MU notes: Big men come through again for Tigers in win over Arkansas State

Missouri owned a 44-26 edge on points in the paint, which helped fuel Tuesday’s 88-78 win against Arkansas State at Mizzou Arena.

Some of that came courtesy of drives by the Tigers’ guards, but the bulk of it came from a strong performance from senior Ryan Rosburg, junior Russell Woods and freshman Kevin Puryear.

The trio combined to shoot 13 of 22 from the field, totaling 28 points with 13 rebounds.

“We’re a team that’s got to have guys to step up every game,” Anderson said. “… That’s got to be the key to this team — unselfishness, sharing the basketball and valuing every possession.”

It wasn’t an unblemished game. Rosburg only had two boards in 29 minutes, Woods was 0 for 4 from the free-throw line and Puryear committed three turnovers.

But it’s still a step in the right direction.

“We need those guys,” Clark said. “We’re not the biggest team, so for those guys to step up … we needed that.”

Key numbers

7: Assists with no turnovers by freshman point guard Terrence Phillips in 23 minutes. He got in foul trouble again, but was rock solid otherwise with eight points and a steal.

38-13: Edge in bench scoring for Missouri, which got 11 from sophomore point guard Tramaine Isabell and 10 from freshman K.J. Walton, who also grabbed five boards and went 6 of 7 at the free-throw line.

52.9: Missouri’s blistering first-half field-goal percentage, going 18 of 34 overall and 4 of 7 from three-point range in building a 48-29 halftime lead.

This story was originally published December 2, 2015 at 12:02 AM with the headline "MU notes: Big men come through again for Tigers in win over Arkansas State."