Missouri Tigers put up 90+ points again, improve to 2-0 with home victory over Penn

The Missouri Tigers looked a bit listless in the first half before rallying to tie visiting Penn at 43-all by halftime of Friday evening’s men’s basketball game at Mizzou Arena in Columbia.

The second half was a grind, too, but the Tigers slowly built a lead on the visiting Quakers that swelled to nine points with a few minutes remaining. Missouri ultimately prevailed 92-85.

Preseason All-SEC selection Kobe Brown played on a sprained ankle, finishing with eight points for Missouri (2-0). Tigers coach Dennis Gates said the injury is healing well but noted it affected Missouri’s substitution patterns, especially early.

With Mizzou needing someone else to step up, junior forward Noah Carter answered the call with a game-high 28 points.

“I thought we had multiple guys step up,” Gates said in the postgame ESPN+ interview. “It was good to see.”

Indeed, a trio of senior guards — D’Moi Hodge with 17 points, Nick Honor with 16 and Tre Gomillion with 11 — helped fill out the stat sheet and put MU in the win column for the second time in as many Gates-coached games.

And this much is certain through two nonconference contests at Mizzou Arena: This first roster of the Gates era in CoMo — an assemblage of talent featuring a dozen players who are new to the program — can score any number of ways.

The Tigers beat Southern Indiana, 97-91, in Monday night’s opener, making it two straight games they’ve eclipsed 90 points.

After Friday’s win, Carter praised his teammates for their all-around effort, especially with Brown playing at less than 100%.

“We’re going to get better each and every time we play,” he said. “Man, I really love the cohesiveness of this team.”

At one point during the opening half, Penn had outrebounded MU 22-10. The disparity evened out somewhat as the Tigers contested possessions off the glass and got after loose balls in the second half, but by game’s end, Penn had still grabbed 37 rebounds to Missouri’s 29.

MU did force 19 turnovers, turning them into 29 points.

Clark Slajchert led the Quakers (0-2) with 21 points. Jordan Dingle added 18 and Jonah Charles 12, all on three-pointers. He was 4 of 10 from beyond the arc.

Friday night’s game kicked off a run of three home games in five days for Missouri. Next up is Div. I Lindenwood of the Ohio Valley Conference on Sunday at 5 p.m. That game will be followed by another against SIU-Edwardsville on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

But late Friday night, still unbeaten through two games, the Tigers could celebrate a bit.

“It was a great feeling, and man, I’m just ready to get back out here Sunday,” Carter said.

This story was originally published November 11, 2022 at 9:27 PM.