More Red Flags Raised for Mizzou in Loss to No. 21 Kansas

Kansas City, Mo. — Missouri's upset over then-No. 1 Kansas in 2024 was a coming out party for a team that would earn two more wins over top-five teams on the season.

Sunday's loss for Missouri to Kansas in the 2025 rendition of the Border War instead revealed what the Tigers are likely missing this season.

The 272nd meeting of the teams was on the Missouri side of the city, but the T-Mobile Center was fully Kansas’ home. Both from the representation in the stands, and through the way the Jayhawks controlled the court. Kansas took a 80-60 win, moving the Tigers to 8-2 on the season. Missouri has now suffered back-to-back losses and is 1-2 in games against power-conference opponents.

The game fell apart when Kansas went on a 23-3 scoring run in the middle of the game.

"We just had to regroup being on the road here in KC," Gates said. "I don't know how many fans showed up, but it was probably 90% Kansas, 10% us (Missouri fans). It's a road game, and we got to be able to withstand the runs."

The run in the middle of the game came after forward Mark Mitchell took an open lane to slam down a dunk that gave Missouri a 23-21 lead with 4:29, putting the Tigers in good position to go into halftime, at the very least, not far behind Kansas.

But shortly after the momentum-turning play, a foul called on Missouri guard Anthony Robinson II.

Just over two minutes later, Robinson was called for a technical foul as he went up to attempt a shot. Gates, reasonably so, was frustrated with the judgement of the officials.

"I'll go back to Ant Robinson picking up the double tech, which I've never seen before — a guy get hit in the face be called a double tech, " Gates said. "And your best player don't close out that first first half, I thought we got put in a bad situation."

Kansas made each of the two of its free-throw attempts gifted from the technical foul, turning a three-point lead to a five-point one for the Jayhawks.

The Tigers had answers for Kansas in the first half. Missouri's offense was able to control the pace by winning the battle on the defensive glass early. In the first 10 minutes of the game, Missouri grabbed eight of its 11 opportunities for defensive rebounds. From the 17 to 10-minute marks, Kansas made just 2 of its 11 shot attempts.

"They (Missouri) kind of had the upper hand on the physicality at the beginning of the game, so we just had to match that," Kansas guard Tre White said. "And once we figured that out, it kind of canceled out a lot of open things and opened up the transition game then for us."

Dec 7, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers guard Sebastian Mack (12) shoots against Kansas Jayhawks guard Melvin Council Jr. (14) and guard Elmarko Jackson (13) during the second half at T-Mobile Center. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images | Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

In the days leading up to the game, Gates highlighted Kansas' defensive ability in the half court. The Jayhawks ended up being especially effective in that area. Missouri's offense often looked disorganized once it made it past half court.

Robinson getting in foul trouble certainly didn't help — he was called for his fourth personal foul by the 17:02 mark in the second half.

Against both Notre Dame and now Kansas, Missouri’s offense hit a brick wall. In both games, Mitchell and forward Jacob Crews have been the main contributors for the offensive production.

But even those two fell victim to the issues that were most prevalent for Missouri — missed 3-pointers and free throws.

The Tigers struggled to create shooting opportunities, and made just 52.4% of their free throws and 25.9% of their 3-point shots. Gates identified the free-throw percentage and the missed opportunities on the perimeter as the two biggest issues for the offense.

"Those are those shots when I think of our execution that was missing," Gates said. "So free throws and those open looks, and I'll go back and count them, we generated the shots, we just didn't knock them down."

Having guard Jayden Stone return from an injury near the start of SEC play will certainly help, but won’t solve all of the holes on the offense. Especially with the perimeter shooting and the shot creation. But, he certainly won't be a cure-all remedy either.

Kansas' offense looked like a smooth operation, while Missouri's was left constantly looking for any way to keep up once the early momentum died.

"Obviously we were playing with them for a while," Mitchell said. "They go on spurts, going through that, just learning to keep our composure. And just the little things."

Missouri will return home for a two-game home stand, hosting Alabama State on Tuesday and Bethune Cookman on Sunday.

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