It was a record setting night for the Missouri Tigers who improved to 10-1 on the season following a 116-63 win over the Central Arkansas Bears. The 116 points are the most scored at home in Mizzou Arena history.
Mizzou opened the game hitting their first six shots and forcing three UCA turnovers in the first three minutes, jumping out to a 15-2 lead. You could tell early on, it would be a long night for the Bears. Mizzou dominated from that point forward shooting as high as 70% at one point in the half in opening the flood gates to a 54-19 lead after the first 20 minutes.
MU finished shooting 60% for the first half while forcing 16 UCA turnovers and holding the Bears to 24% shooting. A good sign the Mizzou offense is working is by the number of assists as the Tigers ended up with 14 on 20 made baskets in that first half.
Ricardo Ratliffe had 14 at the break and Marcus Denmon 13. Things were such a blowout early on that even Jarrett Sutton, the walk-on played in the first half. That trend continued in the second half as Mizzou’s lead grew. The final margin of 53 was not close to record though. The largest margin of victory came twice when Mizzou outscored Chicago State (1995) and MacMurray (1976) by 72. The Tigers’ record for most points in a game was 107 against Colorado in 2009 and SIU-Edwardsville in 2008.
Denmon finished with 21 points, Laurence Bowers had 20, while Ratliffe added 18. For the game the Tigers out rebounded the Bears 25-15. Seven Tigers finished in double figures.
While Central Arkansas doesn’t back down from competition, it was a long night. In the four years they’ve been a D-I program they’ve played UCONN, Kentucky, Memphis and Kansas. This was a showdown between player and former mentor. When Mike Anderson was an assistant at Arkansas, Corliss Williamson played for the Razorbacks and now in his first season as a head coach, he had the opportunity to face his former coach. Williamson’s Bears fell to 3-10 on the year.
