The pick and roll was working for Sean East II.

The Tigers never trailed in their 82-72 victory against Wichita State inside Mizzou Arena on Sunday, but also struggled to put the Shockers away. The hosts never led by more than 11 and allowed WSU (7-2) to trim the deficit to two points with under four minutes remaining.

Missouri came out with the win by going to the same play over and over: drag screens for East at the top of the key.

“To start the game, we went single and double drags. And we went back to that late in the second half,” East said. “And we just had some good rolls, you know, some good pop threats. And then Caleb Grill hit like two or three 3s, Connor (Vanover) hit a pop pick-and-pop 3, Nick Honor hit a few in the first half. Like, it was just, you know, trying to find the weak link in the defense.”

The graduate senior continuously used his speed to navigate the screens, get into the paint and force the visitors’ defenders to react. Sometimes he’d knife his way to the rim for a layup. Other times Wichita State would crash down on him and he’d kick the ball out to an open shooter. On a few occasions, the Shockers tried doubling East coming off the screen. The guard had an answer for that, too, lofting lobs over the top of the defense or dump-offs in the short corners to his bigs for dunks.

During one timeout, head coach Dennis Gates started drawing up a play for the Tigers to run. East told him they should keep it simple and just stick with the drag screens. Gates went with the play he drew up anyway. It resulted in a turnover for Mizzou and a bucket at the other end for Wichita State.

“So I immediately shut up and listened to my guys,” Gates said.

“We were coming down and getting easy buckets off just a pick and roll and finding a mismatch,” East said. “We were kind of panicking a little bit. I'm like, 'Just keep it simple, and we're gonna get the open look that we want.'”

After the visitors cut the score to 68-66 with 3:51 left to go in the second half, East ran a pick and roll, got to the paint and saw Grill’s defender sag off to help on the drive. East skipped the ball to the Iowa State transfer, who knocked down the corner 3 to put the hosts back up by two scores.

The Shockers hit a jumpshot on the next play, but East got open a couple of possessions later working the two-man game with Vanover, who pitched it to him on the right wing for another triple. East drew a foul 44 seconds later and hit both his free throws to push Mizzou back up 76-68. The Tigers never led by less than eight in the final 1:29.

East finished the game with 22 points, four rebounds, nine assists and three steals to lead the way in the 82-72 win.

“Sean wants to win, first and foremost. He loves to win, he's a competitor. You should see him in practice,” Gates said. “When it comes down to our team, I'm proud of Sean's development, but I'm also proud of how he stays connected. And he knows the pulse of our team.

“But defensively, I look at that part of the game for him, too. He's been impacting the game defensively, being able to turn guys, put a little pressure behind on the backcourt, but also get some steals ... So I credit him playing a complete game.”

East helped the Tigers stay in front down the stretch, but it was the black and gold’s ability to force turnovers that got them the lead in the first place.

Gates said he felt like his players were “shot out of a cannon” to start the game. Wichita State dumped the ball into the post to junior forward Kenny Pohto with its opening possession, who missed from the right block. On the next trip down, the visitors got the ball on the right side to Pohto again. This time, Indiana transfer guard Tamar Bates came from behind and stripped the ball from the big man for a steal.

East got his first steal of the afternoon on the next play and swung it to Honor on the perimeter. The graduate senior guard missed the open look, but sophomore forward Aidan Shaw came up with the offensive rebound and got it back out to Honor, who drilled his second look for Missouri’s first points of the day.

WSU would commit a total of six turnovers in the first four minutes of the period, resulting in a 10-0 run to start the game for MU.

The team kept up the pressure to start the second half. Honor came up with a steal on the Shockers’ first possession of the period and pitched it ahead to Bates. Wichita State redshirt junior guard Harlond Beverly took it away from Bates at midcourt and charged toward the basket with just Honor back to stop him. Honor managed to poke the ball loose on Beverly’s fastbreak layup and the ball went off Beverly’s thigh for another turnover. Graduate senior forward Noah Carter got to the free throw line and made both his foul shots on the next play.

The Tigers finished the game forcing 18 turnovers. The hosts racked up 13 steals, with Bates, Carter and East all tying for a team-high three each. Shockers head coach Paul Mills thought it was a major reason his team was never able to get over the hump.

“We just didn't handle their pressure very well,” Mills said. “But then I thought we settled down and made a game out of it. Just unfortunately, we just couldn't dig ourselves out of an early hole.”

Wichita State negated some of the effects of Mizzou’s edge in the turnover margin by getting to the glass. The Shockers pulled down 18 offensive rebounds, leading to 14 second-chance points — the Tigers had just eight points on seven offensive boards.

The advantage on the glass could’ve been even larger had it not been for Caleb Grill. The 6-foot-3 guard hunted after loose balls all afternoon for the hosts, coming up with 10 rebounds, tying his career high.

“He was our best rebounder,” Gates said. “So I wanted Caleb in the game because not only was he a great rebounder, he was defending in the right spot and he was able to get down and run down some plays.”

Grill also started finding a rhythm on the offensive end, canning 3-6 shots from outside to finish with 13 points. It’s the second double-double of his career.

The graduate senior was fouled going up for a dunk and landed hard but was able to return to the game and said he feels fine. Grill said he’s getting used to his role on his new team.

“I think, you know, I just try to stick with what Coach Gates has told me,” Grill said. “Obviously, it's a different system. But just what he says and what the coaching staff says, I just try to do it to my best of my ability. I think it took a couple games to get adjusted but now I feel comfortable with what's going on.”

Mizzou (7-2) will head to out to Lawrence, Kan., next weekend for the Border War against Kansas (7-1) inside Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday, Dec. 9, at 4:15 p.m., the game airing on ESPN.

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