Missouri men’s basketball hosted the Ole Miss Rebels at Mizzou Arena on Saturday night.
The Rebels came to Columbia looking to avenge their 25-point home defeat at the hands of the Tigers back on Jan. 18. On Saturday, that was not the case.
Missouri had Ole Miss’ number once again and completed the season sweep of the Rebels, winning 74-68.
“Good win –– always tough to beat a team twice,” Missouri head coach Cuonzo Martin said.
Both teams entered the game with three SEC wins on the year, Missouri at 3-7 sitting at No. 12 in the conference and Ole Miss at 3-8 slotting in at No. 13 before tipoff.
Missouri opened the game with a couple of missed shots, but gained a quick 5-0 lead after a couple offensive rebounds and multiple Rebel turnovers. Ole Miss head coach Kermit Davis called a timeout only two minutes into the game to slow Missouri’s momentum.
One key from their victory was the Tiger’s ability to shoot from beyond the arc. Missouri has struggled to shoot the ball well from 3-point range as a team this season, shooting 28.5% on the year.
But on Saturday, Missouri was efficient from deep, going 7-14 from beyond the arc for the game.
The first half featured a back and forth affair until the last four minutes of the half when the Tigers took control of the game and never let go.
It started with the play and swagger of junior guard DaJuan Gordon. Late in the first half, junior forward Kobe Brown passed the ball from the low post to the right corner to Gordon, who drained a 3-pointer. After the shot, Gordon turned to the Ole Miss bench and gave them the “shush” finger.
But his swagger didn’t end there. Gordon went on to make two more 3-pointers from that same spot, doing the “shush” motion after each make.
“When I shot it, I was just telling them to be quiet,” Gordon said. “That was all.”
Missouri went on a 12-2 run in the final 4:07 of the first half to give them a 43-32 lead at half.
The Tigers nearly replicated their efficient shooting display during the first meeting between these two teams in January, where Missouri shot 62.7% from the field. On Saturday, the Tigers shot 53.8% from the field, well above their season average of 43.0%.
Missouri continued right where it left off to begin the second quarter, opening on a 9-0 before Ole Miss called a timeout. The Tigers held the Rebels scoreless for the first 3:18 of the second half.
It was a balanced scoring attack for Missouri. Five Tigers finished in double figures, led by senior guard Javon Pickett and sophomore forward Ronnie DeGray III, who each scored 14 points. The other three, Gordon, Brown and junior guard Amari Davis, all finished with 13.
“Whenever the scoring is balanced with us, we win,” Gordon said.
Although the Tigers jumped out to a 20 point lead early in the second half, Missouri may have thrown it in cruise control a little too early.
With around 10 minutes remaining in the game, Missouri went on a scoring slump and Ole Miss took advantage of it, going on a 14-2 run to cut the Tigers lead down to six.
“We have a tendency to settle on the perimeter,” Martin said. “We need to continue to improve on the 1-on-1 plays.”
After that, it was back to back buckets, a three by DeGray III and a layup by Brown that solidified Missouri’s lead and ended the Rebel run for a little while.
But Ole Miss refused to go away and continued to claw at the nine point Tiger lead, bringing it down to a four with 15.2 seconds remaining.
But Missouri finally closed out the game with a pair of free throws from Davis and Gordon, defeating Ole Miss 74-68. The Tigers won their fourth conference game, moving them up to No. 11 in the SEC standings after the win.
“The fans came to see Mizzou play,” Martin said. “It means we play as a team. We share the ball and we play together.”
Edited by Brandon Haynes | bhaynes@themaneater.com
