Missouri beats Georgia in SEC Tournament for first postseason win under Cuonzo Martin
Missouri’s first postseason win under coach Cuonzo Martin looked a lot like its other victories this season: ugly.
The No. 12 seed Tigers (15-16) defeated 13th-seeded Georgia 71-61 in the first round of the SEC Tournament on Wednesday. MU will play fifth-seeded Auburn on Thursday in the second round. Tipoff is slated for around 2:30 p.m.
Senior Jordan Geist led all scorers with a career-high 30 points while freshman Xavier Pinson added 15. Jordan Harris led Georgia with 26.
Missouri faced a more aggressive Georgia team than it did a week ago in Athens. After holding star player Nic Claxton to nine points in MU’s blowout win, Claxton had just as many in the first half alone. He also blocked five shots in the first half.
Foul trouble on multiple players caused Martin to drastically shift his rotations after Jeremiah Tilmon, Pinson and Geist all picked up two or more fouls in the first half. Known for its three-point shooting, MU didn’t take a shot from deep for the first nine minutes and only shot 27 percent from three. Georgia shot 21 percent from three.
Despite holding Georgia (11-21) without a basket for over six minutes, the Bulldogs kept pace at the free-throw line. After extending its lead to seven points with 10 minutes left in the first half, a 9-1 run by Georgia allowed the Bulldogs to retake the lead. Geist would keep Georgia from running away with the game. The 6-foot-2 senior had 14 points in the first half, leading all scorers, but MU still trailed 34-32.
Mizzou senior Kevin Puryear said he could tell at halftime that Geist was going to have a career night.
“Coach kept calling the same sequence of plays because they weren’t really stopping Jordan off the dribble,” he said.
Georgia coach Tom Crean said he changed his game plan against Geist at halftime to try and force him left, because he prefers to drive to the basket with his right hand. Geist still found his way to the rim.
“He was tough to deal with,” Crean said. “They have so many shooters, so it’s not like you’re coming off and putting yourself in an over-help situation because he can pass the ball well. We didn’t make him uncomfortable enough. He made some tough shots.”
Puryear tied the score coming out of halftime, but MU couldn’t pull away immediately with Javon Pickett and Torrence Watson both struggling on offense. Tilmon picked up his third foul 45 seconds into the second half, but Martin elected to keep him in the game until the next media timeout. Tilmon picked up his fourth with 12:17 left and promptly headed to the bench.
Tilmon, Watson and Pickett combined for two points on 1-for-17 shooting.
Martin attributed Pickett’s struggles to rust. He returned to the lineup from a back injury that caused him to miss Saturday’s game against Mississippi.
With MU struggling to shoot, Crean put his team into a zone defense. Mitchell Smith quickly hit a pair of jump shots in the middle and MU led by seven. Geist added a three as MU continued to battle foul trouble from Pinson and Reed Nikko. Georgia switched back to man-to-man shortly after Geist’s three.
Geist’s free throw with 3:31 left extended Missouri’s lead to 10, its largest of the game. Missouri was able to shut down Claxton in the second half, holding him to just two points as he battled his own foul trouble. He finished with 11 points.
Pinson made several tough shots despite playing with three or four fouls for most of the second half.
“(Pinson) has composure to him,” Martin said. “Sometimes it looks like he’s sleepwalking, but he’s locked in.”
In its last meeting against Auburn on Jan. 30, Bruce Pearl’s squad blew out MU 92-58 after Mizzou trailed by just three at halftime.
Missouri had only 11 turnovers against Georgia. It committed 20 against Auburn, which is ranked No. 1 in defensive turnover percentage, according to KenPom.
The Missouri-Auburn winner will face South Carolina, the No. 4 seed, in the quarterfinals on Friday.
This story was originally published March 13, 2019 at 8:26 PM.