No. 15 Missouri men’s basketball dropped its second-straight game on the road 96-84, this time at the hands of the Oklahoma Sooners. The Tigers have now let up 90 or more points in their last four-of-five games. The Sooners shot 57% from the field, 41% from the arc and 96% from the free-throw line — percentages better than Missouri’s in every category.

Oklahoma freshman Jeremiah Fears had the most prolific scoring game of his college career with 31 points, leading the Sooners to their second-highest-scoring game of the year. For the Tigers, this loss marked the second straight loss to an unranked opponent.

Missouri graduate guard Caleb Grill and junior forward Mark Mitchell were among the few players with productive offensive outputs this game. Grill finished the game with 16 points and eight rebounds, while Mitchell dropped 18 points on 7-for-8 shooting.

This was Missouri’s second matchup against Oklahoma this season, the first contest going in the Tigers’ favor with an 82-58 win at home. It was the Sooners’ turn to own home court in the second face-off and it showed as they jumped out to an early 14-6 lead.

Oklahoma shot a blistering 75% from the field through the first 12 minutes of the game. Senior forward Sam Godwin led the charge during the run. He scored 12 points on 5-for-5 shooting for the Sooners until exiting the game with an apparent leg injury with 5:32 remaining in the first half.

Freshmen guards T.O. Barrett and Annor Boateng saw early action after Missouri got pushed to a double-digit deficit. This was Boateng’s first chance at meaningful minutes since the Auburn game on Jan. 4. Barrett was feeling comfortable on the court, getting to the rim twice for four points. 

The Tigers entered halftime trailing 50-37, needing serious adjustments on the defensive end after allowing 69% shooting to Oklahoma. Fears had 13 points at the half while shooting 100% from the field despite scoring just eight points in his previous outing against Missouri.

One of the few bright spots of Missouri’s first half was its efficient free-throw shooting. Missouri shot 9-for-11 as a team and 53% free-throw shooter Josh Gray was perfect from the line, going 4-for-4.

After falling by 17 at the start of the second half, graduate guard Jacob Crews went on a five-point run to close the gap to 12. The Sooners quickly pushed back to a 16-point lead.

Grill willed the Tigers back into the game with a multitude of contested three-point makes, none more important than a deep three with just under five minutes remaining. Both teams benefited from a tightly officiated game as each program was in the bonus for the last 4:45 of the game.

Despite a late-game effort by Missouri, Oklahoma continued to hold the reins of this game. Fears had eight points down the stretch to lead the Sooners to a much-needed win to stay in contention for a postseason run.

Missouri returned to Mizzou Arena for its final game of the regular season against No. 19 Kentucky at 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 8 where they lost 91-83.

Edited by Killian Wright | kwright@themaneater.com

Copy edited by Natalie Kientzy | nkientzy@themaneater.com

Edited by Emily Skidmore | eskidmore@themaneater.com