Tigers' rally held off by Rebels in 84-78 loss

It seemed like rock bottom for Missouri.

The team lost to Ole Miss on the road two weeks ago. Of the games it had remaining on its schedule, its rematch with the Rebels inside Mizzou Arena on Saturday was projected by KenPom to be its best chance to finally pick up an SEC victory. Yet, by halftime, the Tigers found themselves down by 19 points to the visitors, doomed by the 11 turnovers they committed and the 12 second-chance points they allowed.

However, the team did bounce back, as it almost always does. MU rallied in the second half, finding a cohesive five-man lineup that got the better of Ole Miss in the final stretches of the game.

The deficit was still too big to overcome, though. Missouri’s comeback attempt fell just short, as it almost always does, and the Rebels held off the Tigers just long enough to hand them their 20th defeat in the last 21 games, 84-78.

“It's not tough to see these guys fight,” head coach Dennis Gates said. “That's the most important thing, I see them fighting. And the ball is gonna bounce different ways. There's uncontrollables that happen.

“But I just liked the fact that our guys aren't holding their heads down. They're out there, feeding off each other. They're challenging each other in a healthy way, they're allowing themselves to be coached and that's what they're doing. So it's exciting to see guys, young people, face obstacles and not take the easy route and face hard face-to-face. They're able to try to conquer it face-to-face without blinking. I wish the results was different, our guys deserve a win, our program deserves a win. But something greater is happening because we're being forced through a certain fire. And I don't know exactly what that is, you don't know what it is, but I'm excited to see what's to come.”

Gates said he and his staff gave the players solutions to the problems they were dealing with during halftime. Graduate senior guard Sean East II said team regrouped during the break, then came out focused on giving a better effort than its first-half showing. Gates went with a different starting unit in the second, putting freshman guard Anthony Robinson II and senior center Mabor Majak on the floor in favor of upperclassman guards Nick Honor and Tamar Bates, hoping to motivate his starters.

The plan mostly worked. Ole Miss graduate senior guard Matthew Murrell admitted the Rebels (20-9, 7-9 SEC) didn’t come out with the same intensity in the second period as they did in the first. The hosts took advantage, trimming the deficit down to 12 points within the first six minutes of the half.

“I didn't get Bates back into the game until after the 12-minute timeout,” Gates said. “But our guys responded.”

The visitors kept Missouri at bay for the next several possessions, MU never getting closer than 12 points until the 5:58 mark. Graduate senior forward Jesus Carralero Martin checked into the game at the 5:58 mark, joining a lineup that featured East, Honor, Bates and sophomore forward Aidan Shaw. The team trailed by 70-57 at the time but suddenly began to click.

Bates scored on a layup with the Tigers’ next possession. Ole Miss went 0-2 at the free throw line on the next play while Bates went 2-2 at the stripe at the other end, cutting the lead to single digits for the first time since the 7:14 mark of the first half. The team began getting the stops they needed, using a 14-2 run to bring the deficit all the way down to 73-71 with 1:45 left on the clock. Gates made just one more sub during the game, sending Robinson back in once Bates fouled out with three second remaining.

“They were able to feed off each other,” Gates said. “We were able to execute the game plan. They took care of the basketball.”

But in the game’s most consequential moments, the hosts made mistakes. After the hosts got the lead down to two, the Rebels were fouled and hit one of their two free throws. Shaw was sent to the line during the next possession but missed both of his foul shots. Ole Miss graduate senior forward Jaemyn Brakefield scored a layup on the next trip down to push the visits back up by five.

Honor was fouled on a corner 3-point attempt and connected on all of his free throws to make it a one-possession game again with 50 seconds remaining. A stop could’ve kept the Tigers from having to intentionally foul down the stretch. But East fouled Murrell on a drive to the basket, and the Rebels’ leading scorer sank both his foul shots. Mizzou trailed by at least two possessions the rest of the evening, suffering the 84-78 loss.

It wasn’t rock bottom for Missouri. But it was rocky nonetheless. With two games remaining in the regular season, the Tigers will hope for a smoother outing to pick up their first conference victory.

During his postgame press conference, Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard couldn’t remember how old Mizzou’s leading scorer was and asked the room full of reporters what year East was in. He was told that East is a graduate senior, playing in his last year of eligibility.

“Thank God,” Beard said.

The Rebels’ coach said he’s seen every game the Tigers have played this season. He knew East was somebody his team needed to slow down to ensure a victory. They made plans in practice to adjust their defense specifically to deter East from getting into rhythm.

None of it mattered much. East delivered a game-high 27 points on Saturday on just 12 field goal attempts.

“He's a really good player,” Beard said. “You know, you start talking about First Team All-Conference in this league. If there's five guys better than him, I haven't coached against them. He's a dynamic player. Their coaching staff does a great job of setting him up to have space and empower him to make big plays. He's a really, really good player.”

East noticed the changes Ole Miss made from their first meeting, such as sealing off his baseline drives and doubling him on ball screens. The team captain struggled with it a bit early on — East ended the evening with a three-to-four assist-to-turnover ratio. Gates said he pulled East off the floor an extra time or two during the first half so that he could get a wider perspective on the Rebels’ defensive approach.

Once Gates put him back in the game, East had a better understanding of how to handle it.

“My teammates did a good job of trusting me and you know getting me open, first of all,” East said. “But we realized to exploit some of the mismatches, some of the smaller guards and post them guys up. And you know, stay (away) from the outer thirds. (They were) trying to trap on the ball screens when we went on the outer third, so try to stay in the middle third and isolate the big man in the middle.”

The 6-foot-3 guard shot 7-8 inside the arc, 3-4 from distance and 4-6 at the free throw line. He was followed in the points column by Bates and Shaw, who had 13 each, and Honor with 12.

Gates came away impressed by East’s ability to score from virtually any angle.

“He's very crafty,” Gates said. “It's a unique skill set that (he has) and unbelievable opportunity to use the glass, floaters, bank shots, pull-ups, left-hand, under the basket where he Steve Nash's, dribbles, reverse layups. Most people can't make, at a high field goal percentage, that many baskets … It's over defenders, it's around defenders. And the numbers speak for itself.”

Mizzou (8-21, 0-16 SEC) will celebrate Senior Night on Tuesday when it hosts No. 11 Auburn (22-7, 11-5) at 8 p.m., the game airing on SEC Network.

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