Mizzou Tigers men’s basketball hammers South Carolina, breaks three-game losing streak
All seemed right for Missouri in Saturday’s 93-78 men’s basketball victory at South Carolina.
Big man Jeremiah Tilmon was back after missing two games. The Tigers didn’t blow a halftime lead. And they broke a three-game losing streak.
No. 20 Mizzou improved to 14-6 overall and 7-6 in the SEC, collecting its first triumph since one of its biggest victories of the season, against Alabama.
Since then, the Tigers slumped, especially in the second half. In two of the three losses they blew leads and were outscored by an average of 11 points in the second half of those games.
Perhaps that’s why Missouri coach Cuonzo Martin, who picked up his 250th career win, called a timeout less than three minutes into the second half when the Gamecocks shaved three points off a 16-point halftime deficit.
The Missouri lead was down to 59-52 with 10:32 remaining. But the Tigers quickly grew the lead. It went to 17 on Mark Smith’s three-pointer with 7:53 to play.
The most surprising aspect of Tilmon’s return came at the free throw line. He entered the game at 49 percent for the year but made all seven of his attempts on his way to a 17-point, four-rebound game.
“It’s definitely a good feeling having Jeremiah back,” guard Mark Smith said. “We let him take his time away because he needed that. Just to him back you could feel it on the court. Looked like he didn’t miss a beat.”
The first half was all Mizzou. The Tigers led at the break 45-29, and that included a long three pointer at the buzzer by South Carolina’s A.J. Lawson.
Lawson needed that one. His previous two three-point attempts didn’t draw iron with one falling short, the other too long. But it was his shooting that allowed the Gamecocks to briefly crawl back into the game in the second half.
Kobe Brown had his second straight big game for the Tigers. He followed a 21-point effort at Georgia with 12 points, all in the first half.
The Tigers’ offense was in gear throughout the game. They shot 57.6 percent from the floor and 45 percent from beyond the arc. Missouri committed only nine turnovers in running up its second highest point total of the season.
This story was originally published February 20, 2021 at 3:14 PM.