Mizzou basketball blown out by Ole Miss as Tigers’ defense falters on the road
The Missouri men’s basketball team started hot, but a porous defense led to an 80-59 loss to Ole Miss on Wednesday at the Pavilion in Oxford, Mississippi.
The Rebels were dominant from the field, shooting 56.9%, including 21 of 30 on two-pointers. They were one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the country, but Ole Miss also made 38.1% of its threes Wednesday.
It was a long night for the Mizzou defense, which had struggled in recent games. The No. 10-ranked Tigers (13-4, 6-4 SEC) saw their three-game winning streak snapped. The Rebels (11-8, 6-6) won their third straight, moving further into NCAA Tournament consideration.
While the Rebels hit plenty of tough shots, the Tigers still had plenty of miscues. They shot just 5 for 15 from the free throw line, leaving points on the board. They were also outrebounded 34-19 by the Rebels — a key stat MU coach Cuonzo Martin prides his program on. It was a disappointing night full of miscues for Missouri, the highest ranked SEC team in the AP Top 25.
“That has to be the leadership on the floor — and I say leadership for the five guys on the floor have to take pride in what they’re doing,” Martin said. “You have to do so much as stop the bleeding. And it didn’t happen. You can’t get consumed with the other stuff.”
Mizzou came out of the game shooting plenty of threes, converting to take an early lead. Ole Miss made a small run late to take a five-point halftime lead.
It was all Rebels from there. They scored the first nine points of the second half, sprinting to a 14-point lead. That advantage ballooned to as much as 24 as Mizzou had few answers defensively for Ole Miss.
MU guard Dru Smith scored 17 points, his ninth straight game of at least 10 points. He’s scored in double figures in 14 of Mizzou’s 17 games this season. Mizzou guard Javon Pickett added 10. Otherwise, it was a quiet night for the rest of the team.
“We have to do a better job defending, moving the ball, executing, cutting,” Martin said. “We didn’t get a lot of drives at the rim outside of maybe Dru Smith. That’s one of the biggest things we take pride in: offensive rebounds, post ups, drives at the rim — and we didn’t get that.”
Ole Miss guard Jarkel Joiner had 21 points. Rebel guards Luis Rodriguez and Devontae Shuler had 15 points each.
The Tigers return home to play Arkansas at 3 p.m. Saturday in Mizzou Arena. It’ll also be the Rally For Rhyan game, the annual tradition to raise funds for pediatric cancer research. MU is 5-0 all time in the Rally For Rhyan games.
This story was originally published February 10, 2021 at 10:03 PM.