Missouri basketball’s offensive woes continued in its Southeastern Conference opener against Georgia Wednesday night. The SEC’s second-to-worst offense only managed to put up 59 points as the Tigers were dominated by the Bulldogs, 77-59.
Georgia stunned Missouri within the opening three minutes of the game. The Bulldogs nailed two 3-pointers in a row and quickly opened up a 10-0 lead.
Georgia continued to rain down on Missouri throughout the remainder of the first half, connecting on six of eight 3-point attempts and hitting 57 percent of its shots from the field. Likewise, the Tiger offense remained sluggish as they shot 45 percent from the floor and only hit two of their 10 attempts from beyond the arc.
Georgia ended up scoring the most points Mizzou has allowed in a first half this season, and the Bulldogs finished the half in a comfortable 45-32 lead.
In the second half, the disparity between the two teams only grew.
Missouri managed to put up only 27 points, 14 of which came from free throws. The Tigers hit only six shots out of 23 attempts, their second-lowest shooting percentage of any half this season.
Meanwhile, Georgia continued to hit shots from all over the floor. The Bulldogs finished with four players scoring in double figures and ended up shooting 58 percent from 3-point range. Mizzou only hit 16 percent of their 3-point attempts, and only two players scored more than 10 points.
The one bright spot for the Tiger offense was freshman forward Kevin Puryear. The Tigers’ leading scorer finished the game with 19 points. His classmates, however, did not fare as well. The other three freshmen who played only scored five points in 50 combined minutes.
With the loss, Missouri dropped their 19th straight road game and fell to 7-7 on the season. The Tigers’ next contest is against Auburn at 8 p.m. Jan. 9 at Mizzou Arena. The matchup can be watched on ESPN2.