Davidson thumps Mizzou 70-55 at Tire Pros Invitational

Coach Kim Anderson hoped the quick turnaround would be a strength for his Missouri basketball team, although he admitted it’d be his team’s biggest challenge.

And from the outset on Friday, less than 24 hours after Missouri suffered a heartbreaking one-point overtime loss on Thursday to Xavier, it was clear — the challenge trumped a possible strength.

Excusing a late run in the second half, Missouri was outplayed and overmatched, which led to a 70-55 loss in the Tigers’ second matchup at the Tire Pros Invitational in Kissimmee, Fla.

“I (don’t) think our young guys understood that Davidson is a really good basketball team, and that they were going to come back and play today (after losing to Clemson),” Anderson said. “We had to match that intensity, and I don’t think we did. … Xavier was a very physical game and a very emotional game for our guys, and we didn’t bounce back very well.”

For Missouri, 1-2, the defeat marks 29 straight losses away from Mizzou Arena and 32 on the road against Division I opponents, numbers nobody affiliated with the program wants to see.

Sophomore point guard Terrence Phillips has been a flag bearer for the Missouri program since his arrival from Oak Hill Academy, and on Thursday, Phillips was called for the foul that sealed the deal in Xavier’s victory.

After that game, Phillips took to Twitter and wrote: “Learn from it move on..... see y’all tomorrow Mizzou.”

Re-energized and refocused, Phillips took the court prepared to prove Missouri’s growth early in this 2016-17 season. Yet, from the get-go, the post-Xavier hangover lingered.

Against the Musketeers, Phillips played a superb game scoring 21 points, grabbing seven rebounds and assisting on five baskets. Against Davidson, 2-1, Phillips scored just one point and shot 0 for 8 from the field.

“Today, there were times that I thought (Terrence) pressed a little bit and that he tried to make some plays that, quite candidly, at 5 foot 10 or 5 foot 11, you can’t make,” Anderson said.

Kevin Puryear, who had a double-double against Xavier, led Missouri in scoring against Davidson with 12 points on his 20th birthday, which began as he scored the contest’s first two points.

Immediately after, though, Davidson caught fire from beyond the arc, making five of their first eight three-point attempts.

By the 12-minute mark, Davidson led 26-9, but Missouri clawed back thanks to a spark by freshman center Reed Nikko and sophomore guard KJ Walton.

With the struggles of senior center Russell Woods, who scored just two points and grabbed two rebounds, and freshman guard Frankie Hughes, who scored just two points (shooting 1 for 11 from the field), Nikko and Walton were critical for Missouri all game.

On Hughes, Anderson said: “Davidson did a good job of guarding him, but Frankie also missed a few shots early that, normally, he would make. When you’re young and things don’t go your way, you’ve got to be able to respond to that and normally he does that, but today was tough.”

Nikko finished with 10 points but no rebounds, Walton had six points and six rebounds and with 11:51 remaining in the first half, the duo contributed four straight buckets for Missouri, which cut the Davidson lead to single digits.

After a bucket by Davidson senior leader Jack Gibbs, who scored a game-high 25 points, Walton, Puryear and junior guard Jordan Geist scored three straight to cap off a 14-2 run, cutting the lead to 28-23.

From that point on, with 5:15 remaining in the first half, the Tigers went scoreless. Davidson scored nine straight points and led 37-23 at the half.

Missouri only attempted four three-pointers in the first half and nine in the second half — whereas they took 26 against Xavier — which was indicative of an attempt to attack the basket.

Missouri shot just 36 percent from the floor and just 3 for 14 from the perimeter, whereas Davidson made 10 buckets from three-point range and shot 44 percent from the field.

Missouri sophomore guard Cullen VanLeer led the team with eight points in the second half and freshman forward Willie Jackson added seven points, but ultimately, it wasn’t enough.

Next up for Missouri will be an 11 a.m. Sunday game vs. Tulane for seventh place.

“Our guys understand what this (next) game can do to help them learn,” Anderson said, “and that’s what we’re doing.

“I told them after the game, ‘you guys that are freshman, you’ve got to be juniors. You guys at are sophomores, you’ve got to be seniors. We don’t have time to worry about you being young.’ Hopefully, this next game will be a good experience for them.”

This story was originally published November 18, 2016 at 12:56 PM with the headline "Davidson thumps Mizzou 70-55 at Tire Pros Invitational."