Mizzou thumps Mississippi State on the road. Did Tigers lock up tournament bid?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Mizzou won 88-64, turning MSU's 12 first-half turnovers into 21 points.
- Five Tigers scored in double figures; Mark Mitchell led with 17 points.
- Sixth SEC win boosts Mizzou’s NCAA tournament case, per the article.
The Missouri Tigers have been an NCAA Tournament bubble team for weeks.
Last Tuesday’s win over No. 22 Tennessee moved them closer to securing a spot in the big dance, and beating Mississippi State on the road Saturday would only strengthen their case.
The Tigers didn’t flinch, leaving Starkville, Mississippi with an 88-64 statement victory over the Bulldogs.
The game was as lopsided as the final score appears. Mizzou (20-9, 10-6 Southeastern Conference) never allowed MSU to get close, grabbing a 9-0 lead by the 17:26 mark in the first half. The Bulldogs had seven turnovers in the first 10 minutes, 12 before halftime.
Mizzou turned those turnovers into 21 points in an offensive explosion that became a team effort. Five Tigers scored in double-digits, led by Mark Mitchell’s 17 points.
“Definitely a team victory,” head coach Dennis Gates said postgame. “I thought our guys executed the game plan from the very beginning to the very end.”
The Tigers have now won six of their last eight games.
“I think we’re just playing good basketball at the right time,” Mitchell said in his SEC Network postgame interview. “You want to play your best basketball at the end of the year. I think we’re just playing our best basketball.”
Missouri’s Shawn Phillips Jr. and Ant Robinson followed with 16 and 13 points, respectively, while T.O. Barrett and Trent Pierce had 10 apiece.
“Everybody’s been playing well,” Mitchell said. “We’ve just been coming together and trying to peak at the right time.”
On the glass, the Tigers bullied the Bulldogs (13-16, 5-11) with a 22-6 rebounding advantage in the first half alone. Jayden Stone led the way on the defensive glass with six defensive rebounds prior to the intermission. By game’s end, he had 10 to go with his eight points.
Mizzou’s lead swelled as large as 36 points and the Tigers led by 31 at halftime, when the score was 54-23. MU’s 54 first-half point total was one shy of the Tigers’ season-high (55 vs. South Carolina State).
“Our team has definitely grown,” Gates said. “To be able to have a victory of this magnitude on the road, after a great and unbelievable win at home (against Tennessee), it just shows the characteristics and the character of our team and I’m proud of them.”
The Tigers, 5-2 for the month of February, have just two regular-season games remaining: at Oklahoma Tuesday and against Arkansas at Mizzou Arena next Saturday, March 7.
“Job’s not done,” Gates said. “We’re just trying to get better one game at a time. We’ve gotta have amnesia, and be able to move forward one opponent at a time.”
This story was originally published February 28, 2026 at 2:25 PM.
