Mizzou survives SEMO 89-84 thanks to Mark Mitchell

It was about as ugly a win as Dennis Gates has had in his three-plus seasons at the helm of the Missouri Tigers.

But Mizzou held on for an 89-84 win against Southeast Missouri State. Largely thanks to star Tiger forward Mark Mitchell refusing to let Missouri lose its home opener.

“I knew I was going to be aggressive all day today,” Mitchell said. “… Obviously when I can get them 1-on-1 and play in space like that, my teammates allow me to do that. I know I’m really good and just the versatility and the size of the matchups were to my advantage. And I knew I wanted to attack that.”

Mitchell produced 29 points, five rebounds and three assists, and was the only Tiger to take more than nine shots from the field. Add on his 11 free-throw attempts and he was dominating the ball on offense.

Especially in the second half.

Fighting back

The Tigers came out of the break trailing and turned right to Mitchell.

After SEMO scored the first four points out of the break, the Tigers went to Mitchell and let him go to work.

He hit a layup, then Ant Robinson turned a steal into a layup. Another Mitchell layup then started a 10-0 Tiger run, including a Mitchell jumper that gave the Tigers their first lead since the 6:25 mark of the first half.

“I think we jumped out early and we kind of went into a lull,” Mitchell said. “Got kind of soft, got kind of complacent. … In the second half, we just got back to our principles.”

But the run wasn’t all the Tigers would need.

The teams would trade the lead six times from the 8:23 mark until there were 4:19 left in the second half.

This time, it was a Robinson jumper that put the Tigers up 76-75, but SEMO answered with a free throw to tie the game with 3:45 left.

Then the Tigers went back to Mitchell. He hit a fastbreak layup, followed it with an and-1 free throw and the Tigers never trailed again.

After a game where Mizzou mightily struggled from the free-throw line, including a 3-of-11 start (with Mitchell beginning the game 0-of-6 from the line), the Tigers made them when they counted, hitting nine in the final 3:10 to end the game 19-of-31 at the stripe.

“We were able to knock down free throws in the end of the game,” Gates said. “We just got to do it for the entire game.”

Starting hot

Mizzou came out of the gates on a run. A Mitchell layup, a Robinson 3, a Jevon Porter dunk, a Sebastian Mack and-1 jumper and another Mitchell jumper had the Tigers in front 12-0 5 minutes into the game.

At that point, Mizzou fans could be forgiven for thinking the Tigers would run away with an easy 30-point win or more.

But SEMO answered and the Tiger defense struggled.

After pitching a shutout for the first 5:06, Mizzou allowed the Redhawks to score 21 points from the 14:54 mark through the 10:13 mark. Over a full game, that would be on pace for about 176 points.

“They made shots, they earned shots,” Gates said. “They had earned baskets. Even above our length, even above our shot contest. They were able to make distance shots.”

The Tigers still held the lead as Mizzou’s offense was responding every time down the floor. But starting at the 7:49 mark, SEMO went on a 9-0 run and took the lead for the first time at 35-34 with 5:10 left before the break.

The Tigers would not hold the advantage again in the first half.

“It’s not what we did wrong, it’s what they did right,” Gates said. “And they did a lot of things right. They executed, they moved the ball. They took advantage of certain angles that we corrected in the second half.”

Stats

The Tigers shot 32-of-54 (59.3 percent) from the field, 6-of-15 (40 percent) from 3 and 19-of-31 (61.3 percent) from the free-throw line.

SEMO shot 29-of-63 (46 percent) overall, 9-of-30 (30 percent) from deep and 17-of-21 (81 percent) at the free-throw line.

SEMO outrebounded Mizzou 33-30, and the Tigers committed 19 turnovers to SEMO’s 17.

“What we can’t have is a turnover margin like that. But we ended up being in the negative only (two), where before we were negative seven,” Gates said. “… From the free-throw standpoint, we went … 26-for-31 against Kansas State, that’s not by mistake. Again, getting into the crux of the matter, our season is a learning process and a journey.

“What I’m excited about is our guys were able to win with a negative turnover ratio,” Gates added. “And with a free-throw percentage like that. … I’m proud of the responses and the resilience.”

Mizzou blocked six shots. The Tigers outscored SEMO 46-28 in the paint and 16-9 on fastbreaks.

Three Tigers joined Mitchell in double figures on offense.

• Robinson ended with 15 points, four rebounds, three steals and two assists. Largely helped by going 6-of-7 at the free-throw line.
• Jayden Stone had 14 points and was 3-of-7 from 3, the only Tiger to make more than one shot from deep.
• Sebastian Mack had 11 points and was 5-of-9 from the field.

Press Conference

Up next

Mizzou (2-0) will look for a better performance when it hosts VMI at 3:30 p.m. Sunday.

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