Tigers hang tough for a while, fall 66-53 at No. 10 Texas A&M

Deploying a zone defense for all but a couple of possessions, Missouri muddied things up enough against No. 10 Texas A&M to make the unthinkable seem possible for 25 minutes Saturday at Reed Arena.

Bidding for the program’s first win against a top-10 team in nearly three years, the Tigers claimed a rare second-half lead on the road only to have the seasoned Aggies grind out a 66-53 win.

“Obviously, we don’t play that much zone, but we played almost all zone,” Missouri coach Kim Anderson said. “We felt like that was one way we could maybe slow them down. … That was kind of our game plan.”

It remained the game plan even after learning that A&M’s 6-foot-10 freshman center Tyler Davis was sidelined because of a foot injury. He spent the game in street clothes with his left foot in a boot.

The Tigers’ zone limited the Aggies to 36.1 percent shooting — only the fourth time all season coach Billy Kennedy’s squad shot below 40 percent.

“We played two possessions of man, the first possession during the game and somewhere in the second half, but (the zone) was really effective,” said MU freshman guard Terrence Phillips, who scored nine points with five rebounds before fouling out. “I think that’s probably the best we’ve played all year, playing zone.”

Missouri, 8-11 overall and 1-5 in the Southeastern Conference, scored the first eight points in the second half, erasing a four-point halftime deficit behind freshman forward Kevin Puryear and senior forward Ryan Rosburg.

Puryear had two free throws and a short jumper, while Rosburg scored back-to-back layups as the Tigers grabbed a 33-29 lead in the opening minutes of the second half.

The lead was 38-36 at the 15-minute mark when junior Wes Clark, who finished with team highs of 12 points and nine rebounds, connected on a three-pointer.

But that proved to be Missouri’s final points for more than 5 minutes as Texas A&M, 17-2 and 7-0 in the conference, rode senior Jalen Jones back into the lead for good.

Jones, who scored 17 of his game-high 20 points after halftime, punctuated an 18-2 Aggies surge with a three-point play, dunking on Rosburg and sending him to the bench with four fouls as the crowd of 12,198 erupted in cheers.

“They spread out further on the perimeter to spread us out (in the second half) and that gave Jalen more room in the middle to operate,” said Puryear, who finished with 11 points and six rebounds. “That’s how he got going.”

Rosburg finished with 10 points and four rebounds in 18 minutes before fouling out.

Texas A&M led 54-40 after senior Danuel House hit a three-pointer — one of four on his way to 17 points — with just under 7 minutes remaining. Missouri never got closer than nine points from there.

“We’re fighting,” Phillips said. “The scoreboard doesn’t really show how then game went at all. It was a back-and-forth game until about 9 minutes to go … but we’re fighting on the road against ranked teams and we’re going to continue to fight all season.”

The Tigers finished the game shooting 35.7 percent and only hit 3 of 19 from three-point range against arguably the SEC’s top defense.

“They do a great job getting in passing lanes and causing a hard time trying to start plays,” Clark said. “They took us out of our rhythm.”

Missouri has dropped 24 straight games away from home against NCAA Division I competition — and 20 consecutive road games, including 18 in a row in the conference — but there are signs of progress.

“We’re right there as far as competing at a high level,” Puryear said. “I feel like we can compete with anybody. … We have a lot of potential and we can all taste it. We’re so close to a breakthrough I feel like. We just need to get a big win under our belt.”

The Tigers dropped to 7-55 all-time on the road against top-10 opponents since The Associated Press poll debuted for the 1949-50 season.

Missouri’s last road win against a top-10 opponent was Jan. 21, 2012, at then-No. 3 Baylor. The last time an unranked Tigers team upset a top-10 team on the road was Feb. 13, 1988, at UNLV.

Missouri, which trailed 29-25 at halftime, committed five turnovers in the opening 6:19 but only trailed 10-6 with A&M going 4 of 13 from the field against the zone.

The first half featured five of the game’s seven ties and seven of 11 lead changes.

No. 10 TEXAS A&M 66

MISSOURI 53

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Percentages: FG .357, FT .588. Three-Point Goals: 3-19, .158 (Clark 2-4, Phillips 1-4, Gant 0-1, Walton 0-1, Puryear 0-1, VanLeer 0-3, Wright 0-5). Blocked Shots: 1 (Rosburg). Turnovers: 15 (Wright 4, Phillips 4, Clark 3, Puryear 2, Gant, Rosburg). Steals: 2 (Gant, Clark). Technical Fouls: None. Fouled Out: Rosburg.

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Percentages: FG .361, FT .577. Three-Point Goals: 7-28, .250 (House 4-12, Jones 1-4, Gilder 1-5, Hogg 1-5, Caruso 0-2). Blocked Shots: 4 (Caruso, Gilder, Trocha-Morelos, Miller). Turnovers: 5 (A. Collins 2, Miller, Gilder, Caruso). Steals: 4 (Jones, Trocha-Morelos, Caruso, A. Collins). Technical Fouls: None. Fouled Out: None.

Half: Texas A&M 29-25. Attendance: 12,198. Officials: Karl Hess, Bart Lenox, Terry Moore.

This story was originally published January 23, 2016 at 3:58 PM with the headline "Tigers hang tough for a while, fall 66-53 at No. 10 Texas A&M."