Kansas guard Tre White (3) gets a high five from Kansas forward Bryson Tiller (15) after connecting on a three right before the halftime buzzer against Missouri on Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025 at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City. Photo by Nick Krug

Kansas City, Mo. — With four and a half minutes remaining in the first half of Sunday’s Border War at the T-Mobile Center, Missouri’s Mark Mitchell soared over Kansas’ Paul Mbiya for a thunderous dunk that gave the Tigers a 23-21 lead.

Mizzou proceeded to score three points in the next 7:46.

That provided a window of time for the previously inconsistent KU offense to heat up. The Jayhawks led by as many as 20 points and withstood the Tigers’ lone charge midway through the second half on their way to an 80-60 rivalry win.

KU guard Darryn Peterson made his return from a hamstring injury after seven games away and scored 17 points on 6-for-14 shooting, but he exited with 11:16 to go and did not return as he received attention from training staff at the end of the Jayhawks’ bench.

Senior wing Tre White got to the free throw line at will and led KU with 20 points to go with 13 rebounds. Bryson Tiller added 13 points, largely during a successful stretch early in the second half, and while Mizzou largely contained Flory Bidunga he still ended up with 10 points and 11 boards.

The Tigers relied incredibly heavily on Kansas City, Kansas, native Mark Mitchell, who finished with 21 points. Jacob Crews scored 11 with three 3-pointers.

Peterson opened the scoring with a 3-pointer in his return to action, but neither team found much of a rhythm on offense in the opening minutes. Missouri missed its first four attempts from the field until Anthony Robinson II cut the Tigers’ deficit to 7-5 with a second-chance 3 of his own.

The crowd whose noise primarily had favored KU in the early going soon came to life in Missouri’s favor after back-to-back strong finishes at the rim by Mitchell gave the Tigers their first lead, as the Jayhawks opened 3-for-13 and squandered an early rebounding advantage.

White sustained KU’s stagnant offense with a pair of 3-pointers, but the Jayhawks continued to concede offensive boards — they had given up eight by the under-12 timeout — and it didn’t help that Bidunga committed his second foul after an ineffective start.

Peterson missed an off-balance layup inside that could have tied the game at 20, but hit a 3 not long afterward to put the Jayhawks ahead after Mitchell traveled in the post. However, Missouri added a free throw and then Mitchell added his dunk.

The game flow promptly reversed, with Peterson tying the game on a pair of free throws and Bidunga — playing with two fouls — throwing down a dunk to make Mizzou’s Dennis Gates call timeout.

With just over two minutes to go in the half, Missouri’s Nicholas Russell fouled Bidunga after the sophomore grabbed a rebound. An ensuing encounter resulted in double technical fouls against Robinson and Jamari McDowell — including Robinson’s third foul.

KU had a 30-25 lead when the ball bounced out of bounds with the Jayhawks trying to corral a defensive rebound. The initial ruling that the ball had gone out off KU was reversed when replay revealed that it touched Annor Boateng last.

Peterson, the halftime leader with 12 points, missed a turnaround jumper on the ensuing possession, but the Jayhawks were able to get out and run in the final seconds after Tiller blocked Mitchell’s attempt at the rim. Melvin Council Jr. flung the ball downcourt to White, who pulled up and hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to complete a 12-2 run and give KU a 33-25 lead at the break.

The Jayhawks looked much more fluid on offense, and White and Tiller were wide open at the right block on separate possessions as KU extended its lead as far as 39-26 before Missouri took a timeout.

That didn’t do too much to stem the tide. The Jayhawks went up as many as 18 points on a three-point play by Council, at which point the Tigers finally fought back with back-to-back buckets, but then Peterson hit a catch-and-shoot 3 at the end of the shot clock to make it 47-30.

KU led by 20 on a pair of occasions before Luke Northweather connected on his third of three 3-point attempts in rapid succession. Missouri had some moderate success with a zone defense, and Crews hit two 3s of his own. The Tigers had a couple of opportunities to get their deficit down to 10 but were unable to do so, even though the Jayhawks had some issues at the free-throw line.

McDowell had what looked like a dagger 3 with six minutes to go, but Mitchell responded with a rare long-range connection of his own.

Council threw an alley-oop to Bidunga from beyond the three-point line with 2:29 to go.

The Jayhawks, who improved to 7-3, will travel to Raleigh, North Carolina, to face N.C. State on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Central Time.

Box score