One of the key stories of Missouri’s season has been missed chances. The Tigers saw multiple opportunities for road wins against struggling opponents slip through their fingers early in conference play, placing them firmly on the bubble heading into the back half of their SEC schedule.
After Mike Sharavjamts cut South Carolina’s deficit to 34-32 in the opening minute of the second half, building on the Gamecocks’ surge after Mizzou led by as much as 13 before halftime, it looked like the Tigers might again fail to capitalize on a chance to build some much-needed momentum.
But MU regained control of the contest over the final 19 minutes, recording its second straight win with a 78-59 victory over South Carolina. It’s the first time Dennis Gates’ squad has reeled off consecutive wins since back-to-back victories over Florida and Kentucky at the start of conference play.
Mizzou established, and retook, that control with a physically dominant performance.
“They were able to be in situations, and I thought they had matchup advantages,” Gates said, “but our guys just came out on the other side of the play, and we did a great job rebounding.”
The Tigers out-rebounded the Gamecocks 44-28 and recorded 16 second-chance points on their 16 offensive boards. 51 of MU’s points came from within the paint or at the free throw line, where the team finished 21-of-3o on the day.
Mizzou also went 7-of-19 from beyond the arc, knocking down enough shots to create the spacing it needed to go to work down low.
The Tigers paired their grinding offensive performance with a suffocating defense, holding South Carolina to its second-lowest scoring total of the season. That total also marked the lowest allowed by MU during SEC play this year.
“We let some free throws, meaning [we] forced them to the line several times,” Gates said, “we just wanted, obviously, our anchor Shawn Phillips to be able to contest shots.”
Meechie Johnson has been the Gamecocks’ offensive engine all season long, and the team often lacks the secondary scoring punch needed to compensate when he struggles.
That was the case again today as Johnson went 2-of-13 from the field, scoring eight of his 13 points from the free throw line and recording just one assist. South Carolina was -17 in his 33 minutes on the floor.
“That’s a positive based off our team’s defense. It takes five guys on the court,” Gates said about stopping Johnson. “They were connected defensively; it wasn’t nothing as it relates that South Carolina did wrong, it was everything our guys did right.”
The Gamecocks got back into the game late in the first half thanks to 13 points off 11 Mizzou turnovers. The Tigers turned the faucet off after halftime, recording just three more giveaways as they surged to the 19-point win.
A T.O. Barrett layup gave MU back a double-digit lead just over five minutes into the final half. Mizzou maintained at least a seven-point cushion from that point onward and pushed the margin to as much as 21 points as South Carolina faded away late.
Jayden Stone led the Tigers in scoring, finishing with 22 points on a 7-of-9 shooting mark that included three made triples. Mark Mitchell followed closely behind, recording a double-double with 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting and 11 rebounds.
Mizzou’s win lifts the team to a 16-7 record with a 6-4 mark in conference play.
The Tigers have now taken care of business in back-to-back games against opponents they could ill afford losses to, with defeats against Ole Miss and LSU already serving as weights on the strength of their tournament resume.
MU’s healthy margin of victory, though, will provide a valuable boost to their predictive metrics after a game that was projected as a toss-up. Mizzou jumped up five spots to No. 52 in KenPom after outperforming the forecasted outcome by 18.9 points, per Rock M’s Matt Harris.
The Tigers face an entirely different kind of test Wednesday, though, when they face one of the SEC’s top teams in Texas A&M on the road. That game will tip off at 8 p.m. and be broadcast on SEC Network.