The Tigers played about as bad as they have at any point this season.

Missouri got outrebounded by double digits, looked stagnant for long stretches on offense and could never pull away from a Jacksonville State team that seemed poised to end the Tigers’ nine-game winning streak.

Then Jacob Crews got hot.

Crews poured in 19 points, hitting 6-of-9 attempts from beyond the arc to lead the Tigers to an 83-72 win at Mizzou Arena on Tuesday, extending the Tiger winning streak to 10 games.

“We knew they were going to drop off any screens or anything, so we ran a bunch of doubles and everything, knowing that they were either gonna mess up a switch or drop or try to go under,” Crews said. “And, you know, we had plenty of shooters and threats that understood the game plan and we executed.”

The 10-game streak comes on the heels of a 20-game losing streak and just as the Tigers prepare to head to St. Louis for a Braggin’ Rights matchup with Illinois. Missouri's 10 wins are already two more than the Tigers totaled in the 2023-24 season.

But before Mizzou could get to the Illini, it had to get through Jacksonville State.

The Tigers opened the game 0-of-4 shooting as the Gamecocks broke out to a 7-0 lead, but on a night of streaks, Tony Perkins got Missouri back into the game, hitting two 3-pointers and a layup on three consecutive shots, bringing Mizzou within 9-8 with 15:34 left in the first half.

“It was a team win,” Missouri coach Dennis Gates said. “I’m proud of our guys.”

But then the offense went dead cold again, as Mizzou missed its next eight attempts from the field to fall behind at 19-12 with 10:21 left.

Josh Gray collected an offensive rebound and hit a putback to end the cold spell as the Tigers started the game 3-of-15 from the field.

Then the Black and Gold caught fire.

Trent Pierce hit a 3, helping jumpstart a 12-point performance following his team-high 24 against LIU on Saturday, then Marques Warrick drove for a tough layup to cut the deficit to 21-19.

Perkins forced one of the Tigers’ nine steals and tipped it to Warrick, who drove in transition before kicking a pass out to Pierce for a 3 from the left wing, giving the Tigers their first lead of the night at 24-23 with 7:15 left before halftime.

The teams traded the lead three times the rest of the way, with Mizzou leading by as much as four at 41-37 after an Anthony Robinson 3 - three of his 11 points - but Missouri took just a 41-40 lead into halftime.

“Our team navigated not trying to hit home run plays defensively or offensively, but just playing within themselves,” Gates said. “And knowing that patience was going to eventually allow us to break loose like we did in the second half.”

The Tigers were never able to extend the lead past five points early in the second half as Jacksonville State stuck around and even took the lead eight times in the first 14 minutes after the break. The Gamecocks led by as much as four after a Jamar Franklin free throw with 9:21 left to play.

Then the Tigers turned on Crews control.

After a Mark Mitchell layup made it 67-65 Missouri with 6:05 left - two of Mitchell’s 18 points - a Crews 3 off a Tamar Bates assist put the Tigers up 70-68. Mitchell then used a Robinson steal-turned-assist for a fastbreak layup to extend the lead to four before Crews connected on his fifth 3 to create a seven-point advantage with 4:23 left.

“I’m excited with what he did tonight,” Gates said. “And definitely, that’s the Jacob Crews that I think will continue to show up and help us.”

Crews added his sixth and final 3 with 2:39 to play to extend the lead to double digits for the first time at 80-68, capping off a day when he became the Tigers’ eighth leading scorer in 11 games.

The Tigers have been led in a game this season by Robinson, Perkins, Warrick, Caleb Grill, Bates, Mitchell, Pierce and now Crews.

Missouri was bested in the rebounding battle 39-28, including Jacksonville State pulling down 16 offensive rebounds that led to 19 second-chance points.

“Point blank, just offensive rebounds, I don’t know how many points they had off offensive rebounds, but … it’s something we need to fix, something to get better at,” Mitchell said of what let the Gamecocks hang around. “... We were getting stops, you know, getting them late in the clock, you know, just second-chance points was something that really hurt us in the first half. We did better in the second half, but it was still there.”

But the Tigers forced 12 turnovers and committed only three, while blocking five shots, with three from Mitchell.

Crews added two rebounds to his scoring lead, while Mitchell had 18 points, six boards, six assists, three blocks and two steals.

Pierce had 12 points and four rebounds and Robinson had 11 points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals.

Missouri shot 28-of-56 (50 percent) from the field - after starting 3-of-15, so 25-of-41 (61 percent) after about the first 10 minutes - while hitting 12-of-25 (48 percent) from 3 and 15-of-22 (68.2 percent) at the free-throw line.

The Tigers (10-1) will hit the road to St. Louis to face Illinois at noon on Sunday.

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