COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Men’s Basketball took down Oral Roberts, 91-64, on Wednesday night at Mizzou Arena, improving to 4-0 record in season-openers under head coach Cuonzo Martin.
Senior forward Jeremiah Tilmon led Mizzou’s stout defense, grabbing a career-high 12 rebounds and two steals. Mizzou outrebounded Oral Roberts 41-29 and forced 15 turnovers.
Mizzou scorched the nets offensively, shooting 53.1 percent from the field and 40 percent from 3-point range. Senior Mark Smith led four Tigers in double figures with 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting. He drained four of the Tigers’ 10 triples. Dru Smith added 16 points, six assists and five boards in an all-around effort. Xavier Pinson tossed in 17 points and Javon Pickett added 11. The two Smiths, Pinson and Pickett combined for 62 points.
Turning Point:
Mizzou took control of the game right from the get-go with a second-effort putback dunk from senior forward Jeremiah Tilmon. The Tigers went on a 7-0 scoring run and maintained a significant lead for the majority of the game, surging to an advantage as big as 31 points. The Tigers’ 27-point win-margin was Mizzou’s largest since beating Chicago State by 58 on Dec. 30, 2019, last season.
Top Tigers:
- Senior guard Mark Smith led the Tigers with 18 points on the night, shooting four-of-six from beyond the arc. He added three rebounds while shooting 70-percent from the field.
- Redshirt senior guard Dru Smith was all over the court as always, scoring 16 points while adding six assists and five rebounds – the second time he’s accomplished the feat as a Tiger.
- Jeremiah Tilmon, Jr. tied his career high in rebounds with 12 boards, adding eight points on four-of-five shooting.
- Xavier Pinson shot 7-of-12 from the field to score 17 points, while dishing out four assists.
Notes
- Mizzou started the game on a 7-0 run, beginning with a dunk by Jeremiah Tilmon, Jr. six seconds into the game.
- Tilmon tied his career high in rebounds, leading the Tigers with 12 on the night. It was the fourth time in his career grabbing 12 boards, and first since the Braggin’ Rights win in 2018 (12/22/18).
- Dru Smith finished the night with 16 points, six assists and five rebounds. It is only the 12th, 16/6/5 game by a Tiger since 2010-11. Smith has accomplished the feat twice in that span. He is joined by Phil Pressey (three) as the only Mizzou player to reach the milestone multiple times.
- Mark Smith sunk three-straight treys and finished the night four-of-six from beyond the arc.
- Kobe Brown’s eight rebounds were the most he’s had since grabbing 10 against Arkansas last season (2/22/20).
- Four Tigers finished the night in double figures, the first time Mizzou has had four double-digit scorers since last season’s game against LSU (2/12/20).
- The 27-point margin of victory is the highest for Mizzou since a 58-point victory over Chicago State last season (91-33; 12/30/19).
- Mizzou has now won a season opener by 20+ points five times in the SEC era.
- The game was tied only once (11-11; 14:08), as the Tigers led for 38:54.
- Mizzou led by as much as 31 points on the night (82-51; 6:27 in the second half).
- The Tigers made 34 field goals, the most made-field goals since making 35 in an 85-51 victory over Northern Florida (12/16/17).
- Mizzou shot 53-percent from the field, its highest percentage since shooting 54.9-percent against Auburn last season (2/15/20).
- Mizzou scored 18 second-chance points against Oral Roberts.
Up Next
Mizzou plans to head to the Mohegan Sun for “Bubbleville” next week to play a pair of games. Dates, opponents and game times are still to be determined.
For all the latest on Mizzou Men’s Basketball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter (@MizzouHoops).
