Missouri blows out Georgia 64-39 behind Jordan Geist, Torrence Watson
Jordan Geist’s final trip to Athens was more successful than his first.
After a starting a scuffle shortly before halftime in the MU-UGA game in 2017, Geist scored a game-high 18 points in Missouri’s (14-15, 5-12 SEC), 64-39 win over Georgia (11-19, 2-15 SEC).
The Tigers have now won two straight. Freshman guard Torrence Watson added 17 points while Georgia star Nicolas Claxton led UGA with nine points.
Missouri’s three-point shooting was absent in the first half as the Tigers started the game 0-for-12 from deep and went the entire first half without a triple. For the game, Missouri shot 29 percent from three, but 67 percent in the second-half.
Starting over senior Kevin Puryear, redshirt sophomore Mitchell Smith got his first career start due to a specific defensive assignment from head coach Cuonzo Martin. Smith’s guard was Claxton, who is a tough matchup on the foul-prone Jeremiah Tilmon and the undersized Puryear.
Martin said that despite Claxton’s 6-foot-11 frame, he considers him a perimeter player because Georgia rarely plays him as a center. Going into the game, Martin thought Missouri had to make plays around the rim in order to win the game.
Smith stuck to Claxton like flypaper and had his rotation based around Claxton. After Claxton had a putback dunk with Smith on the bench, Martin immediately called for Smith to check back in, despite having two fouls.
Martin said after the game he told Smith that Claxton is a better version of him as a challenge to show the 6-foot-10 sophomore what the next steps should be in improving as a player.
“You can’t be nervous playing for Coach Martin,” Smith said. “When he calls your name, you have to be ready. I think I did good (against Claxton), he’s not used to getting contact like that.”
Claxton had just three points in the first half. Smith had a career-high 11 rebounds. Despite its struggles from three, Missouri ruled the boards, outrebounding Georgia 32-16 in the first half and 50-28 for the game.
Geist keyed MU’s offense, scoring 12 in the first half almost entirely on drives to the basket. Georgia had no answer for Geist, causing UGA coach Tom Crean to call timeout after a layup from the 6-foot-2 senior put MU up 17-9 with 6:45 left.
“I thought he did a great job of controlling tempo,” Martin said of Geist. “The game flowed for him tonight so he didn’t have to take any tough shots.”
Two possessions later, Geist found Reed Nikko for an alley-oop to sustain MU’s lead at eight points. Missouri went into halftime up 25-14.
Crean became the latest SEC coach to praise Geist for his play, saying after the game, “he basically willed them to having confidence in the first half. ... That’s leadership.”
Missouri picked up where it left off in the second half after an early basket by Geist gave him 14, which equaled the Bulldogs’ total points. The Tigers went up 15 with 18 minutes left and Watson drilled MU’s first three with 15:22 left. After blowing numerous double-digit leads during conference play, Watson said the talk amongst the team at halftime was to keep the foot on the gas and not let up.
Puryear followed with one the following possession to extend MU’s lead to 19 points. After starting the game 0-for-5 from three, Watson ended the game with five consecutive threes in the second half. Martin said that Watson’s second-half shooting performance opened the game up for MU.
“That boy can get hot quick,” Smith said. “He can miss a lot and he just starts flaming.”
Watson has had his struggles throughout his freshman year, but has turned it up lately, scoring 37 points in his last two games. Geist has said it’s a matter of confidence with Watson and as of late, he’s playing with the most he’s had all year.
“Might airball one, might airball two, but he’s still going to shoot that thing,” Geist said.
The Tigers close out the regular season on Saturday with a game against Ole Miss. Tipoff is slated for 2:30 p.m. on the SEC Network.
This story was originally published March 6, 2019 at 7:34 PM.