The No. 15 Missouri Tigers were well on their way to another road upset against one of the highest-ranked teams in the SEC.
Missouri took a six-point lead into halftime, then sprinted out to an 11-point advantage early out of the break.
But the No. 4 Tennessee Volunteers doubled-up Missouri across the next 14 minutes to take the lead they would hold on the way to an 85-81 Volunteer win in Knoxville, Tennessee on Wednesday.
“Tennessee was able to execute, they ended up taking more risks behind the arc, taking quicker shots than they did in the first half,” Missouri coach Dennis Gates said. “When you shoot 60 percent from the 3 in the second half, 50 percent from the field, that’s where they won that game.”
The Tigers came out of halftime with a 34-28 lead, then Tamar Bates hit a 3, his first points on the way to an 22-point performance with all of it coming in the second half, then Tony Perkins added two free throws to extend the Tiger lead to 39-28 with 19:03 left to play.
Perkins finished the day with 16 points, five rebounds and five assists after scoring 11 of the Tigers’ first 13 points in a quick individual, but slow team start.
“That’s a great stat line,” Gates said. “I thought he did some wonderful things.”
But then the Volunteers stormed back.
Igor Milicic hit a layup and Felix Okpara added a dunk to cut the lead to seven.
Milicic ended with a double-double of 21 points, 10 rebounds and five assists after missing Tennessee’s win against Florida on Saturday with an illness, while Okpara had 12 points, six rebounds and three blocks.
Then a Mark Mitchell free throw was the only Tiger point in an 11-1 Tennessee run that ended with a Zakai Zeigler 3 to tie the game at 43 with 15:58 left.
Zeigler ended with 21 points, eight assists and three rebounds after missing the Vols game against Florida with an injury..
The 11-point Missouri lead had been erased in less than 3:15 of game time.
Mitchell hit another free throw to put the Tigers back in front, then Missouri took its final lead of the matchup on a Perkins jumper that made it 50-48 with 13:36 left.
“I thought it took us too long to stabalize,” Gates said.
But while the Tigers were trying to stabilize, the Volunteers continued to pour it on as they outscored Missouri 47-23 across 14:33 to create a 75-61 lead with 4:30 left to play.
The Tigers weren’t ready to give in though. A Josh Gray free throw, a Bates 3, a T.O. Barrett layup and free throws from Caleb Grill and Bates put Missouri on a 9-0 run to bring the team within 75-70 with 1:40 left.
But the Vols hit 10 free throws in the final 1:40 as they held off a Missouri comeback.
A Jacob Crews 3 in transition brought the Tigers within 83-79 with 21 seconds left, but they could get no closer.
“Ultimately, we did fight back,” Gates said.
The game started slowly, in a way reminiscent of Missouri’s matchup with Texas, the last time the Tigers lost, as a Zeigler 3-pointer 30 seconds in was the game’s lone points in the first four minutes, then a Perkins 3 with 14:47 left was the first points for the Tigers after an 0-of-4 start from the field.
But after a Grill dunk off a Perkins assist tied the game at 5, the shooting heated up quickly.
Another Perkins 3 put the Tigers up 8-5, then a Perkins drive for a layup over three defenders made it 10-7.
Perkins connected on his third attempt from beyond the arc to go up 13-7, then Grill got in on the deep shooting with a 3 from the top of the key to make it 16-9.
Grill ended with 11 points, three rebounds and two steals. He shot 4-of-5 from the field and 2-of-3 from deep to bring him to 51-of-103 from deep this season.
“When you look at the gravity, he still had points on the board because of the gravity of which he commits himself to the basketball,” Gates said. “I thought the tough 3-point basket he had, we gotta do a better job screening bodies off of him. I don’t think tonight, we screened well enough.”
The Tigers held the lead throughout the rest of the first half extending as far as a 30-21 advantage after Marques Warrick went on a 7-0 run all on his own with two mid-range jumpers and a 3 from the right wing with 3:37 left before halftime.
The Tigers shot 25-of-60 (41.7 percent) from the field, 12-of-30 (40 percent) from 3 and 19-of-29 (65.5 percent) at the free-throw line.
The Tigers were 2-of-2 from the line in the first half, but missed at crucial parts of the second half, including Bates, a 92.4 percent free-throw shooter this season, missing two first shots on one-and-ones late in the game.
Missouri committed just three turnovers to Tennessee’s 11 and had an 8-3 advantage in points scored on those extra opportunities.
The Volunteers outrebounded the Tigers 38-30, but Mizzou led 17-11 in second-chance points and 37-14 in bench points.
Tennessee dominated the paint to a 34-18 advantage in points down low, but the Tigers lead 16-0 in fast-break points.
Missouri (17-5, 6-3) will face its fourth consecutive ranked opponent when it hosts No. 10 Texas A&M at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
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