How the Missouri Tigers shook off 11 first-half turnovers, beat Gamecocks on road
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- Missouri overcame 14 turnovers to beat South Carolina 78-59, led by Mitchell.
- Mark Mitchell paced Mizzou with a 20-point, 11-rebound double-double performance.
- Gamecock offense faltered with 11% 3-point shooting, sealing the Tigers’ control.
Opening-half turnovers made the Missouri Tigers’ SEC road showdown against South Carolina a little too close for comfort, at least for a while, on Saturday afternoon at Colonial Life Arena.
The second-worst team in the Southeastern Conference men’s basketball standings, the Gamecocks (11-13, 2-9 SEC) showed fight against Mizzou and hung around in the game in Columbia, South Carolina.
But Jayden Stone and Mark Mitchell shouldered the load for Missouri, ensuring the Tigers (16-7, 6-4 SEC) would not lose their fourth straight road game. Stone led all scorers, and Mitchell collected a double-double in the Tigers’ 78-59 victory over South Carolina.
Mitchell, the 6-foot-9 senior from Kansas City, Kansas, finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds and five assists, while Stone, the senior from Perth, Australia, put up 22 points.
Meechie Johnson led South Carolina with 13 points.
“We just tried to focus on controlling what we can control,” Stone, a guard, said during a post-game interview on the SEC Network. “The real impetus behind this game was playing as well as we can on the road, because we know we’ve been in a slump at away games.”
The Tigers’ lead swelled to as large as 21 points in the second half, but about those turnovers: Mizzou coughed up 11 by halftime. The Tigers’ lead certainly would have been larger at that point — when MU led 34-30 — if not for those gaffes.
Interestingly, Missouri’s giveaway binge wasn’t the fault of any one player. Rather, most everyone on coach Dennis Gates’ active roster for the game had a hand in the sloppiness. (No one committed more than two, however.)
Suffice to say, Gates likely had choice words about it all at halftime, as the flow of turnovers dried up during the final 20 minutes of the game: Mizzou committed just three turnovers in the second half, finishing with 14 as a team.
Mitchell had 10 points and eight rebounds by halftime. T.O. Barrett finished the game as the third Tigers player in double figures, with 14 points to go with seven rebounds.
The Gamecocks tried to get back in the game, but their 3-point shooting wouldn’t cut it. South Carolina was a nightmarish 14% from beyond the arc.
The Tigers, more skilled, more physical, were able to keep their hosts at bay down the stretch.
Mizzou remains on the road for its next game, on Wednesday, Feb. 11 at 8 p.m. against Texas A&M in College Station, Texas. That game will be televised on the SEC Network.
This story was originally published February 7, 2026 at 2:08 PM.