The Missouri Tigers have done what they needed to through the easy portion of their schedule.

Dominate.

After a shaky first few games where the Tigers looked to have last year’s recurring issues finishing games strong, the last three have been everything Missouri needed.

The Tigers beat the worst team in Division I by 72, then another bottom-50 team by 35. Sunday they added a 112-63 win to the record against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, rated No. 362 out of 364 in the KenPom rankings, at Mizzou Arena. It was the first time in school history the Tigers have won three consecutive games by at least 35 points.

“I thought our players did a great job connecting to the game plan,” Missouri coach Dennis Gates said. “Each individually were able to tap in how they need to concentrate to continue to move us in a positive direction.”

After scoring 111 against Mississippi Valley State, the Tigers set a new Gates-era record of points scored Sunday on the backs of Mark Mitchell’s first 20-point performance as a Tiger and Anthony Robinson’s first career double-double. Robinson finished with 11 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists to near a triple-double.

“Just going out there, playing hard every play, not trying to focus on nothing, just going out getting my teammates involved,” Robinson said. “And, you know, just having fun.”

The Tigers did start the game slowly again, struggling to find the basket as the team opened the game 0-for-3 with all three shots coming from beyond the arc.

Then Gates went to the bench just 2:05 into the game and brought on Caleb Grill, who entered the game shooting 73.9 percent from beyond the arc in his past three games, with his 17 made triples the most by a Tiger in a three-game stretch in 20 years.

Grill made his presence known immediately, swinging a cross-court pass to Robinson for a right-wing 3 to put the Tigers in front 3-2 with 17:19 left in the first half. The Tigers would not trail again.

The Tigers missed three shots on their next possession, but grabbed the rebound all three times, with Mitchell grabbing the final one and deciding that was enough misses as he threw down a two-handed dunk.

Then Grill hit a right-wing 3 off a Robinson assist to give the Tigers an 8-0 run and 8-2 lead with 15:48 left in the first half.

“His teammates are finding him, they’re doing a great job, but he’s not even focused on that, he’s focused on the defensive end,” Gates said. “And when you have a guy hunt basketballs the way that he does, whether it’s a loose ball or rebound … his mind is in the right place, but his team is finding him and the gravity of what he does is stretching the defense out.”

Pine Bluff came back to tie the game at 12 with 13:22 left, but the Tigers ran out to a 9-2 run to take the lead for good.

Tony Perkins returned from a multi-game absence to immediately hit two free throws to create a 21-14 lead with 11:09 left in the half.

“It was great to see Tony Perkins out there playing up to his potential,” Gates said.

Missouri then bolted ahead through the final nine minutes of the first half as Pine Bluff missed 13 of its final 14 shots before the break.

A Grill 3, one of his four makes from beyond the arc as he stretched his run of 3s to 21-of-31 (67.7 percent) the past four games, made it 30-18 with 7:46 left, then a Mitchell fastbreak drive for a layup made it 39-18 with 4:23 left. The layup capped a 15-0 Tiger run as Missouri hit 6-of-8.

“Last game, I didn’t play up to my standard, and I think I just got back in the gym,” Mitchell said. “Something I needed to focus on and just try to do better.”

The Tigers then scored 23 of the final 26 points in the first half to lead 52-25 at the break.

The second half went similarly for Missouri as a Grill 3 made the lead 57-27 with 18:03 left, a Marcus Allen and-1 layup made it 67-27 with 15:13 remaining.

The Tigers got to a 50-point lead when Jacob Crews turned a steal into a dunk with 8:00 left to play.

That was as big as the lead would get as Missouri played its young guns, who held the Golden Lions to at least a 42-point deficit the rest of the way.

Mitchell was 8-of-11 overall and 4-of-5 at the free-throw line to lead the Tigers at 20 points to go with five rebounds and a steal, while Grill had 14 points and three reobounds. Tamar Bates added 13 points, three rebounds and three steals, while Robinson had 11 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists.

Missouri shot 37-of-71 (52.1 percent) from the field, 9-of-32 (28.1 percent) from 3, and 29-of-41 (70.7 percent) at the free-throw line.

“Our free-throw percentage is not up to standard,” Gates said.

The Tigers outrebounded Pine Bluff 40-32, including Missouri grabbing 19 offensive rebounds to the Golden Lions’ 21 defensive boards.

Missouri outscored Pine Bluff 33-3 off turnovers, 54-24 in the paint, 24-11 in second-chance points, 19-0 on fast breaks and 63-46 from the bench.

Missouri (5-1) will look to keep its win streak going when it hosts Lindenwood at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Then comes the teeth of the non-conference schedule with matchups at home against California on Dec. 3, Kansas on Dec. 8 and in St. Louis against Illinois on Dec. 22.

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