Led by a dominant effort inside, the Mizzou men’s basketball team cruised to a 38-point win over VMI, 106-68, on Sunday afternoon. The victory pushes the Tigers to 3-0 on the year, while the Keydets drop to 2-1.
MIZZOU LEADERS
Senior Mark Mitchell led the way for Missouri, eclipsing 20 points for the second-straight game. He scored 24 points on 7-of-13 from the field and 10-of-13 from the charity stripe, while adding 10 rebounds and three assists.
Four other Tigers chipped in double-digit points. Anthony Robinson II notched 20 points on 6-of-7 shooting, including four triples with four steals on the defensive end. Jayden Stone earned 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting, adding seven rebounds and five assists.
Jacob Crews tallied 14 points including two buckets from beyond the arc, adding six boards. Sebastian Mack rounded out the double-digit scorers for Mizzou with 14 points, nabbing three rebounds and two steals in the contest.
Junior Luke Northweather matched Mitchell with 10 rebounds in the victory.
GAME RECAP
The Tigers and Keydets traded buckets throughout the first 10 minutes of the contest, with four lead changes, marking the score at 19-18 in favor of VMI. T.O. Barrett sparked a run for the Tigers with a reverse layup followed by a Mitchell block which led to a Mack layup on the offensive end, putting the Tigers in front 22-19.
MU continued the run, ignited by a Robinson 3-pointer followed by a dunk by the junior on the following possession, pushing the run to 12-3 in favor of the Tigers. Missouri kept the lead going into the break, making their last eight shots and taking a 50-40 advantage.
Mizzou extended the lead out of the break, highlighted by a Mitchell jam followed by two Mack fast-break layups to put the Tigers up 13.
With the score at 60-49, a Crews jumper ignited a 17-5 run for MU, extending the lead to 77-54, highlighted by seven points by Crews during the stretch. Missouri took a 7-0 run into the final media timeout, spotlighted by a Robinson 3-pointer and layup on back-to-back possessions, cruising to the 106-68 victory.
TEAM STATS
Missouri shot 56.9 percent in the winning effort with a 7-of-21 clip (33.3 percent) from the three-point range. Mizzou was especially strong inside, owning VMI in the paint by a 60-2 margin with a 50-25 edge in boards and a 30-2 advantage in second-chance points.
VMI as a team shot 33.3 percent and made 15-of-42 (36.0 percent) from the 3-point line.
UP NEXT
The Tigers look to continue their winning ways, hosting Big Ten foe, Minnesota, on Wednesday night. Tipoff at Mizzou Arena is set for 7 p.m. on SEC Network +.
