006 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2006 KU79-MU46 THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 5B Kansan Big 12 Power Rankings hawks rlier in is blew art and 5 mark me Sat- appears own on en (sor- aid. "It's roaring left in otion is t to re but his r MU's good defense. movers infensive ho had crush- issouri former en came anch and recognized 1 Sebel Carl Pebasket Nooner. Editor's Note: The Kansan Big 12 Power Rankings were voted on this week by Ryan Colaiani, Kansas men's basketball writer, as well as Eric Sorrentino, sports editor, Erick R. Schmidt, associate sports editor, and columnist Brian Wacker. The big move in this week's rankings came at the top. For the first time this season, Kansas claimed the No.1 spot. The decision was not unanimous, however. While three of the four voters chose to knock the Longhorns from the top spot, the remaining voter cited losses to Missouri and Kansas State as reason to keep the Jayhawks from ascending to the front of the Big 12 class. Kansas and Texas have tune ups against Baylor and Kansas State, respectively, before Saturday's match-up. Barring the wildest of circumstances, the Jayhawks and Longhorns would potentially settle the Big 12 regular season conference title in Austin. Texas. Missouri was the unquestionable last place team in this week's rankings. The Tigers' pitiful performance in Allen Fieldhouse Saturday was enough to put them below the lowly Baylor Bears. The downward slide of a season for Missouri hit a low point this week, as the team showed up with no emotion or heart against its biggest rival. David Noffsinger/KANSAN Missouri interim coach, Melvin Watkins, watches the Missouri offense during the second half of Saturday's game. Watkins became interim coach after Quin Snyder resigned as coach of the team on Feb. 12. From left, sophomore guard; Jeremy Case and sophomore forward Darnell Jackson guard the ball against Missouri defense during Saturday's game in the Allen Fieldhouse. Case scored four points and one rebound against Missouri, and Jackson racked up four points and five rebounds. David Noffsinger/KANSAN Turnovers plague Missouri offense BY RYAN SCHNEIDER rschneider@kansan.com KANSAN SENIOR SWITWRITER The depths of Missouri's woeful offense surprised some players. Missouri junior guard Thomas Gardner said he was in shock. He couldn't believe how inept Missouri's offense performance was on Saturday, "We missed 17 in a row?" Gardner asked. "We really did?" Gardner started the game by drbbling the ball off his leg on Missouri's first two possessions. In its first 10 possessions, Missouri had four missed shots and six turnovers, but only one basket. For the next 15 minutes, the Tigers averaged one turnover per minute. During a 15-minute stretch in the second half, Missouri couldn't connect on a field goal — it missed 17 consecutive attempts. Turnovers plagued the Tigers all afternoon. Gardner scored a career-high 40 points last month against the Jayhawks, but it was evident early on he wouldn't repeat that performance. "Our turnovers killed us," senior center Kevin Young said. If the Tigers' offense in the first half was bad, the second half was even worse. Senior guard Jimmy McKinney hit a three-point shot 30 seconds into the half, but the Tigers didn't score another field goal for another 15 minutes. By halftime, traveling calls and fumbled passes added up to 15 Missouri turnovers. Missouri shot 45 percent from the field, off 9-of-20 shooting in the first half, but the turnovers killed any chance for the Tigers to get into an offensive rhythm. During that stretch, Missouri went 1-of-18 from the field, missing 17 consecutive shots. Sophomore forward Marshall Brown's three-point shot with 4:34 remaining in the game ended the painful stretch. "Kansas just took it to us and that's the way I'm going to look at it. We didn't finish plays, or get the ball right to the basket. If you do that, you're going to make it hard on yourself and that's what we did." Watkins said. Missouri is reeling, having lost eight of its last 10 games by an average of 18 points. Former coach Quin Snyder resigned last week, after the team's sixth straight loss. Watkins said he wouldn't use off-the-court issues involving Snyder's departure as an excuse for his team's poor performance. — Edited by Lindsey Gold "We've had spells like that where we just can't seem to kick it in the basket," Missouri interim coach Melvin Watkins said. "If you have that against a good basketball team, they're going to make you pay." Showdown CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A Kansas held Missouri to 32 percent shooting, continuing its trend of holding opponents to poor shooting outputs. Kansas opponents have shot only 36.1 percent from the field this season. The three starting guards of Robinson, Chalmers and Rush combined for 37 points helping to lead Kansas to the victory. Robinson was solid on the defensive end, stealing the ball six times en route to Kansas's ninth straight win. The victory puts Kansas in contention to win the Big 12 Conference outright. With Texas losing to Oklahoma State on Sundav. Kansas is now tied with Texas for first place. The important game on Saturday against Texas will likely decide the Big 12 regular season champion. Kansas is not looking past Baylor on Tuesday though. "We got Texas in front of us — everyone else is falling behind." Rush said, "It's in grassthe so we can go get it." "These guys only have two more chances to run out of the tunnel this year and that is a big thrill to be able to run out of the tunnel here at Kansas, so I think they will be excited to play whoever is in front of us," Self said. "Certainly it could be a sandwich game between Missouri and Texas where you have to worry about it. Hopefully we will keep the same frame of mind." Box Scores PTS REB AST Brown, Marshall 4 6 0 Young, Kevin 2 1 1 McKinney, Jimmy 15 2 0 Gardner, Thomas 15 1 0 Horton, Jason 7 3 3 Douglas, James 0 0 0 Lyons, Leo 0 0 0 Watkins, Marcus 0 0 0 Dandridge, Glen 2 1 1 Grimes, Kalen 1 4 0 GOTAL 46 20 5 Missouri (11-12, 4-8 Big 12 Conference) —Edited by Lindsey Gold Kansas:(19-6, 10-2 Big 12 Conference)
PTSREBAST
Wright, Julian862
Kaun, Sasha671
Robinson, Russell1044
Chalmers, Mario1410
Rush, Brandon1354
Hawkins, Jeff925
Stewart, Rodrick001
Case, Jeremy411
Vinson, Stephen300
Jackson, Darnell452
Giles, C.J.451
Moody, Christian420
Kleinmann, Matt011
TOTAL794122
Meenan True/KANSAN Freshman forward, Julian Wright attempts to make a basket in the second half of Saturday's game. Wright had 8 points against Missouri. ---