Repeat heroics: DeAndre Gholston drills buzzer beater as Mizzou stuns No. 6 Tennessee

It happened again.

DeAndre Gholston, who hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer on Dec. 17 to help Missouri beat Central Florida, made another prayer to help Missouri earn an 86-85 win on the road at No. 6 Tennessee.

“We knew that if we were down three or two, we had to go for the three-point shot,” Missouri head coach Dennis Gates said. “That’s what we did and Dree Gholston nailed it.”

It wasn’t looking good for Missouri late. Everything fell apart after halftime.

At one point, Missouri men’s basketball had held a 17-point lead, but in the final 15 minutes on Saturday, that didn’t matter.

No. 6 Tennessee shook off the funk it had been in during the first half of Saturday’s game — and its previous matchup, a loss to Vanderbilt — and did what it was capable of, taking a late lead.

The Volunteers looked to have the win all but locked up, with Santiago Vescovi, who had made four free throws already, shooting two with a two-point lead and four seconds remaining. But he missed the first and the door was open.

Then, after a Tennessee lane violation, Gholston got his chance. The Tiger king of ill-advised three-pointers that somehow go in did his job, and Missouri moved to 19-6 on the season, 7-5 in SEC play.

Kobe Brown led the Tigers with 21 points and five rebounds. Gholston had 18 points, Sean East II had 17 and D’Moi Hodge had 14, despite fouling out.

Hot half

Entering Saturday’s game, the Tigers certainly weren’t the favorites. Tennessee was ranked No. 6 in the nation, and Missouri had struggled mightily on the road.

In the first few minutes, the Volunteers showed why, jumping out to a quick lead. But after that, the Tigers controlled the first half, attacking the Tennessee defense at every opportunity.

UT didn’t do itself any favors, missing several easy shots from close range, including two layups.

Missouri was also on the positive end of several controversial calls, drawing the ire of Thompson-Boling Arena’s orange-clad fans. Still, it was the Tigers who took advantage of their opportunities and made the critical shots to take a 44-32 lead into the halftime break.

The Tigers’ top performer in the half was Sean East, who came off the bench to lead the team in scoring with 12 points. At one point, East went on an 8-0 run by himself.

East’s buckets came from all over. He made both of his three-point attempts during the half and contributed three other field goals to lead Missouri.

Hodge and Brown each had nine points during the first half. All of Hodge’s scoring came on three-point attempts, as MU shot 8-for-16 from long range in the period.

“I thought it was outstanding,” Gates said of the early effort from Hodge and East. “Those guys were able to click on cylinders. They were defending. They were able to make shots. They were able to get their teammates involved.”

Missing Mosley

Missouri’s Isiaih Mosley didn’t play for the second game in a row; he was unavailable for the Tennessee game. Mosley’s absence was for undisclosed personal issue that an MU athletics spokesperson said was not disciplinary.

Regardless of why he missed the game, Missouri clearly missed his presence in the second half. After the Tigers rained down points on the Tennessee defense in the first, MU went completely cold after the halftime break.

Mosley’s ability to get a bucket whenever called upon would have been a major plus for the Tigers, as they struggled to adjust. By the under-12 media timeout, the lead had dwindled to six points, and Missouri was on the wrong end of an 8-0 run, having not scored in 2:46.

The Tigers have other players who can score when needed, most notably Kobe Brown, one of the top players in the SEC who had to carry Missouri in most games last season. But Brown had four fouls for most of the half.

Gholston also showed some scoring ability in the second half, connecting on two buckets in a row. But Mosley can be the best pure scorer on the team when he is on the court. His presence and ability to create his own shot from everywhere was sorely missed.

In the end, it didn’t matter — at least on Saturday. The Tigers got through it and will be back in action on Tuesday at Auburn.

The Star has partnered with the Columbia Daily Tribune for coverage of Missouri Tigers athletics.

This story was originally published February 11, 2023 at 8:03 PM with the headline "Repeat heroics: DeAndre Gholston drills buzzer beater as Mizzou stuns No. 6 Tennessee."