The Athletic has spent the week ranking a number of different college basketball categories. Earlier this week, we covered them ranking Bill Self and Roy Williams among their best coaches over the last 25 years, soon after they covered the best teams of the 2000's which saw two Kansas squads make the list. Today, The Athletic revealed their 25 best games which saw a number of Kansas matchups.
The Athletic's Brendan Marks, CJ Moore, and Lindsay Schnell (subscription required) authored this article.
20. Kansas 72, North Carolina 69 (April 4th 2022)
In what was one of the best comebacks Jayhawks fans can remember, this was a Kansas side that trailed 40-25 heading into a second half in which ESPN saw the Tar Heels with a 90.5% chance of lifting the 2022 National Championship.
What follwed, was a comeback that saw the game tied at 50 a piece with just over 10 minutes to go. Then, fans at a packed Caesars Superdome saw a back-and-forth affair that pushed both teams to the limit, all the way until a David McCormack jumper secured the title and pushed Kansas to a 70-69 lead that UNC could not pry away.
16. Kansas 109, Oklahoma 106 (3OT) (Jan 4th 2016)
When the No. 2 Oklahoma Sooners could not likely push the game-winning bucket through the hoop, Khadeem Lattin's missed free throw propelled both sides into what is one of the best games collegiate basketball has ever seen.
With 2:25 to go in the first overtime, the Sooners were up by five after a Buddy Hield three, the game looked out of reach.
Let's not forget, with 22 seconds left, Oklahoma missed a two-point tip shot to take the lead in the second overtime with the score knotted at 94.
So to see, Bill Self's squad take the game even to a third overtime was a miracle in itself.
So when Buddy Hield who had totaled 46 points up to that point was gifted a chance to push the game to a fourth overtime on a buzzer beating opportunity with Kansas up 109-106, no one would have been surprised to have seen the red-hot Hield swap the net, but thanks to smothering defense on the shot, Kansas prevailed.
What. A. Night.
11. Kansas 87, Missouri 86 (OT) (Feb. 25, 2012)
The day Thomas Robinson wrote himself into Kansas folklore.
It may be easy to forget that Kansas was down by 14 points after Tiger Phil Pressey nailed a two-point shot 13 seconds into the second half.
With nearly 11 minutes to go, Missouri was up 67-51 in what looked like a blowout win for the No. 3 team in the land on the road at Allen Fieldhouse.
Yet, as we have seen multiple times already through this list, Kansas just doesn't give up.
Things culminated in a Thomas Robinson three-point play and an eventual game-saving block with four seconds left, with the game tied at 75-all.
At the end, it was two clutch Tyshawn Taylor free throws that kept the Jayhawks moving in what was a runner-up National Championship for Kansas, as the Jayhawks fell to the Kentucky Wildcats 67-59.
7. Syracuse 81, Kansas 78 (April 7, 2003)
Jayhawk fans, it may be time to look away, this means the first Kansas loss on this list.
5:00 minutes remained in the second half, and the Orange were up by 12, you would have been forgiven for turning off your tv.
Yet, per usual, this was a resilient Kansas side. Before you knew it, the Jayhawks were presented with a chance to tie the game with 17 seconds to go, if Kirk Hinrich's screen-opened three found the bottom of the net. After what felt like an eternity, Hinrich's shot fell out of the hoop, but not before rippling the net, rather out of the cyclical rim and into the heartbreak of Kansas fans.
1. Kansas 75, Memphis 68 (OT) (April 7, 2008)
Let's quickly wash away those memories of 2003, with what The Athletic ranks as the best game since 2000.
10 seconds remained, and future NBA MVP Derrick Rose had just pushed the Tigers to a 63-60 lead. Flashbacks of Hinrich's miss years earlier played in the minds of Kansas fans during the following timeout, but Mario Chalmers had different ideas.
Chalmers started on the right wing and snagged a bobbling ball, which confused Memphis defenders and opened a split-second opportunity for Chalmers at the top of the arc to swish the game-tying shot at 63-63.
A stout Kansas defense allowed just five points in the ensuing five-minute period, which allowed for the Jayhawks to snag their third NCAA Championship thanks to a 12-point overtime display from Bill Self's side.