Led by a strong effort from the field, the Mizzou men’s basketball team jumped to 3-1 in conference play with an 84-74 win over Auburn at Mizzou Arena. The Tigers improve to 13-4 overall while Auburn falls to 10-7 on the year.
MIZZOU LEADERS
Graduate student Jayden Stone led the way for Missouri, scoring 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting, with six-of-six from the free-throw line – adding six rebounds and three assists.
Senior Mark Mitchell added 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting, while adding five rebounds and a team-high five assists. Junior Trent Pierce notched 18 points on six-of-eight shooting, tying a career-high with five triples in the contest, and adding three assists.
Sophomore T.O. Barrett tallied a career-high 13 points, shooting 4-of-5 from the field, and nabbed two steals and three assists.
GAME RECAP
A strong defensive effort by the visitors gave Auburn the early advantage. Auburn forced Mizzou to miss 10 of its first 11 shots in building a 12-5 lead. However, the Tigers would respond with Pierce igniting the early rally, completed an and-one followed by a three-pointer as Mizzou pulled within one, 14-13.
An Anthony Robinson II triple knotted the game up at 18 before a Barrett layup on the next possession gave MU a two-point advantage, 20-18. Missouri made nine out of their last 10 shots to end the first frame, taking a 38-34 lead into the break.
MU started the second stanza off strong, highlighted by a Shawn Phillips Jr. block, leading to a Mitchell layup on the other end. A converted and-one by Mitchell gave the Tigers a nine point advantage, 43-34, marking a 5-0 run for Missouri out of the break.
The visitors cut the lead to three before a 6-0 run by Missouri brought the lead back to nine, highlighted by a Pierce triple. The teams traded buckets as the second half continued before a steal by Pierce leading to his own triple on the offensive end gave MU a 12-point lead, 67-55.
Auburn used a 13-4 run to cut the Mizzou lead to four with three minutes to play but the Tigers converted down the stretch, including 5-for-6 from the free-throw line to secure the 10-point win, 84-74.
TEAM STATS
Missouri shot 56.3 percent from the field in the winning effort with a 9-of-19 clip from beyond-the-arc.
Auburn, meanwhile, made 40.7 percent of its field goals, shooting 6-of-21 from 3-point range.
UP NEXT
The Tigers head to Baton Rouge to take on LSU on Saturday afternoon. Tipoff is set for 2:30 p.m. on SEC Network.
