Missouri men’s basketball put together one of its best defensive performances of the season Sunday on the way to an 82-60 win over Bethune-Cookman in Columbia.
The Tigers have limited their opponents to 60 points or less three times this year. MU turned that defense into a major portion of its offensive output, scoring 23 points on 16 Wildcats turnovers.
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“The coaches have challenged us the last couple of days to just fix some things, get back to being disciplined, get back to our habits and things like that,” Mark Mitchell said. “Not as many lows and just trying to keep the intensity the whole time, I think we did a pretty good job.”
It was Mizzou’s own turnovers, though, that kept the margin within 20 points in the first half. The Tigers turned it over nine times in the opening 20 minutes, limiting their halftime lead to 39-25 despite holding Bethune-Cookman without a field goal over the final four-and-a-half minutes before the half.
MU generated most of its offense from the interior, scoring 50 points in the paint and shooting 68 percent from inside the arc. The strategy was powered by another strong performance from Mark Mitchell, who put up 19 points of 8-of-12 shooting and seven rebounds.
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Mizzou took its first 20-point lead of the game with a 7-0 run out of halftime on the strength of consecutive and-ones by Anthony Robinson II, 47-25.
Robinson finished the contest with 15 points, his second consecutive performance with 15 or more points after a scoring slump the prior few weeks. He also dished out seven assists and swiped the ball for two steals.
“I think he’s just settling in, learning how to play 30 minutes plus,” head coach Dennis Gates said. “Playing through fatigue, being able to make the right plays when you’re tired, being able to understand when to rest, especially during those TV media timeout opportunities, I thought he did a better job with that.
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Together, Mitchell and Robinson combined for 34 points. It’s the fourth time the pair have both recorded at least 15 points this season — with all of those games ending in a Tigers win.
MU started off cold from beyond the arc but heated up after the half, going 5-of-11 from deep in the final 20 minutes. Jacob Crews had another efficient performance from the perimeter, hitting 3 of his 4 triples, but was also 8-of-9 overall on the way to a 20-point game.
Mizzou’s other leading shooter from the perimeter, though, was not one of its usual suspects. Annor Boateng went 2-of-4 from beyond the arc for all of his six points, a promising step for the sophomore who started his third consecutive game.
“Those shots that he received were opportunity shots that he was prepared to knock down. Defensively, it’s a lot of things that he does well on that end of the court,” Gates said, “I want to see him rebound a little bit more, but also from a ball pressure standpoint, you see the deflections that he was able to get [with] his length, his strength, and he just gives us versatility on both sides of the ball.”
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The Tigers made the most of their height advantage, controlling the glass with a 34-to-20 rebounding advantage. MU hauled in 11 offensive rebounds for 21 second-chance points.
That height advantage grew in the final minutes of the game when Mizzou brought in Trent Burns for his fourth appearance in a Tigers uniform. The redshirt freshman did not record a point or rebound, but his presence on the court underlined MU’s command of the game for most of the second half in a way the team has been unable to do in several games against low-or-mid majors this year.
The win moves Mizzou to 10-2 on the season as the Tigers are about to face a significant uptick in quality of opponent.
MU returns to action Dec. 22 against Illinois in the Braggin’ Rights game. The Tigers and Illini tip off at 7 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on Fox Sports 1.
