Missouri Tigers rally late to beat Minnesota in basketball. Here are the takeaways

Sean East II drove to the paint, shot, scored, was fouled and then converted the free throw.

There were 9 seconds left in Thursday night’s road game, and that and-one gave the Missouri Tigers their first lead — a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Mizzou’s men’s basketball team handed host Minnesota its first loss of the young season in Minneapolis, defeating the the Golden Gophers 70-68 in a Big Ten-SEC non-conference matchup.

The Tigers erased a 20-point second-half deficit to collect a big win away from Mizzou Arena and improve to 3-1. Minnesota fell to 2-1.

Here are some takeaways from the Tigers’ remarkable comeback at The Barn:

Your Honor!

Nick Honor took it upon himself.

Ten points, two minutes. Game on.

MU coach Dennis Gates had asked his senior point guard to be more selfish on the court. So when the Tigers were flailing and seemingly out of it Thursday, Honor did the most selfless thing possible.

He saved the day.

The Tigers were down 20 points with 11 minutes to go, but Honor’s run cut the difference to 12. And from there, his Mizzou teammates followed his lead.

Freshman Trent Pierce knocked down a 3-pointer. Curt Lewis and Noah Carter got in on the action. So did Anthony Robinson.

The Tigers put together a 12-2 run to make it a one-possession game late. Kansas City, Kansas native Tamar Bates hit a couple of clutch free throws to tie the game at 67.

And then Mizzou finished the job.

Honor finished with 16 points and four of six made 3-pointers. Carter was the only other MU player in double-figures, with 13 points.

Sure, the Tigers were out-rebounded 44 to 28, but never count ’em out.

Honor was the spark, East the dagger.

Second-half undoing … right?

Caleb Grill took a contested deep shot, drew no foul, fell down, then slammed the court.

An official assessed him a technical foul in lieu of a trip to the free-throw line. Then Grill made contact with the official and was tossed from the game, having scored just two points on 1-of-6 shooting in 17 minutes.

The Golden Gophers started the second half ablaze, using a 7-0 run to take a 14-point lead. Missouri briefly threatened, as Aidan Shaw and Jordan Butler came up with blocks and MU scored seven straight points.

But Minnesota kept making its way to the free-throw line, including four free throws awarded via the Grill debacle.

It was an uncharacteristically undisciplined night for Gates’ team. The Tigers’ bench was issued a technical almost immediately out of the halftime break.

Far too few free throws

Early in the game, Missouri’s offense looked pretty competent.

There were dead periods — take the flat start to the second half, for instance — but nothing unmanageable.

Except for one facet: The Tigers didn’t do what their coach had asked.

Gates has been vocal about wanting his players to get to the free-throw line more often. But the Tigers didn’t shoot a single free throw in the first half.

They shot their first with just five minutes remaining in the game.

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

This story was originally published November 16, 2023 at 10:40 PM.