Mizzou basketball gets revenge, delivers an impressive road victory at Tennessee
The Missouri men’s basketball team absorbed Tennessee’s first punch last time the teams met and never recovered.
This time, the Tigers made their own opening statement in a 73-64 win at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tennessee on Saturday night.
It was the complete opposite for the Tigers right from tipoff.
The Vols were sloppy, and Mizzou took advantage, building a 13-point first-half lead. While Tennessee chipped away, MU still led from wire to wire in winning its third straight game.
The No. 19-ranked Tigers (10-2, 4-2 SEC) earned some revenge against No. 6 Tennessee. The Vols blew out Mizzou 73-53 in the SEC opener in Columbia. But the Tigers put together their own road win against Tennessee.
“If we take care of the basketball,” MU coach Cuonzo Martin said, “we make consistent threes and we defend how we normally defend, I like our chances against anybody.”
It was MU guard Xavier Pinson’s time to shine Saturday. After back-to-back quiet games, Pinson exploded for 27 points. He was the first opposing player to break the 20-point barrier this season against the top-ranked Vols defense.
Mizzou also got some significant contributions from guard Dru Smith, who finished with 18 points.
Arguably the most noteworthy stat was MU’s three-point shooting, coming in at a season-high 42.1% (8 for 19).
And the Tigers were stout defensively against Tennessee leading scorer John Fulkerson. The All-SEC forward had just seven points. It’s the second straight game Mizzou has neutralized the opponent’s best scorer, keeping South Carolina’s AJ Lawson to five points. Vols forward Yves Pons had 20 points.
The Vols, the preseason SEC favorites to win the league, fell to a 4-3 in conference and 10-3 overall. It was their second straight loss, this one following a 75-49 blowout defeat to Florida on Tuesday.
“We earned it against a top-10 team in a tough environment,” Martin said. “Won the basketball game.”
Mizzou is set for another road game, this one at Auburn at 8 p.m. Tuesday. Five of MU’s first seven SEC games are on the road because of its COVID-19 pause shuffling up the schedule.
This story was originally published January 23, 2021 at 9:47 PM.