The Missouri Tigers needed a get-right game after dropping Saturday’s loss at Arkansas.
And get right they did as they ran away with the largest conference win of the season, beating South Carolina 101-71 at Mizzou Arena on Tuesday.
“We had an unbelievable practice yesterday, very intense, short and sweet,” Missouri coach Dennis Gates said. “I thought our level of focus carried over from practice to shoot-around into the game.”
That focus led the Tigers’ offense to a night where it shot 40-of-63 (63.5 percent) from the field, 11-of-19 (57.9 percent) from 3 and 10-of-12 (83.3 percent) from the free-throw line, while dishing out 21 assists compared to just seven turnovers.
“I just think our guys were able to feed defensively, their offense,” Gates said. “That’s what it came from, whether it was rebounding, getting in the passing lanes and just making the right read. We didn’t want the ball to stick and we just wanted the opportunity to write positive assist to turnover ratio and that’s what we did.”
Six Tigers scored in double figures, led by Caleb Grill with 22 points, five rebounds, four steals and two assists to follow up a 2-of-12 shooting night Saturday.
Grill opened the game 4-of-4 to reach 10 points in just his first 4 minutes of action.
“When we play our best is when we score like this,” Grill said. “I think it just makes it difficult for teams to match up with us. I mean, you can see Mark (Mitchell) scoring in the paint, you know, Tony (Perkins) was scoring in the paint tonight, Anthony (Robinson) scored at all three levels. … The ability that we have to stretch you out and shoot 3s or score in the paint, get to the free-throw line, I think it just is a really tough matchup.”
The Tigers were on it offensively from the opening tip, hitting their first three shots as a Mitchell dunk put the Tigers up 6-4, then two consecutive Grill 3s right after subbing in put the Tigers up 17-9 with 13:57 left.
The Tigers extended to a double-digit lead for the first time when Grill stole a pass and operated a give-and-go with Perkins for a transition layup.
The Tigers ended with 11 steals and 20 points off turnovers, getting back to what has made them such a threat offensively in recent weeks.
“When we get out and run, I think it just makes it tougher for them,” Grill said. “Because they’ve got to start playing defense when the shot goes up and teams don’t realize that when the shot goes up, that’s when your defensive possession starts, because once we get it, we’re going.”
Missouri then put together an 8-0 run with two Jacob Crews 3-pointers and a Robinson steal-turned-assist to Grill for a transition alley-oop to make it 29-13 with 10:14 left.
“Me and Caleb are always trying to connect because he’s running hard and, you know, that’s just who we are,” Robinson said. “Get up and down and, you know, play fast and have fun.”
The Tigers never got to a 20-point lead in the first half, but did get to 17 at multiple points, including with 8 seconds left when Mitchell hit a layup, before Missouri took a 52-37 lead into halftime.
It didn’t take long for the Tigers to get to 20 after the break though, as Robinson poked away a steal to Mitchell and Mitchell passed it ahead to Tamar Bates for a vicious transition dunk to put the Tigers up 60-39 with 17:41 left to play.
The lead hung around 20 points until a 6-0 Tiger run that ended with Robinson grabbing an offensive rebound and hitting a second-chance step-back midrange jumper to create a 76-51 lead with 10:18 left.
“You saw Ant Robinson playing as free as you’ve seen him,” Gates said. “He tries to be too perfect and an indicator of that is him shooting mid-range jump shots, step-back 3s and then doing a little dance afterwards. … That’s how you know he’s having fun.”
The lead grew to 30 for the first time after a 9-0 Tiger run punctuated by a Robinson step-back 3 from the left wing made it 85-53 with 8:30 left.
“That was cold,” Gates said.
The lead would hit 32 points multiple times down the stretch, but would not get any larger, as the Tigers subbed in senior Jeremy Sanchez for the final two minutes to get some time for the walk-on captain who had not played since the Tigers’ matchup with Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Nov. 24.
As Missouri’s offense was shooting above 60 percent from the field and 50 percent from 3, the Tiger defense held South Carolina to 24-of-55 (43.6 percent) overall and just 2-of-23 (8.7 percent) from beyond the arc.
Collin Murray-Boyles led the Gamecocks with 27 points on 10-of-11 shooting, the rest of South Carolina’s roster shot 14-of-44 from the field.
Missouri scored 20 points off turnovers compared to South Carolina’s eight, led the Gamecocks in bench points 41-14 and had a 23-8 advantage in fast-break points.
Along with Grill, Robinson scored 14 points, eight assissts, three rebounds and two steals. Perkins had 13 points, three assists, two rebounds and two blocks, Mitchell added 13 points and three rebounds, Bates ended with 11 points and Crews had 10 points and three rebounds.
Missouri (21-7, 10-5 SEC) will hit the road for its next two matchups, starting with a game at Vanderbilt at 5 p.m. Saturday.
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