Missouri Tiger coach Dennis Gates has talked many times about wanting his players to shoot more 3-pointers.

And not just his main shooters, but everyone at every position.

The strategy worked Friday night as eight Tigers hit at least one shot from beyond the arc to power a 91-56 win against the Pacific Tigers at Mizzou Arena, giving the Black and Gold their fourth consecutive win.

Caleb Grill led the way once again, hitting 7-of-9 shots from deep on his way to a game-high 25 points. The performance makes Grill 17-of-23 on 3-pointers in the past three games.

“I feel like I’m hitting that groove, feeling real good with my body,” Grill said. “Just want to carry it throughout the whole season. … Every time I shoot, I think it’s going in and when I miss it, honestly, it’s more surprising to me.”

But it wasn’t just Grill. Marques Warrick, Tamar Bates and Trent Pierce hit 3s as usual Missouri shooters, while Anthony Robinson, Mark Mitchell and Marcus Allen all made attempts from deep.

And Josh Gray, who had attempted only two tries from deep in his career, sank one from the top of the key as well.

“I always told my team and coach I was a good shooter at heart,” Gray said. “They were sagging off a couple of times, I think I felt like I owed it to myself, to my team, when I got the ball a couple times on the perimeter, just to look at the rim.”

It was Gray’s first attempted 3-pointer since Feb. 4, 2023 when he was playing against Arkansas for South Carolina.

The shooting frenzy didn’t start early for the home Tigers as Missouri struggled out of the gate, falling behind 7-2.

But then Gates went to the bench less than three minutes into the game to grab a couple of shooters and break the Pacific defense.

With Grill and Warrick coming on, the Missouri offense got rolling.

Grill made a layup then Warrick hit two free throws and a 3 off a Bates assist to put the home Tigers in front for the first time at 11-9 with 13:56 left in the first half.

They would never fall behind again.

Missouri used an 8-0 run on a Gray putback, a Pierce layup off a Gray steal, a Bates layup off a Grill steal-turned assist and a Gray fastbreak layup off a Bates steal and Warrick assist to go up 19-11 with 10:16 left.

A left-wing Grill 3 off a Gray handoff made it 24-15 Missouri.

“The first time he left me open, I just decided to do the hand off with Grill, got him a 3,” Gray said. “And then the very next possession, or possession after that, they left me open again at the top of the key.”

That’s where Gray hit his first-career make from beyond the arc to put the Tigers up 12, giving Missouri a 10-point lead in its fifth consecutive game to start the season.

“I was also a little winded at that point as well,” Gray said with a laugh.

Another Grill 3 made it 38-24 with 3:37 left, then a Bates 3 following a Robinson defensive board and fastbreak put the home Tigers up 51-31 with 56 seconds left before the break.

Missouri took a 54-31 lead into halftime.

Grill hit the last shot of the first half, then hit the first shot of the second to extend the home lead to 26, then a Pierce free throw put it at 63-33 with 15:45 left to play.

The lead hovered around 30 until another Missouri run as Marcus Allen grabbed a defensive rebound and turned it into a layup before using a turnover to create an and-1 layup to put Missouri up 80-44 with 5:23 to play.

Peyton Marshall connected on his first career basket as he threw down a rim-shaking two-handed dunk with 2:37 left to put Missouri up 85-47.

Then T.O. Barrett, making his first in-game appearance, recorded one assist, one steal, nearly a block - but the shot ended up falling anyway - and made his first basket on a layup with 1:34 left to put Missouri up 87-52.

“With T.O. Barrett, this is the first game he’s been healthy at the end of the day, those little bumps and bruises get the best of you sometimes and I just didn’t want to put him in certain situations,” Gates said. “Ultimately, he’s one of our better defenders along with Ant Robinson and Marcus Allen. … He is continuing to get better. He’s continuing to learn our system and he’s going to be important to us as we continue throughout the season.”

Annor Boateng topped off the freshman onslaught at the end with a one-handed dunk to put Missouri up 91-54 in the final seconds.

Bates joined Grill in double figures with 11 points, while Pierce added 10 and five rebounds. Robinson, Warrick and Allen were all within a basket of double figures, while Gray led the team with seven rebounds to go with seven points, an assist and a steal.

Missouri shot 30-of-61 (49.2 percent) from the field, 14-of-30 (46.7 percent) from 3 and 17-of-23 (73.9 percent) at the free-throw line.

Missouri outrebounded Pacific 38-32, outscored the visiting Tigers 24-5 off turnovers and 57-19 off the bench.

Missouri’s bench is outscoring its starters through the first five games, largely helped by Grill’s performances against Eastern Washington and Friday.

Missouri (4-1) will be back in action hosting Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 4 p.m. Sunday.

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