Jeremiah Tilmon strutted into the locker room Saturday afternoon in Reed Arena with a first half statline that listed zero fouls.
Zero fouls for the sophomore forward who fouled out in Missouri’s first two conference games this season, and who logged two fouls in the first half of Wednesday’s loss to Alabama.
Missouri (10-6, 1-3), however, won this time around and defeated the Texas A&M Aggies (7-9, 1-4) 66-43 for its first SEC win of the season. The win was in large part because of Tilmon, who finished the game with 13 points, six rebounds and only one foul. After losing their first three SEC games by double digit deficits, the Tigers needed to win Saturday to avoid becoming one of only two SEC teams without a conference win.
Senior guard Jordan Geist also made his impact felt Saturday. With 17 points and five defensive rebounds, he led the team after underperforming in the Alabama game. Sophomore guard Mark Smith also put on a show, scoring 13 points and keeping up his impressive 3-point percentage. He’s shooting 47.3 percent from behind the line this season.
Senior forward Kevin Puryear spearheaded the defensive front for the Tigers, logging nine defensive rebounds as well as one on offense.
Texas A&M has also struggled in conference play so far, its only win born from a buzzer beater against Alabama on Jan. 12. Otherwise, the Aggies have suffered losses at home to Arkansas, No. 14 Auburn and now Missouri, as well as a road loss to No. 12 Kentucky. Their first half performance against Missouri was their lowest-scoring of the entire season, at just 21 points.
The Aggies didn’t do much better in the second half, adding another 22 points to their score. Sophomore guards Brandon Mahan and Savion Flagg recorded the only two 3-pointers of the second half for Texas A&M. Overall, the Aggies shot just 18 percent on 3s, while Missouri, ranked 16th nationally for its 3-point percentage, shot 40 percent.
Flagg was expected to light up the court for the Aggies, but Missouri held him to just 5 points late in the second half, the first of which came at the charity stripe. He averaged 18 points per game heading into the matchup against the Tigers.
Missouri stays on the road for its next game, this time playing the Arkansas Razorbacks (10-7, 1-4) on Jan. 23. Arkansas is currently on a four game losing streak after opening conference play with a road win over Texas A&M. The Tigers will return home a week from Saturday to play LSU Tigers (13-3, 3-0) on Jan. 26.
_Edited by Adam Cole | acole@themaneater.com_
