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COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) -- Missouri answered some of the questions
that arose after a humbling defeat against archrival Kansas.
Kareem Rush rebounded from one of his worst games of the season
to score 26 points as Missouri (No. 24 ESPN/USA Today; No. 22 Associated Press) handed Virginia (No. 5 ESPN/USA Today; No. 8 Associated Press) its
third consecutive defeat, 81-77 Sunday.
It's a victory that could keep Missouri, ranked as high as second
earlier this season, in the Top 25 despite Monday's 105-73 defeat against No. 2 Kansas.
"I'm not going to fall into 'The sky is falling and now all of
the sudden it's 85 and sunny,"' coach Quin Snyder said. "I think
we can play better, but it's good to be able to come tomorrow to
practice and have that to say, 'Hey, we did that."'
Virginia had won 27 consecutive regular-season games outside the
Atlantic Coast Conference since Dec. 4, 1999. The streak included
an 85-72 victory over Missouri last year in Charlottesville, Va.
Missouri (16-6) won for the first time in five tries against the
Cavaliers.
"Nothing that I did say this week or didn't say last week made
a difference," Snyder said. "We've made adjustments, obviously,
but nothing really changed. Our kids are growing up."
Perhaps none more than Rush, who finally turned in a star
performance against a ranked opponent, topping 20 points for the
first time this season against a team in the Top 25. He scored just
13 points on 6-for-19 shooting against Kansas.
He was 10-for-20, including 4-for-6 from 3-point range, Sunday.
"I wasn't worried about my scoring," said Rush, who also had
four steals. "Once I lose focus on scoring, it tends to come a
little bit easier. Coach has been saying that all year, and you
want to believe him, but sometimes you just don't."
Arthur Johnson scored 16 for the Tigers, Ricky Paulding added 14
and Clarence Gilbert 11. Missouri played a team ranked in the top
10 for the third time in four games.
"We needed it real bad to kind of let people know we're not the
biggest joke around," Johnson said.
The Cavaliers' three consecutive defeats have all come against
ranked teams. Virginia (14-5) started the season 9-0.
"We lose games like this, I can live with it," Virginia coach
Pete Gillen said. "I hate losing more than anybody in our locker
room, but I'm as proud tonight as I was when we got some good wins
early in the year."
Johnson rebounded and laid-in a botched alley-oop to give
Missouri a 62-56 lead with 10:03 left. Virginia closed to 62-61,
but the Tigers went on a 12-2 run, getting seven points from
Paulding, to take a 74-66 lead with about three minutes left.
Virginia pulled to 75-72 with 1:19 remaining, and Roger Mason
Jr.'s jumper with 32 seconds left made it 77-75.
The Cavaliers started fouling, and around Jermaine Harper's
inside bucket with 16 second left, Rush and Gilbert were perfect in
trips to the free-throw line.
Chris Williams led the Cavaliers with 18 points. J.C Mathis and
Mason added 13 each, and Elton Brown had 12.
"We've had a tough week playing Duke and Maryland, a game we
should've won," Gillen said. "But for them to put forth that
great of an effort against a good team like Missouri, I couldn't
have asked for anything more."
Gilbert moved past John Brown and into 10th place on the
Missouri career scoring list with 1,432 points. He's 16 short of
Ricky Frazier in ninth.
Missouri led 40-38 at halftime, despite Virginia's 61 percent
shooting. Rush had 15 in the half.
Missouri freshman Najeeb Echols missed his first game of the
season with a stress fracture in his left foot. Echols, expected to
be out three to four weeks, was averaging 3.3 points and 3.3 rebounds in
17 minutes.
Adam Hall, who returned earlier this week after missing five
games with torn tissue in his right foot for Virginia, did not
dress for the game Sunday. | 
Virginia vs. Missouri