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KANSAN.COM
CHAMPIONSHIPS BY THE DOZEN
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B9
STARTING FIVE
JEFF WITHEY
univer forward
After playing behind Marcus Morris for a year, Withey started to come into his own in his junior year and had plenty of playing time to do so. Withey set a Big 12 record 140 blocked shots on the year.
Junior forward
THOMAS ROBINSON
A standout junior year led to Robinson's decision to enter the NBA Draft in 2012. He was named Big 12 Player of the Year at the end of the season.
Junior guard The Kansas City, Missouri, native averaged 8.5 points for the Jayhawks in his junior season. He is 10th alltime in games played for the Jayhawks with 138.
TRAVIS RELEFORD
ELUAH JOHNSON junior guard
After playing sparingly in his first two seasons as a Jayhawk, Johnson finally earned starting minutes in his senior year. He averaged 10.2 points per game on the season.
TYSHAWN TAYLOR Senior auard
Taylor nearly doubled his scoring output in his senior season with 16,6 points per game He set college career highs in almost every category his senior season.
AT A GLANCE
After two upset exits in the NCAA tournament in two previous years, Kansas made it all the way to the national championship game and lost to a powerful Kentucky team. The Jayhawks continued to build a squad that became an experienced group in the subsequent seasons.
31-- Jeff Withey blocked 31 shots in the 2012 NCAA tournament. This broke Joakim Noah's record 29 blocked shots in a tournament.
BY THE NUMBERS
8- The Jayhawks lost by eight points to Kentucky in the national title game, 67-59.
6. Thomas Robinson was named a First Team All-American by six different organizations in this season. They were the United States Basketball Writers Association, Sporting News, ESPN.com, Associated Press, John R. Wooden Award and the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
File photo/KANSAN
NEWS:
2012 Olympics take place in London. Michael Phelps wins his 19th gold medal, becomes winningest Olympic athlete of all time.
26,000 Chicago teachers go on strike to protest changes to the Chicago school system.
KANSAS 87
FEB.25,2012 MISSOURI 86 (OT)
And so the Border War ends
▶ MAX ROTHMAN
originally published in 2012
"Missouri players played with house money," Self said. "We came out there trying to protect as opposed to go take."
For a 15 minute span, Missouri hit 17 of 23 shots while Kansas' offense sputtered. Robinson and junior center Jeff Withey, who turned his ankle early in the game, both picked up two fouls in the first half. The silent fear of the Fieldhouse, from the Kansas bench to the student section, was tangible.
With Robinson and Withey on the bench, Self played junior forward Kevin Young for 28 minutes and senior guard Conner Teahan for 37.
may become, quite possibly, one of the most epochal plays in Kansas basketball history. The kind of play that shows up with Mario Chalmers and Wilt Chamberlain on the pregame videos. The kind of play that, years from now, helps people remember this rivalry when it lived. And he did it, so he says, with his eyes closed.
The No. 4 Jayhawks (24-5, 14-2) trailed by 19 points with 17 minutes left, but erased the deficit in an arduous second half and won 87-86 in overtime, clinching at least a share of an eighth consecutive Big 12 title.
"Revenge, payback," Robinson said. "It definitely feels good. It felt like someone just jumped us and ran away and we finally caught up to them."
The game, the last of its kind, the final Border Showdown with conference-title implications, was tied at 75 when junior forward Thomas Robinson blocked the shot.
Robinson abandoned senior guard Kim English in the right corner after sophomore guard Phil "Flip" Pressey ignored a screen and dashed for the hoop. With two seconds to play in regulation time, Robinson hung in the air and swatted Pressey's layup attempt with a hammering right hand, denying the Tigers a victory, sending the game into overtime and riling the Fieldhouse crowd to a volume that was deafening.
"Thomas isn't a shot blocker," coach Bill Self said. "That was a big-time play from a big-time player."
Young, who finished with eight rebounds, five points and four blocks, energized a stagnant Fieldhouse with dunks and hustle plays. However, it was senior guard Tyshawn Taylor who once again took nothing and turned it into points.
"Who would have ever thought that that would be what we needed to do to win?" Self said.
With his team down 19, Taylor hit a three-pointer, but was quickly answered with a three from senior guard Marcus Denmon. Taylor then found junior guard Elijah Johnson for two more threes in a 65-second span. Teahan hit two of his four threes after that to help carve into the Missouri lead.
Taylor hit a quick three for the first points of the overtime period and drained two free throws with eight seconds left to win the game. All this comes after Taylor missed two free throws in the final minute of the 74-71 loss at Mizzou Arena on Feb. 4.
Down 75-72, Johnson skipped a bounce pass to Robinson, who finished a layup with a Dixon foul, knocking him to a sideways landing on the blue paint. Robinson hit the free throw, then sent the game to overtime with his block.
"I feel good," Taylor said after the victory. "Words can't even describe how I feel."
After Taylor's free throws, the Tigers had one more chance, but Johnson blanketed Dixon, who zipped a pass to Denmon as the clock expired. Denmon's shot bounced around the rim and fell in, but it was just too late.
As the buzzer sounded, Self walked on the court, the furor of the crowd swirling around him as he pumped his hands in the air.
"We had the game in our hands," English said. "We gave them a gift."
"I'm not the most emotional guy," Self said. "But that was as good as it gets."
The comeback tied for the largest in Allen Fieldhouse history and gave fans of both sides a spectacle to witness before Missouri departs for the Southeastern Conference.
It was over. The final edition of the Border Showdown with everything on the line.
If it has to end, if these seemingly perfect foes must never again face off in an important game, at least it ended like this.
"We're never going to be a part of something," Robinson said, "as big as this game was tonight."
New York Giants defeat New England Patriot 21-17 in the Superbowl
Kentucky Wildcats defeated Kansas Jayhawks 67-59 in the NCAA tournament
POP CULTURE
CIA president David Patraeus resigns after an affair.
Three big super hero movies were released in this year: The Amazing Spiderman,The Dark Knight Rises and The Avengers. However,Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II was the top grossing movie of the year at $1.3 billion.
Taylor Swift released "Red," which featured songs like "We Are Never Getting Back Together" and "I Knew You Were Trouble." The album earned Grammy nominations for Album of the Year and Best Country Album.
NOTABLE DEATHS
Whitney Houston
Joe Paterno
Dick Clark
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