Missouri Basketball: 5 Lessons Learned in Win over Kansas

The Missouri Tigers picked up arguably their biggest win of the season thus far, with a nail-biting 74-71 triumph over the Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday night.

In a game that was back and forth for most of the night, the black and gold prevailed in the final minute to secure a first-place tie with their neighbors to the west.

Here are five lessons from Mizzou's huge win over Kansas.

Marcus Denmon Was the MVP of This Game

Missouri guard Marcus Denmon had one of the best games of his life in his team's win over Kansas on Saturday night.

The senior poured in 29 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the field, including 6-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc. He also added nine rebounds and played 39 minutes in this one.

If it wasn't for Denmon's brilliant play throughout this contest, Mizzou never would have won the game.

Michael Dixon Is the Best 6th Man in the Country

This game showed us what many around college basketball have been saying all season long; it's clear that Missouri guard Michael Dixon is the best sixth man in the nation right now.

He is averaging about 12 points a game and shoots over 90 percent from the free-throw line.

In this game, he added 15 points and hit two clutch free throws in the final seconds to help seal the victory for his Tigers.

Missouri Will Be Hard to Beat at Home for the Remainder of Their Big 12 Schedule

For the last few years, Missouri has been very tough to beat at Columbia.

The Tigers proved this once again in this game, as their win over KU gave them a 13-0 record at home this year.

With just four home games left on the schedule, it's very likely that the Tigers could go undefeated at home for the 2011-12 season.

As long as they keep selling out Mizzou Arena each time, it's going to be hard for anyone to beat them at home anytime soon.

Missouri Is Going to Struggle Against Talented Big Men for the Rest of the Year

Going into the game against Kansas, Missouri knew that it would have a hard time containing Player of the Year candidate Thomas Robinson.

This fear came to life when Robinson posted a double-double with a team-high 25 points and 13 rebounds on the night.

Fortunately for the Tigers, he is probably the best post player that they will face this season.

However, they will have their hands full in the NCAA tournament when they face other teams that have talented big men as well.

Frank Haith Should Be the Current Front Runner for Coach of the Year Award

Well, you can add beating Kansas to an impressive first season at Missouri for new coach Frank Haith.

Haith now has the Tigers at 23-2 and in a first-place tie with KU and Baylor, with an 8-2 record in the conference.

He's done a great job of turning around a program and team that looked like they were headed for a tough season this year, especially after last season's struggles and losing forward Laurence Bowers for the year to an ACL injury.

It's safe to say that the college basketball Coach of the Year award is Haith's to lose at this point in time.