Missouri closes regular season with loss to Ole Miss despite 20 from Xavier Pinson

On a night in which Missouri honored its seniors for sticking with the program through unprecedented losing, the Tigers’ freshmen stole the show and had fans leaving Mizzou Arena with their thoughts on next season.

Xavier Pinson scored a career-high 20 points while Torrence Watson added 14 in a 73-68 loss to Ole Miss on Saturday. Missouri (14-16, 5-13 SEC) will be the No. 12 seed in the SEC Tournament and face Georgia, a team the Tigers blew out the Bulldogs 64-39 in Athens three days ago.

Ole Miss coach Kermit Davis said he told his players before the game that this was an NCAA Tournament play-in game and the Rebels responded like a team seeking its first berth since 2015. Junior guard Breein Tyree led Ole Miss (20-11, 10-8 SEC) with 21 points while Devontae Shuler added 18 as the Tigers blew another double-digit second-half lead in a SEC loss.

Missouri freshman guard Javon Pickett didn’t play because of back spasms after feeling stiff in warmups. Mizzou coach Cuonzo Martin didn’t rule out Pickett possibly playing in next week’s SEC Tournament. Mizzou’s opening game is 6 p.m. Wednesday in Nashville, Tenn., and will air on SEC Network.

Before the game, Missouri honored seniors Kevin Puryear, Jordan Geist, Cullen VanLeer and walk-on Adam Wolf. VanLeer hasn’t played this season because of a knee injury, while Puryear, a Blue Springs South graduate, and Geist could have easily transferred elsewhere after former coach Kim Anderson resigned.

In the first half, Missouri was stagnant and hampered by Geist and Pinson in foul trouble. Geist picked up a flagrant foul for elbowing Rebels guard Breein Tyree in the face and picked up his third foul with 4:50 left in the first half.

From there, it was all Pinson. He scored seven points in the final minutes while playing with two fouls, including a pair of difficult layups through traffic and a stepback three. Pinson keyed a 8-0 MU run that gave the Tigers a 24-19 lead following a seven-minute stretch without a field goal.

“We’ve been waiting for that,” Watson said of Pinson. “We’ve all seen that he can do that drive to the basket. His handles are crazy.”

Pinson, a 6-foot-2 freshman guard, found Jeremiah Tilmon on consecutive plays for wide-open baskets. Watson continued his hot scoring streak with nine points in the first half and MU led 34-26 at halftime.

Pinson opened the second half with a layup and a three, extending MU’s lead to seven. Watson and Pinson had a stretch in which they scored 17 consecutive points for MU. Pinson’s basket sparked a 7-0 run that was capped by a dunk from Watson through a pair of defenders.

But a 13-3 run by the Rebels erased Missouri’s double-digit lead. Breein Tyree tied the score at 46-46 with a long three and the Tigers called timeout.

Missouri scored four points out of the timeout. But Tyree hit another three with 4:50 left, giving Ole Miss the lead, and Shuler extended it with a transition dunk. Missouri got the lead back but Terrence Davis tied the score with a posterizing dunk over Tilmon with 1:50 left. Martin said Davis’ dunk was a turning point in the game because it stemmed from Watson losing a rebound he should’ve had but slipped on the floor.

Watson’s two attempts to tie the score in the final minute rimmed out and Geist couldn’t get a good look from three with 22 seconds left after a timeout by Martin.

Davis said Ole Miss prepared for MU’s final attempt to tie it by assuming Puryear wouldn’t shoot, and tried to be disruptive defensively to keep the Tigers from getting a clean look.

“We just did a good job of staying and making (Geist) take a tough shot,” Davis said.

This story was originally published March 9, 2019 at 4:44 PM.