Mizzou Tigers basketball outlasts 21st-ranked Oregon for marquee early-season win
The Missouri Tigers opened up a large lead, and while it wasn’t always smooth, they defeated the No. 21-ranked Oregon Ducks 83-75 on Wednesday at the CHI Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska.
It was a game of runs as the Mizzou lead swelled and shrunk. There were red-hot stretches of made shots for the Tigers but streaks of ice-cold shooting when they couldn’t convert even a wide-open layup.
MU was again led by a balanced scoring effort, with five players in double figures. It was the Xavier Pinson and Javon Pickett show late as the pair combined for 30 of Mizzou’s 41 points in the second half. Mark Smith had 15 points, Pickett had 13, Dru Smith and Jeremiah Tilmon had 11 points each.
“I thought it was a great team effort,” Mizzou coach Cuonzo Martin said after the win. “I thought the guys were hungry. They were excited to play the game. We got great results against a very talented team.”
Pinson, especially, started the run that propelled the Tigers forward. He drew a charge, made a key three-pointer then hit Mitchell Smith for a nice assist all within a few possessions. Pinson scored 19 of his 22 points in the second half, all when the Tigers were looking for someone who could make plays.
After a slow shooting start, Mizzou turned it on with separate runs of 14-2 and 13-0. Part of that was courtesy of a few early three-pointers from Mark Smith as the Ducks showed zone defense.
“We talk about it all the time: Get consumed with winning,” Martin said. “Having a passion for your teammates. Then whatever happens happens.”
The Tigers opened up a dominant 17-point lead in the first half, but then they missed 15 straight shots. Oregon methodically trimmed the MU lead to five points as the Tigers went scoreless for a stretch of 7 minutes, 11 seconds.
But they pulled it together, rebuilding a lead. While the Ducks cut it back down to five points late, the Tigers hung on by making their free throws.
Oregon forward Eugene Omoruyi had 31 points and 11 rebounds in the losing effort.
Mizzou and Oregon met up in Nebraska after their other tournament fell through. The teams were supposed to meet at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, but the game was moved to Nebraska after Oregon coach Dana Altman used his past Creighton connections.
The Tigers travel again, this time to Wichita State for a 1 p.m. Sunday game. The Shockers are dealing with COVID-19 issues as they’re down to eight available players, though they defeated Oral Roberts 85-80 on Wednesday.
This story was originally published December 2, 2020 at 10:08 PM.