The Tigers pull off the huge upset of #22 K-State 77-74 at Mizzou Arena. First, off the court, Jason Horton arrested and charged with assault stemming back to the Club Athena incident in which Stefhon Hannah had his jaw broken. He along with Darryl Butterfield were on the bench, but senior Marshall Brown and junior Leo Lyons played.
It was a game of two halves. In the first it was all K-State, they shot 57% and outscored Missouri 24-4 in the paint. 2 nd half a complete turnaround, Down by 14 early in the 2 nd half, the Tigers rallied shooting 50% and holding K-State to 37% shooting. Head coach Mike Anderson wanted his team to step up their play in the 2 nd half and they certainly responded.
Lyons had a big game, played 26 minutes with 13 points, but JT Tiller stepped up big getting another chance to start, 20 points to lead all scorers. Michael Beasley did score 17 points, but Mizzou did a good job of denying him the ball in the 2 nd half.
For the second straight game Mizzou fell behind early, trailing K-State by as much as 15 in the first half. With about 17 minutes to go, and K-State up by 14, 52-38, Mizzou slowly started chipping away. Mizzou cut the lead to one at 67-66 with 5:39 to play, but it looked like they would come up short just like they did against Nebraska. Matt Lawrence missed a three that would have the Tigers up, and Michael Beasley followed with a layup to put K-State back up by three. The Wildcats would extend the lead up to four with 3:40 to play, but the defense tightened up down low as Lyons and Carroll hit big baskets the other way to pull Mizzou even at 72. The Tigers finally went ahead 74-72 on a layup by J.T. Tiller, with 2:03 to play and Mizzou never looked back.
After the game, junior forward DeMarre Carroll ran into the student section where he was greeted with high fives and pats on the back. Carroll said he just wanted to show the fans his gratitude for their support through a tough week.
Not much time to rest as the Tigers head to Lawrence for Big Monday to play KU.
