Missouri did something that Kansas, Oklahoma, or K-State could not do. Win as a top seed in the Big 12 tournament. The Tigers’ tenacious defense wore down Texas Tech in the 2nd half and turned a tie game into an 81-60 win.
Tied at 31 at the half, the Tigers started with an 18-2 run to open the second half before the first media break forcing five Tech turnovers. DeMarre Carroll led the Tigers with 19 points. J.T. Tiller and Matt Lawrence (the league’s 6th man of the year who got the start) each scored 13.
Mizzou got off to a good start. They were up 7-2, but then looked a little tentative, maybe a little rusty, maybe a little bit of both. Tech got into a nice flow of the game and were playing some pretty good half court offense on the Tigers as they opened up an 8-point lead with just under 10 minutes to play.
I thought it was important the Tigers closed the half well which they did outscoring Tech 16-8 from the 9:34 mark to tie the game 31-31 at the half. Leo Lyons sparked the Tigers with three free throws and two offensive rebounds as he helped establish some inside presence. Up to that point, Mizzou wasn’t getting much inside. Lyons picked up his second foul and came out of the game with 4:35 to play.
With 18:00 to play and the score tied at 35, it was almost like the Tigers said, "OK, we’re going to be playing three games this weekend. We’ve sparred with Tech in the first half, let’s start swinging." Like a switch, the defensive pressure was turned on and in less than five minutes, the Tigers went on an 18-2 run where Tech turned the ball over four times.
From that point on, the Tigers pulled away. Tech cut the lead to nine, 57-48 with just about 9:00 to play, but Tech wore down making just five of their last 17 shots and just 1 of 5 free throws in that key stretch where the Tigers pulled away from a nine point lead up to 20.
Listen to postgame comments from Mike Anderson, Carroll, Tiller, and Lawrence. The Tigers will play Oklahoma State tonight at 8:35. It became the first time Big 12 history that three of the top four teams were upset.
Game 5: Baylor 71, Kansas 64
Game 6: Texas 61, Kansas State 58
Game 7: Oklahoma State 71, Oklahoma 70
Game 8: Texas Tech 81, Missouri 60
