Guards Nick Honor, Sean East II and Tamar Bates put on a scoring clinic in the road loss against the Gators
Missouri men’s basketball was not able to get their first one in the win column against the Florida Gators on Feb. 28. The Tigers battled hard but eventually fell 83-74. Missouri dropped to 8-20 on the season and 0-15 in conference play, remaining last in the SEC.
The Gators came out swinging, with junior guard Walter Clayton Jr. opening the scoring up and graduate forward Tyrese Samuel throwing down a dunk about a minute after. It took until the 17:43 mark for the Tigers to get their first points, coming from graduate guard Sean East II.
Though the Tigers never led in the first half, they never trailed by more than 9 points. A triple from Clayton put the Gators up 37-28 at the end of the first half.
A three from graduate guard Nick Honor at the 17:54 mark of the second half narrowed the gap to 39-36, with East II scoring on the Tigers’ next offensive possession to make it a 1 point game. It seemed as if the Tigers were going to challenge Florida on their home court to get their first SEC win.
Three minutes later, the Tigers trailed by 11, after buckets from Clayton and guard Zyon Pullin. Missouri was not done quite yet, as freshman guard Anthony Robinson II sparked a run with a fastbreak layup.
Missouri had Gators fans worrying down the ending stretch of the game. Florida was unable to pull away for an easy win. The Tigers stayed within striking distance, responding to Florida field goals with those of their own.
With 2:58 remaining, Florida center Micah Handlogten threw down a huge dunk that got the home fans on their feet. Momentum immediately shifted and the Tigers only scored 6 points the rest of the game. Missouri began fouling, and at that point the game was over. Junior guard Tamar Bates threw down a dunk with 15 seconds remaining for one last bucket, but Missouri ended up losing 83-74.
The trio of guards East II, Honor and Bates led the way for the Tigers in scoring. East II recorded 20 points on 9-16 shooting and Honor went for 18 points on 4-12 shooting. Honor also knocked down all eight of his free throw attempts. Bates had a hot first start, scoring 9 of his overall 15 points in the first half. He did that on a more efficient 7-12 shooting performance.
However, the most impressive performance of the game did not belong to these three. Graduate center Connor Vanover had his season-high in scoring with 12 points in 24 minutes. He also grabbed six rebounds as well as two blocks in what was his best game of the season so far.
The Tigers remain winless in SEC play and have not won a game since Dec. 30 against Central Arkansas.
Edited by Grace Ainger | gainger@themaneater.com
Copy Edited by Briana Iordan | biordan@themaneater.com
Edited by Genevieve Smith | gsmith@themaneater.com