COLUMBIA Marcus Denmon left Stillwater on Jan. 25 disappointed, hurt and angry. Certainly, he and the rest of the Missouri Tigers had not planned on losing to a struggling Oklahoma State team, especially after they had just been dubbed the second-best team in the nation. That loss was one of my low points this year, said Denmon, one of the Tigers five senior leaders. But on Wednesday, led by another strong performance by Denmon who scored a game-high 17 points Missouri made sure the Cowboys left the rematch at Mizzou Arena in all sorts of pain, as Missouri handed Oklahoma State a convincing 83-65 defeat in which the third-ranked Tigers dominated every phase of the game. The Tigers, who watched Oklahoma States fans rush the court after the Cowboys 79-72 upset win, stretched their first-half lead to as many as 22 points before an announced crowd of 14,324 that loved every minute of it. So did their coach. I thought we played extremely hard on the defensive end, particularly there in the first half, said Frank Haith. We did a great job of guarding the ball. We rebounded the ball. We had five guys in double figures. We shared the ball. All in all, it was just a really good performance by our guys. You never would have guessed by the final score, but things actually started out well enough for Oklahoma State, which took a 10-9 lead into the first media timeout around the 14-minute, 38-second mark. Then, a light flipped on. Haith challenged his team to get some stops, and Missouri quickly turned up the defensive intensity. Over the next 14 minutes, the Tigers harassed the Cowboys into bad shot after bad shot and used their defense to close the half with a 35-12 run that put Missouri ahead 44-22 at halftime. Down in Stillwater, at halftime we were really upset with the way we defended, said senior guard Kim English, who finished with 13 points. But we grew. Indeed. Oklahoma State shot nearly 60 percent from the field in the first game, but saw that number drop to 45.9 percent Wednesday thanks to the Tigers renewed commitment to defense. There were plenty of other reasons for that deciding first-half run. One was the dynamic play of junior guard Michael Dixon, who finished with 15 points and continued to state his case for Big 12 sixth man of the year by going six for six from the field and scoring 13 of his points during the first half. Dixon, who entered the game averaging 12.4 points per contest, teamed up with sophomore starter Phil Pressey who scored 11 points during the half and finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and seven assists to torture the Cowboys from the point guard position. Senior forward Ricardo Ratliffe did his thing down low, too, nabbing nine of his team-high 12 rebounds during a first half in which Missouri outrebounded the bigger Cowboys 21-10. Compounding Oklahoma States first-half troubles was the inability of freshman guard LeBryan Nash to get anything going. He had lit up the Tigers for 27 points the first time around but drew his second foul only a few minutes into Wednesdays game and was a nonfactor until the second half. He finished the game with 11 points and six rebounds and was largely neutralized by English, who was determined to contain him. I studied their sets, and I really was focused on getting him off the block where hes comfortable, English said. With young, prolific scorers, if they make some baskets early, their jump shots get better and they get a little more moxie, as he did in Stillwater. But with the way Missouri was playing, its arguable how much Nash could have helped his team even if he brought his A game, as the Tigers used the same efficient offense, suffocating defense and hard work on the boards to stretch their lead to as many as 35 in the second half. So yes, the rematch was sweet for Missouri, which improved to 24-2 and 11-2 in Big 12 play with the win while Oklahoma State dropped to 12-14 and 5-8 in a game that was the exact opposite of the one in Stillwater. It wasnt something that I was proud of, Denmon said of the loss. We wanted to make sure Oklahoma State understood that in this game.

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Missouri gets revenge in rout of Oklahoma State

Tigers destroy the Cowboys, savor revenge for upset

By TEREZ A. PAYLOR

The Kansas City Star

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COLUMBIA -- Marcus Denmon left Stillwater on Jan. 25 disappointed, hurt and angry. Certainly, he and the rest of the Missouri Tigers had not planned on losing to a struggling Oklahoma State team, especially after they had just been dubbed the second-best team in the nation.

“That loss was one of my low points this year,” said Denmon, one of the Tigers’ five senior leaders.

But on Wednesday, led by another strong performance by Denmon — who scored a game-high 17 points — Missouri made sure the Cowboys left the rematch at Mizzou Arena in all sorts of pain, as Missouri handed Oklahoma State a convincing 83-65 defeat in which the third-ranked Tigers dominated every phase of the game.

The Tigers, who watched Oklahoma State’s fans rush the court after the Cowboys’ 79-72 upset win, stretched their first-half lead to as many as 22 points before an announced crowd of 14,324 that loved every minute of it.

So did their coach.

“I thought we played extremely hard on the defensive end, particularly there in the first half,” said Frank Haith. “We did a great job of guarding the ball. We rebounded the ball. … We had five guys in double figures. We shared the ball. All in all, it was just a really good performance by our guys.”

You never would have guessed by the final score, but things actually started out well enough for Oklahoma State, which took a 10-9 lead into the first media timeout around the 14-minute, 38-second mark.

Then, a light flipped on. Haith challenged his team to get some stops, and Missouri quickly turned up the defensive intensity. Over the next 14 minutes, the Tigers harassed the Cowboys into bad shot after bad shot and used their defense to close the half with a 35-12 run that put Missouri ahead 44-22 at halftime.

“Down in Stillwater, at halftime we were really upset with the way we defended,” said senior guard Kim English, who finished with 13 points. “But we grew.”

Indeed. Oklahoma State shot nearly 60 percent from the field in the first game, but saw that number drop to 45.9 percent Wednesday thanks to the Tigers’ renewed commitment to defense.

There were plenty of other reasons for that deciding first-half run. One was the dynamic play of junior guard Michael Dixon, who finished with 15 points and continued to state his case for Big 12 sixth man of the year by going six for six from the field and scoring 13 of his points during the first half.

Dixon, who entered the game averaging 12.4 points per contest, teamed up with sophomore starter Phil Pressey — who scored 11 points during the half and finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and seven assists — to torture the Cowboys from the point guard position.

Senior forward Ricardo Ratliffe did his thing down low, too, nabbing nine of his team-high 12 rebounds during a first half in which Missouri outrebounded the bigger Cowboys 21-10.

Compounding Oklahoma State’s first-half troubles was the inability of freshman guard Le’Bryan Nash to get anything going. He had lit up the Tigers for 27 points the first time around but drew his second foul only a few minutes into Wednesday’s game and was a nonfactor until the second half. He finished the game with 11 points and six rebounds and was largely neutralized by English, who was determined to contain him.

“I studied their sets, and I really was focused on getting him off the block where he’s comfortable,” English said. “With young, prolific scorers, if they make some baskets early, their jump shots get better and they get a little more moxie, as he did in Stillwater.”

But with the way Missouri was playing, it’s arguable how much Nash could have helped his team even if he brought his “A” game, as the Tigers used the same efficient offense, suffocating defense and hard work on the boards to stretch their lead to as many as 35 in the second half.

So yes, the rematch was sweet for Missouri, which improved to 24-2 and 11-2 in Big 12 play with the win while Oklahoma State dropped to 12-14 and 5-8 in a game that was the exact opposite of the one in Stillwater.

“It wasn’t something that I was proud of,” Denmon said of the loss.

“We wanted to make sure Oklahoma State understood that in this game.”