MU keeps emotions in check after upset

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Missouri players know from bitter experience not to make too much of Sunday's upset of No. 7 Kansas.

The Tigers are a .500 team, befitting their up and down season, heading into the Big 12 tournament this week in Kansas City. Before knocking off the Jayhawks 72-68 on Sunday, they'd lost the previous two games at Iowa State and Texas by a combined 30 points. Their longest winning streak is four games, right before those two efforts.

Feeling good perhaps about a three-game early-season winning streak, they proceeded to drop eight of nine.

"That's been our story throughout the season: we get a big win, we don't stay focused and we drop one," forward Linas Kleiza said. "We've just got to stay focused going into the Big 12."

Missouri (15-15, 7-9 Big 12) is the eighth seed and will play Nebraska, a team it beat twice in the regular season, in the opening round on Thursday. The winner gets top seed Oklahoma on Friday.

The school couldn't have a bigger springboard, though, ending a four-game losing streak against its fierce border rival.

Coach Quin Snyder was impressed more by the way his players didn't fold when Kansas erased a 15-point second-half deficit than he was with how the team played in building the lead. A 9-0 run put the Jayhawks down by only two with 5:06 to go and a 3-pointer by J.R. Giddens tied it with about 3 1-2 minutes left, but Kansas never regained the lead.

"That's one of things where we've grown," Snyder said. "There's been times where we have kind of capitulated to some of those frustrations or emotions, and I think we've learned from that.

"We did a good job of keeping our poise and getting the ball to the right place."

Missouri got huge games from Kleiza, Thomas Gardner and Jimmy McKinney. Kleiza tied his career best with 14 rebounds and Gardner (23) and McKinney (21) matched their best for points. McKinney in particular stood out at point guard, a position where he struggled last season, after Snyder suspended freshman Jason Horton for the game.

McKinney had a nearly perfect day, going 6-for-7 from the field, 3-for-3 from 3-point range and 6-for-6 at the line, and adding four assists and only two turnovers. McKinney had totaled 21 points in his previous four games, and this was his first game in double figures in 10 games.

"As a coach, we live for the opportunity to coach guys like Jimmy," Snyder said. "Sometimes he wants it too badly, he's hanging on too tight.

"I told him I wanted to see him smiling out there, making every possession like you're out there in open gym or the playground."

Kleiza shrugged off 1-for-8 shooting by going 12-for-18 at the free throw line, helping him get his ninth double double of the season. This, after an indifferent, eight-point, six-rebound, effort at Iowa State.

"In a lot of ways, this is one of Linas' best games of his career," Snyder said. "For him to go 1-for-8 and never lose his composure and have no turnovers, it just showed me that's the type of guy we need him to be all the time."

Gardner, who was 8-for-13, totaled 14 points in his previous two games. This was only his second time over 20 points all season, matching his career best at UNLV on Feb. 9.

"That's something I've been trying to get to all season," Gardner said. "I've been struggling, up and down. When I play consistently, it really helps our team out."