Sean East II had a career high of 33 points, but it wasn’t enough to get the Tigers into the win column
It was a historical day inside of Bud Walton Arena Saturday morning, as Missouri extended their losing streak to a new program-worst 14 games in a 88-73 loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Graduate guard Sean East II did his best to break the streak, leading the Tigers with a career-high 33 points. East was 9-for-14 from the field, doing most of his work at the free throw line, where he went 15-for-16.
“We’re just trying to execute the game plan of hard, physical drives,” East said. “They’re fouling, so I’m getting to the line and capitalizing off that.”
Graduate guard Nick Honor joined East in double figures, scoring 14 points on 4/10 shooting from the three-point line. Junior guard Tamar Bates scored 11 points, despite only attempting six shots.
Unfortunately for Missouri, East’s efforts were bested by another player having a career day — Arkansas graduate guard Khalif Battle. Battle scored just six points when the Razorbacks visited Mizzou Arena a month ago, but today was a different story. The guard notched a new career high of 42 points, the most by a single player in the SEC this season.
“He made some tough shots,” Missouri head coach Dennis Gates said. “He’s a good player, and that was their chance of winning that game.”
Similar to the Tennessee game, baskets were few and far between in the early going. The first points of the game came from graduate forward Noah Carter, who hit two free throws at the 16:34 mark. The first field goal came 40-seconds later on a three-pointer from Battle. Before the first basket, the teams were a combined zero-for-nine from the field with four turnovers.
Missouri’s point guard duo of East and Honor got going offensively shortly after. East scored seven straight points, followed by Honor racking up the next nine. The Tigers were not able to create much separation during the run, as they led 18-15.
Neither East or Honor would score for the next seven minutes, and the Razorbacks took advantage. Arkansas went on a 15-4 run, giving them a 30-22 lead at the under-4 timeout.
East got hot once again in the final 3:45 of the first half, helping cut the Razorback lead to two. He scored 10 of MU’s last 12 points before the break.
The teams traded baskets to open the second half, and Missouri was able to secure a 44-41 lead at the 15:52 mark on Honor’s fourth three-pointer of the game.
The lead would bounce back and forth over the next three minutes, with an East basket putting the Tigers going ahead for the last time in the game at 12:28.
With the game tied at 50 and 10:46 remaining, Battle took over. He scored his team’s next 15 points, with the last four coming from a three-point make he was fouled on and the subsequent free throw.
This solo-run from Battle would put Arkansas up 11 with 6:58 remaining. Despite 10 more points being added by East before the game’s end, the Razorbacks would earn a comfortable victory.
The loss drops Missouri’s overall record to 8-19, and 0-14 in SEC play. The Tigers are still yet to win a game since the calendar flipped to 2024.
Missouri will be back in action Wednesday night, when they travel to take on the No. 24 Florida Gators.
Edited by Michael Stamps
Copy edited by Grace Knight
Edited by Scout Hudson | shudson@themaneater.com