With a win in Oxford, Mizzou men’s basketball could’ve gone 3-0 in conference play for the first time in 25 years.
Instead, shooting struggles plagued the Tigers on Saturday night. After knocking off Florida and Kentucky to start 2026, the MU fell to Ole Miss 76-69 in Oxford.
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The second half saw neither team have a lead of greater than seven points. Both teams saw most of their offensive production come from around the rim. For Mizzou, its pair of starting big men (Mark Mitchell and Shawn Phillips Jr.) combined for 18 points of MU’s 33 points in the second half, with the shiniest highlight coming on a two-handed poster dunk from Phillips Jr., who was also hit with a technical foul for staring down the poster victim after the fact.
But the Tigers struggled mightily from the 3-point line (7-of-24) and, more pertinently, the charity stripe (12-of-24). Mizzou entered Saturday shooting just 67.4% as a team from the free-throw line, and its woes hurt them badly in a winnable contest.
In other areas to blame for defeat, MU only got 10 points from its bench players (Ole Miss had 41), and the Tigers were minus-six in turnovers.
Early in the first half, the flow of the game was much different, as Ole Miss got stoned. Excuse me, they got Stone’d (the use of recreational marijuana is illegal in Mississippi anyway). Within the first 10 minutes of action, Stone had 10 points, including a trio of 3-pointers, along with three assists.
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The Aussie wasn’t the only Tiger contributing early. MU’s first five made baskets came from all five starters (Stone, Mitchel, Phillips, Anthony Robinson II and Jacob Crews), and seven of its first eight field goals were assisted. The Tigers were doing an exceptional job of playing inside-out, as attention paid to gold jerseys with the ball close to the basket opened up shooters along the perimeter. Mizzou led 22-12 with 10:07 left in the first half.
But MU then turned sloppy and cold on offense. From the 10:07 mark to halftime, the Tigers committed eight turnovers and lost any semblance of rhythm. The stretch included a 15-3 run from Ole Miss, which took its first lead of the game with 4:10 left in the half.
Ole Miss led 37-36 at halftime. The Tigers were able to conjure up offense by getting the ball inside and converting around the rim. A 3-pointer by Mitchell in the waning seconds of the half was MU’s first conversion from beyond the arc since there were over 12 minutes left in the period.
AJ Storr had 18 points in the first half, his career-high through a game’s first 20 minutes. He finished with a game-high 26 points. Malik Dia, Ole Miss’ leading scorer entering Saturday, was the only other Rebel in double-figures with 21 points.
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Mitchell led the Tigers in points (20), rebounds (8) and assists (7). Stone tallied 16 points, while Phillips Jr. and Trent Pierce had 12 and 10 points, respectively. Robinson II, who scored just six points on 2-of-9 shooting, fouled out for the fifth time in his career.
Mizzou will return home for its next game against Auburn next Wednesday, Jan. 14. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. Steven Pearl’s crew lost its first two SEC contests to Georgia and Texas A&M by a combined six points, but they dominated No. 15 Arkansas 95-73 on Saturday evening.
