Kansas Jayhawks Inch Closer to Big 12 Title as They Dominate Missouri

Kansas took one step closer to winning its fifth straight Big 12 title as the Jayhawks thrashed hated rival Missouri 90-65 in Allen Fieldhouse on Sunday.

Sherron Collins led all scorers with 25 points while Cole Aldrich and Tyshawn Taylor put up 19 and 15, respectively. Aldrich also pulled down 14 rebounds.

Kansas did turn the ball over 16 times, but unlike the first contest where Missouri was forcing the turnovers, Kansas shot themselves in the foot with seven early turnovers.

In my preview, I had mentioned that KU needed to avoid unforced turnovers. They didn't do that, but their 56 percent shooting on the day carried them to the huge victory.

This was really the first game of the season that Kansas was able to build a large lead and maintain it for the entire game.

Kansas cruised to a first half lead of 45-19, after starting the game on a 21-5 run.

Missouri had a few spells in the second half where they tried to answer, but all attempts were met with more Kansas scoring runs.

Missouri was the nation's 5th best scoring team coming into this game, but they struggled to score in this one.

The Tigers shot less than 36 percent from the floor, which included a dismal 3-17 from behind the three-point line. Kansas had no problem from behind the arc, making 8-14.

Mike Anderson and his Tigers rely heavily on their ability to force turnovers and speed the game up by pressing their opposition for nearly the entire game.

Being able to press your opponents requires you to make a lot of baskets, and Missouri was unable to get into their full court press due to their poor shooting.

Enough about Missouri, a lot needs to be said about this Kansas squad. The win improved their conference record to a staggering 13-1.

Many of the experts picked Kansas to finish the conference in fourth or fifth place respectively, behind teams like Baylor.

Kansas now needs just one win to clinch at least a share of their fifth Big 12 regular season title in a row.

Bill Self who was an outside candidate for Coach of the Year after starting the Big 12 season 8-0, may have moved his name to the top of the pile with this victory.

I need to give some credit to the crowd as well. As I predicted, the crowd was at a fever pitch.

When you combine the fact that it was a huge rivalry game and that KU star Kirk Hinrich was having his jersey retired, everyone in Allen Fieldhouse was jacked and Missouri was just able to handle it.

Cole Aldrich, Sherron Collins, and Tyshawn Taylor seem to be forming a three-headed monster. Each had great weeks, playing well in the 87-78 win in Norman on Monday night, and again on Sunday.

Kansas could very well be playing themselves into contention for a No. 1 seed in the tournament. Winning out would certainly put the Jayhawks in the group of the five or six contending for that last No. 1 seed.

Kansas has a road trip to Lubbock, TX to face Pat Knight's Texas Tech squad who are second-to-last in the conference, before returning home to host Texas in the last game of the season next Saturday.

Missouri on the other hand have to host Oklahoma and travel to College Station to face a rising Texas A&M squad, who will need to win that game to assure them of a tournament at-large bid.

The game against Oklahoma on Wednesday will be of some consequence since Kansas still has to win another game to eliminate Missouri from Big 12 title contention.

While a three game finish of at Kansas, home to Oklahoma and at Texas A&M is brutal, it will certainly be in the minds of the selection committee when Missouri gets seeded in two weeks time.

Kansas needs to forget about the meeting with Texas when they face Texas Tech on Wednesday. While Kansas is a much better team than Texas, the Kansas-Texas rivalry has swelled over the last five years making every contest a tight one.

The last week in the Big 12 will be one to watch, as it could have a lot of consequence.