Marcus Denmon, Tyus Edney reflect on winning shots that toppled KU and crushed Mizzou

Marcus Denmon hit the shot Missouri men’s basketball fans will remember forever.

Tyus Edney hit the shot they’d probably most like to forget.

Denmon, of course, is the hero of what many anticipated would be the final Missouri-Kansas game at Mizzou Arena, ahead of the Tigers’ move to the SEC.

His three-point play and two 3-pointers in the final 2:05 of that Feb. 4, 2012 matchup — including the go-ahead make with under a minute left — delivered No. 4 Mizzou to a 74-71 win against No. 8 KU.

The players, coaches and fans involved still remembered it well in 2021 and 2022 when the Border War reconvened after a near-10-year hiatus.

Meanwhile, for the veteran Mizzou supporters, Edney is the classic villain.

He went the length of the court in 4.8 seconds for a game-winning bucket that lifted No. 1-seeded UCLA over No. 8-seeded Mizzou 75-74 on March 19, 1995, in the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 32.

While Norm Stewart’s Tigers were dealt a crushing defeat, UCLA went on to win its 11th national championship. Edney’s shot is still featured on historic highlight reels every March.

Both Denmon and Edney recently spoke to The Kansas City Star about their interactions with opposing fan bases and the legacy of their performances.

Denmon commands KU fans’ respect

While some might like to gloat about toppling almighty KU, Denmon says he has immense respect for coach Bill Self and many of the Jayhawks he played against.

Sure, he felt — as one of the best high school players in the Kansas City area — Kansas should’ve started recruiting him earlier. Conversely, that gave him great motivation in his Mizzou career.

“What I did was I always just had that competitive edge where I felt like KU was supposed to be the best, and they’re supposed to be the top dog,” said Denmon, who of late has played professionally in Greece and China. “So I always wanted to show that I’m of that caliber.”

In Denmon’s estimation, he did that: He had nothing to report in terms of negative interactions with Kansas fans after he thwarted them in Border War.

“I felt like it was a mutual respect with myself,” Denmon said. “They kind of were just like, ‘Hats off.’ A lot of fans and a lot of people were talking about Conner Teahan (a Denmon rival since AAU who guarded him during the 2012 game) because they felt like he kinda ignited, he kind of was poking a bear, and a lot of people felt that way.”

Denmon also controlled the opposing crowd for much of the Tigers’ 87-86 overtime loss at KU on Feb. 25, 2012, three weeks after the win in Columbia.

He said, at first, Allen Fieldhouse was the quietest he’d heard it in his four years at Missouri, before Kansas erased a 19-point deficit and Rock Chalk nation let loose.

“Of course, once I was in Allen Fieldhouse, they were yelling at me, calling me names, everything, but I feel like that’s just what happens when you’re a good player and opposing teams are trying to get in your head and bother you,” Denmon said. “But it didn’t bother me. I just took it as fun, honestly.”

Denmon admits with how social media has evolved since 2012, he might’ve received more negative response from opposing fans if his accomplishments had been more recent.

However, he said Kansas fans would probably prefer to hate someone like Monmouth’s George Papas. In 2019, Papas stole the ball and dunked with 15 seconds left as KU led by 55 and was trying to run out the clock.

“I was super competitive and I just kind of went about my job,” Denmon said. “Even if I killed them, I wouldn’t (show off). … They would hate stuff like (Papas’ dunk), but I’ve never really been that type of guy. We just competed. … We left that to the fan bases to hate each other.”

Edney’s shot still hurts

Edney, now an assistant coach at San Diego, still gets reactions to his game-winner, even from people he doesn’t know.

“It’s usually like, ‘Oh, you won me a lot of money,’ or it’s like, ‘Aw man, you killed me,’ Edney said. “Usually from the Missouri people it’s (that) I hurt their hearts a little bit.”

He’s surprised he hasn’t run into any players from the 1995 Missouri team — but he did meet one who came to Columbia the year after the loss.

“That was an interesting perspective, just because it was kind of looming on them, I guess from before, even though he didn’t have anything to do with it,” Edney said.

“Everyone’s still kind of talking about it. And I think, obviously, the team was really good, and I’m sure they had expectations to go further, as we did. But I just remember him saying, like, ‘Aw man, it’s all people talked about.’”

Had it not won that contest, UCLA would have felt the loss worse than a hangover.

The Bruins were in a near-20-year championship drought and had been bounced by Tulsa in the Round of 64 in 1994. Edney said coach Jim Harrick and his staff knew that if they lost to Mizzou, they’d be fired as soon as they stepped off the plane in Los Angeles.

The Tigers certainly gave them a scare. Edney said usually UCLA would figure a team out and pull away, but every time he looked up at the scoreboard, he couldn’t figure out how the game was still close.

He didn’t realize until two years later that Mizzou shot an absurd 63.2% from 3-point range. To play that well and still lose can’t be good for a team’s psyche.

“I think that probably was kind of their year, which is why I feel like it kind of hurts the Missouri fans,” Edney said. “Teams and fans, they know when they have a good team, like they just know. And I feel like they felt that team was a team that had a chance to really have a good run. And so because they were good, that’s why it impacted everyone the way it did on the Missouri side.”

In the immediate aftermath of Edney’s buzzer-beater over Derek Grimm, Edney’s teammates questioned why Missouri didn’t double-team their speedy point guard. Edney, though happy he was guarded one-on-one, expected the double team at the time.

Having seen it through his coaching eyes now, he offers a different perspective: The risk of him drawing a foul on a helping forward or center and going to the free-throw line was too great. So, Missouri rolled the dice with one-on-one coverage. It was a reasonable gamble, just didn’t pay off.

At that moment, Edney had no idea how transcendent his shot would become. UCLA winning the title helped solidify it in college basketball lore.

Players he recruits learn about it from their parents and replays on TV. His current players love to joke with him about it.

We know how Mizzou fans feel. How about their rivals?

“On the flip side,” Edney said, “I feel like a lot of Kansas people are like, ‘Man, I’m glad you beat them.’”

Who else thwarted KU men’s hoops?

Ali Farokhmanesh

The Northern Iowa star was the central figure of one the most memorable upsets in March Madness history. His late 3-pointer was the dagger in No. 8 seed UNI’s 69-67 win over No. 1 seed KU in the 2010 NCAA Tournament’s Round of 32.

Shaka Smart

He and No. 11-seeded VCU defeated No. 1 seed KU in the 2011 Elite Eight, and he further drew Kansas’ fans ire when he quipped about it after becoming Texas’ coach. In 2021, he led the Longhorns to an 84-59 win over No. 3 KU at Allen Fieldhouse — tied for the Jayhawks’ largest margin of defeat at home.

John Calipari, Jay Wright, Bruce Weber and Frank Martin, among others, are probably worth a coaching honorable mention here.

1996-97 Arizona Wildcats

Future NBA players Mike Bibby, Jason Terry, Miles Simon, A.J. Bramlett and Michael Dickerson defeated what’s considered one of the greatest Kansas teams of all time. Paul Pierce, Raef LaFrentz, Jacque Vaughn and crew fell to this group 85-82 in the 1997 Sweet Sixteen.

Mitch Richmond

The Kansas State star and NBA Hall of Famer scored 35 points in the Wildcats’ 72-61 win over the Jayhawks on Jan. 30, 1988. The victory snapped Kansas’ 55-game winning streak at Allen Fieldhouse.

Other Mizzou heartbreakers…

Maurice Newby

Though perhaps not as well remembered as Edney and Farokhmanesh, his accomplishment was similar. His go-ahead 3-pointer with four seconds left led No. 14 seed Northern Iowa to a 74-71 upset of No. 3 seed Mizzou in the 1990 NCAA Tournament.

Kyle O’Quinn

His game-winning put-back in the 2012 NCAA Tournament pushed No. 15 seed Norfolk State past the No. 2 seed Tigers — the first No. 15 seed upset of a No. 2 seed since 2001.

2008-12 Kansas Jayhawks

Still have to hand it to Tyshawn Taylor, Sherron Collins, Thomas Robinson and Marcus and Markieff Morris, who helped KU go 8-2 against Missouri during Denmon’s career.

Matt Davison

Here’s a football one for good measure. The Nebraska receiver caught a twice-kicked pass for a game-winning touchdown in 1997. Immortalized as the “Flea Kicker” play, it staved off unranked Missouri’s near-upset of the undefeated Cornhuskers.