Missouri drops second straight game in 79-77 turnover filled loss to Temple

Despite a late run powered by Jordan Geist and Jeremiah Tilmon, turnovers killed Missouri in a 79-75 loss to Temple on Tuesday night. The Tigers overcame a double-digit deficit in the second half to make for a tight final few minutes but were unable to avoid defensive collapses and poor decisions, which lead to the team’s second straight loss.

Sophomore guard Mark Smith led four Missouri players in double-figures with 19 points while Kevin Puryear, a Blue Springs South graduate, had 16. Jeremiah Tilmon added 14 points and 10 rebounds. Quinton Rose led Temple with 18 points.

Missouri’s first half was eerily similar to the ones the Tigers had against Iowa State and Kansas State. For 17 minutes, Missouri was able to hang comfortably with the Owls. The game had seven lead changes and five ties, with both teams matching baskets for most of the half. But after Tilmon hit a pair of free throws to give the Tigers a 28-26 lead with 3:41 left, the Tigers’ went stagnant on offense and defense. More importantly, MU couldn’t take care of the ball.

Missouri had nine turnovers in the first half, which translated to 15 points for Temple. Smith had the ball stolen from him repeatedly, which led to three uncontested layups for Temple. Missouri shot 50 percent from the floor in the first half compared to 46 for Temple but couldn’t get out of its own way. For the game, Missouri had 15 turnovers, which led to 20 points for the Owls.

“We’re not going to beat good teams turning the ball over 15 plus times a game,” Puryear said. “We can’t have that.”

Two of the Tigers turnovers came off inbounds plays immediately following made baskets by Temple. After Tilmon’s free throws, Quinton Rose gave Temple the lead with an uncontested dunk that came off a turnover by Mark Smith. The basket would key a 17-4 run by the Owls to close the half and head into halftime up 42-32. Missouri had one shot attempt in the final five minutes of the first half.

Missouri opened the second half hot from three, as the Tigers hit their first three shots from behind the arc to cut the score to 49-41 with 18 minutes left. Jordan Geist, who was playing with a bad back, hit a shot in transition to shave the Owls’ lead to 49-43 and Puryear had a putback to get the deficit to four. Missouri shot 58 percent from three for the game.

“In the second half we came out and tried to that throw a first punch and keep at them,” Geist said. “They punched us in the first half and we backed down.”

Temple kept its lead with some help from Missouri, who twice deflected the ball into the hands of an Owl right underneath the basket. After a deflection by Tilmon led to a dunk by Ernest Aflakpui to extend Temple’s lead to seven, Missouri responded with a run to cut the score to 55-52 with 12:35 left.

Missouri turned the ball over the following three possessions, all on inbounds plays, which led to seven Temple points to extend the lead to 64-52. Martin said he was discussing the game with his staff on the sideline and turned around to find the score back to a double-digit difference.

“There’s really no excuse for for that,” Puryear said. “We’re not organized. It doesn’t have to do with Coach either. It’s completely on us.”

The Tigers were able stay in the game thanks to 70 percent shooting from the free throw line, which MU utilized for points due to its inconsistency on offense.

A tip-in by Tilmon with three minutes left cut the Owls’ lead to 71-67. Tilmon added a dunk a minute later and Geist hit a three to make it a two-point game with 1:15 left. De’Vondre Perry hit a wide-open corner three with 2:04 left that proved to be the difference-maker in the game.

After Geist missed a jumper with 44 seconds left, Missouri hesitated to foul, which took precious time off the clock. Martin said MU wanted to foul Nate Pierre-Louis or Aflakpui, who both shoot around 60 percent from the free throw line, but wasn’t sure why his players waited so long.

“The bottom line is Mizzou had to get out of here with a W,” Martin said.

The loss drops Missouri to 3-3 for the season. The Tigers host Central Florida on Sunday afternoon. Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m.

Alex Schiffer

Alex Schiffer covers University of Missouri athletics for The Star.

This story was originally published November 27, 2018 at 10:15 PM.