The first half was a fantastic, back-and-forth game with 12 lead changes and 10 ties.
The second half was all Missouri Tigers.
The Tigers outscored Georgia by 16 after halftime, playing fantastic defense, shooting a high percentage and dominating on the glass to beat the Bulldogs 87-74 on Saturday, reaching 8-4 in SEC play for the first time as a program.
“Our guys came out in the second half and did a tremendous job,” Missouri coach Dennis Gates said. “... It was a great road win against a great team. Georgia is a really good team. I just thought our guys ended up clicking in that second half.”
Georgia took a 41-38 lead into halftime, then the teams went back and forth tying at 41 and 43 before trading the lead three times.
But Missouri took the lead for good when Anthony Robinson pulled up for a jumper to create a 48-47 advantage with 17:39 left.
Then the Tiger run began.
Tamar Bates turned a defensive rebound into a Robinson layup in transition, then Mark Mitchell hit a free throw and Bates drove through an opening between shifting defenders for a driving dunk to make it 53-47.
Somto Cyril broke the Tiger run, then cut the lead to 55-52 after a Silas Demary 3, but the Tigers got back to it with three Caleb Grill free throws, a driving dunk from Mitchell, a Robinson steal that turned into a Mitchell assist to Grill for a transition layup and a Robinson steal that turned into his own dunk to put the Tigers up 64-54.
“Our defense stepped up, we were able to create points off turnovers,” Gates said. “Ant Robinson had a big half. It was really good to see him step up.”
Mitchell then used a Robinson assist for an alley-oop before Robinson turned another steal into a transition dunk and hit a 3. Jacob Crews added a fading jumper from the free-throw line to create a 19-point Missouri lead at 73-54. What was a 47-46 Georgia lead with 17:53 left became a 19-point Tiger advantage just 8:27 later.
The Tigers never got to a 20-point lead, but held the Bulldogs to at least a 13-point deficit the rest of the way.
Robinson led the Tigers with 15 points, seven assists, five rebounds and four steals, continuing his bounce back from a rough stretch. In the second half alone, he had 13 points, three rebounds, three steals and two assists.
“We listened to coach’s game plan at halftime,” Robinson said. “We went out there and executed. That was a big part of the second half with the defense. … The clipboard to on the court was big for us.”
Mitchell added 14 points and five rebounds to follow up his career night against Oklahoma, while Grill added 15 points, five boards and four steals and Bates had 13 points and three rebounds.
The Tigers opened the game with a one-point deficit as a technical foul was called when the Tigers turned in a starting lineup that included Peyton Marshall instead of Mitchell, who they started anyway.
Then the first half was back and forth throughout, with the biggest lead of the first 20 minutes coming when Bates hit a 3 off a Robinson steal-turned-assist to make the score 26-20 with 8:18 left.
Georgia came back to take a three-point lead into halftime when it seemed like the Bulldogs would have just a one-point advantage because a late goaltending call on a Robinson layup was overturned during the break.
Missouri outrebounded Georgia 36-27, including a 17-10 advantage in offensive boards. The Tigers led fastbreak points 19-0 and scored 18 points off of nine Georgia turnovers, while Missouri committed just three turnovers of its own.
Missouri (19-6, 8-4) will return to Mizzou Arena to take on No. 2 Alabama at 8 p.m. Wednesday.
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