Mizzou basketball, buried by awful start, is blown out at Mississippi State
The Missouri Tigers looked frazzled from the start, turning in their worst performance of the season before halftime. It was more than enough for the Mississippi State Bulldogs to run Mizzou off the floor 72-45 on Tuesday at Humphrey Coliseum.
The Tigers (9-7, 1-3 SEC) showed little life on offense. The Bulldogs (10-6, 1-3) opened a 10-point lead before the Tigers could respond.
Mizzou turned the ball over 19 times. There was little rhythm as the Tigers shot 34.7% from the field. They looked uncomfortable all night, their efforts to push the ball stymied by Bulldogs defenders.
“We gave them too much comfort offensively to allow them to flow into their offense,” Mizzou coach Cuonzo Martin said. “Didn’t have the physical presence. The two bigs did a good job of getting baskets around the rim.”
It was a brutal effort by Mizzou after the sparkling offensive performance against Florida. The three-pointers stopped falling for the Tigers as they only made 25% (5 for 25).
There were a few bright spots for Mizzou in Kobe Brown and Javon Pickett. They attacked the basket often, converting in limited opportunities. Brown scored 14 points while Pickett had nine.
What’s been a reliable Mizzou defense was shredded. The Bulldogs made six of their first seven shots and shot 54.5% from the field for the game.
Mizzou had its worst first half of the season as the Bulldogs opened a 40-20 halftime lead.
The Tigers played better in the second half, but they weren’t able to string together a run to close the massive gap. When the Bulldogs went nearly three minutes without a basket, the Tigers were also scoreless.
The Bulldogs were led by Reggie Perry with 23 points and 10 rebounds on 9 of 13 shooting. Tyson Carter added 15 points and seven assists for Mississippi State.
Mizzou travels to play Alabama at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Tuscaloosa.
“Us on offense, combination of turning the ball over but also not being aggressive, ready to shoot the ball, attack the rim,” Martin said. “We had some open threes. I didn’t think they fell, especially in the second half.”
This story was originally published January 14, 2020 at 10:08 PM.