should want that. We should invite that. But right now the last two games, we haven’t invited that. And I think that causes our lackluster starts.”

Missouri’s Bates, a native of Kansas City, Kansas, led all scorers with 29 points and added five steals, while Mitchell scored 17 on 4-for-14 shooting.

“We couldn’t guard him,” Self said of Bates. “He went around us, and he played to his size. We started small, and they made us look slow that first half for sure, and I thought that he was the best player in the game. He scores at all three levels and he did a really nice job.”

After struggling to get involved at Creighton on Wednesday, KU center Hunter Dickinson returned to form in the second half Sunday and finished the day with 19 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks, but also committed seven of KU’s turnovers. Coit, a surprise starter on the day, helped spark the Jayhawks with four 3-pointers and 14 total points, as he, Dajuan Harris Jr. and Adams all reached double figures in the loss.

“I don’t think we had them ready to play,” Self said. “(Missouri’s) pressure and their length obviously was the key element in the game the first 25 minutes, and we didn’t do a good job of understanding that or playing to that. We had one good possession the first half and it happened in the first 10 seconds of the game.”

After scoring on a backdoor cut on its first possession, KU proceeded to go 1-for-9 on offense and 0-for-3 from deep. The Missouri crowd went into overdrive after a turnaround jumper by Anthony Robinson II put the Tigers up 11-4.

“I don’t think there’s any rhyme or reason for it,” Adams said of the poor opening. “I think we just got a little bit behind the ball, and when you play rivalries or you play at a place that is really loud and got fans, you can’t do that.”

Dickinson briefly ended the drought with a 3-pointer, only for a string of turnovers and fouls to prevent KU from building on it in any meaningful way. Instead, midway through the first half Bates rattled in a 3 of his own to make it 20-10 in the Tigers’ favor.

Bates scored half of Missouri’s first 24 points, then continued to do damage when Rylan Griffen got called for a flagrant foul for pulling on him as Missouri was trying to inbound the ball. He made a pair of free throws, and Tony Perkins got a reverse layup to fall on the next possession to put the Tigers up 30-17 before KU turned it over again.

KJ Adams committed his third foul with more than four minutes to go in the half as Zach Clemence saw some of his most significant playing time of the year.

In a moment that typified the first half, Robinson hit a 3-pointer at the shot-clock buzzer of one of Missouri’s most lifeless possessions to extend its lead to 37-19.

The Tigers came out of the break with a 14-point lead and then struck first with a tough layup by Bates and a dunk by Mitchell. With 16:18 to go, Griffen fouled Bates on a transition layup, resulting in a three-point play that put Missouri up 51-30.

The Jayhawks experienced their greatest success as they approached the midpoint of the second half, scoring eight straight heading into the under-12 timeout, and then adding a 3-pointer from Coit, short-range jumper by Dickinson and floater by Harris soon afterward.

“They just missed shots,” Adams said. “We played pretty poorly almost all the game, but I think we figured out how to get back and try to give us a chance to win. They just made shots late.”

Perkins ended the Tigers’ scoring drought of nearly seven minutes with a layup at the 7:32 mark that put Missouri back ahead by 11 points. And then it was the Jayhawks’ turn to miss six straight shots.

Dickinson got the margin to eight by finishing a three-point play with 4:35 to go, and Adams did the same to make it 62-57. Coit knocked down his fourth 3-pointer of the game to make it 63-60, and then Harris answered a pair of free throws by Marcus Allen with a drive to the hoop for an and-1.

Two more free throws by center Josh Gray effectively shut the Jayhawks down with a minute and a half left.

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