Mizzou surges past Minnesota with explosive second half
The first half was a tight game. Back and forth late with Minnesota leading for most of the initial 20 minutes.
Not so for the second half.
Mizzou used an 8-point possession to fuel an 25-2 run and turned a 1-point halftime lead into an 83-60 win against the Golden Gophers at Mizzou Arena on Wednesday night.
“It was great to see the versatility of how we can win despite some downfalls in our stat sheet,” Missouri coach Dennis Gates said. “It just shows our versatility, it shows our guys being able to bounce back.”
With 13:33 left to play, Minnesota’s Cade Tyson, who ended with a team-high 17 points, threw down a dunk to create a 46-45 Golden Gopher lead.
Then Mizzou opened the flood gates.
Game-clinching run
T.O. Barrett hit a layup high off the glass to give the Tigers the lead, then leapt high for an offensive rebound and putback.
Minnesota hit a free throw to create a 49-47 margin, but it was all Mizzou for almost the next four full minutes.
Mark Mitchell hit a turnaround jumper, then added a jumper in the paint.
The Tigers then scored eight points on their next possession.
Luke Northweather hit a corner 3, but a Tiger was fouled under the basket, allowing Mizzou to retain possession. Mitchell then connected on a layup through contact, but missed the ensuing free throw, which Mizzou rebounded, leading to a Jacob Crews 3.
In the span of 37 seconds, Mizzou’s lead jumped from 53-47 to 61-47.
“They’re still making some of those shots right now as I sit here,” Minnesota coach Niko Medved said. “… Sometimes players make plays, but I think we’ll go back and look at the film and we also made some mistakes defensively, where we left the shooter open that we shouldn’t have. They made us pay every time. So, you give them credit. They made us pay every time when we made a mistake. And that’s what good teams do.”
The Tigers kept adding on as Mitchell hit a layup, Crews hit another second-chance 3 and Jayden Stone turned a Barrett steal into a dunk to punctuate a 14-0 sequence.
After Minnesota made a free throw, Mizzou piled some more onto the run with a Mitchell jumper, two Stone free throws, a Mitchell free throw and a Barrett steal-turned dunk.
Across the span of about 8 game minutes, Mizzou turned a 46-45 deficit into a 70-48 lead.
The Tigers cruised the rest of the way to a 23-point win.
Five Tigers reached double figures, led by 18 points and six boards from Mitchell. Crews had 14 points and eight rebounds, while shooting 4-of-6 from beyond the arc. Sebastian Mack had 14 points after a scorching hot start. Stone added 13 points, three boards and two steals off the bench. Ant Robinson contributed 10 points and three assists.
“Ultimately, I just think our guys were able to execute that game plan,” Gates said. “And it just speaks about our depth. The depth of our team and even the strength of our team is in the numbers.”
Starting slow
Though the Tiger offense was free-flowing and shot nearly 70 percent from the field in the second half, Mizzou struggled early to get in a rhythm.
Mizzou turned the ball over on the game’s first possession and Minnesota grabbed three offensive rebounds before finally jumping ahead with a 3.
That was the start of a 34-25 rebounding advantage for the Golden Gophers, who grabbed 14 offensive boards, but were only able to score eight second-chance points. Mizzou scored nine second-chance points on three offensive rebounds.
“Thirteen-minute mark, our guys just decided to defend at that point,” Gates said. “And we decided to rebound. Not happy about the rebounding margin very early in the game. … It was an uphill battle.”
Mack was the lone Tiger able to generate offense early. He hit a jumper for the Tigers’ first points, then hit his first 3-pointer of the season to cut the early Tiger deficit to 6-5.
Mack added another 3 to keep the Tigers close at 10-8.
“Sebastian Mack had a great start to the game,” Gates said. “Lord knows where we would be at this moment if he had not stepped up and did what he can do well. And that is scoring the basketball.”
Minnesota pulled away to its biggest lead of the day at 17-8 and 21-12. But the Tigers switched into a 2-3 zone and the defense began to make some stops.
Mizzou charged back, cutting the lead to 21-17 after a Mitchell layup, then 24-22 after a Mitchell and-1 layup.
Robinson hit a 3 off a Mack assist where he drove the lane and pulled every Minnesota defender into the paint before dishing to Robinson at the top of the key.
The teams traded the lead twice and tied at 30 after that on the way to a 32-30 Mizzou lead at halftime.
“We went into the half with a lead, that’s what I look at,” Gates said. “… I don’t know the last time I saw a team with zero offensive rebounds for that period of time. But we had a high field goal percentage. I just think our guys banded together.”
Stats
Mizzou shot 29-of-49 (59.2 percent) from the field, boosted by an 18-of-26 (69.2 percent) effort in the second half. The Tigers were 11-of-22 (50 percent) from 3 and 14-of-20 (70 percent) from the free-throw line.
Mizzou outscored Minnesota 32-26 in the paint and 9-2 on fast breaks. The Tigers had a 41-14 lead in points off the bench.
Post game press conferences
Dennis Gates, Jacob Crews, Jayden Stone
Nike Medved
Up next
Mizzou (4-0) will look to continue its undefeated start to the season when it hosts Prairie View A&M at 7 p.m. Monday.
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