Tyshawn Taylor carried the Jayhawks to the cusp of victory, then squashed it all.
With 41.3 seconds left and his team trailing 72-71, Taylor stood at the free throw line. The yellow blur of Missouri’s student section boomed and swerved behind the hoop he faced. First attempt: too long, back rim. Second attempt: same fate.
10 seconds left, same score and Taylor darted toward the hoop, seeking the lead once more. Missouri junior guard Michael Dixon planted his left foot, embraced Taylor’s contact and flew backwards and onto the hardwood, drawing a charge and clinching No. 4 Missouri’s 74-71 victory over No. 8 Kansas (18-5, 8-2).
“I feel like I cost us the game,” Taylor said. “That’s a sucky feeling.”
Several Jayhawks and coach Bill Self disagreed with the referee’s charge call on Taylor. A charge requires two planted feet from the defender. When Dixon halted his body to defend Taylor, his right foot slid across the floor. The call was one of many that upset Self and the Jayhawks, who felt that they had the game won but threw it away.
“I was told I don’t want to see the tape,” Self said of the charge call.
Just before Taylor’s missed free throws, Missouri senior guard Marcus Denmon, who finished with 29 points, connected on two deep, contested three-pointers, one from the right elbow, the other from the left corner. Denmon’s heroics led Missouri’s 11-0 run to finish the game.
“He made two threes with his body turned sideways,” Self said. “Those are big time shots.”
In the first frame, Taylor scored 17, half of his team’s points. When Robinson struggled to manage multiple defenders and produce with his back to the basket, Taylor relieved the Jayhawks with fearless attacks to the basket and calm, accurate jump shots.
“He’s damn good,” Self said of Taylor. “He is damn good.”
Yet at the end of the game, Missouri’s pressure rattled Taylor, who turned the ball over twice in the final 1:15.
“We had a lead and we didn’t want to play safe, but we wanted to still try to score,” Taylor said. “We just turned it over.”
After the game, reporters flocked a glossy-eyed Robinson.
“I don’t want to lose anymore,” he said.