Namon Wright drives against a Tennessee defender (photo/Mizzou Athletics)
The Missouri Tigers were outscored 16-5 over the final minutes after taking a 46-43 lead, their biggest of the half. Tennessee outscored Mizzou 16-5 in the final five minutes to hand the Tigers their third straight SEC loss, 59-51 the final score from Mizzou Arena on Saturday evening, in front of just over 10,000 fans.
The Tigers held the lead with just over three minutes to go in the first half, but went into the locker room down 26-24 after being held to 10 of 34 shooting, including just 2 of 11 from three point range.
The Vols had their biggest lead of the game at eight with just over 13 minutes to play, but the Tigers got hot from three point range and also figured out a way to break through Tennessee’s collapsing zone defense. Tremaine Isabell, who didn’t play in the first half, hit two of the Tigers’ six, three’s to help in the comeback. He had all in a stretch that helped Missouri tie the game at 41-41 with 7:02 to play.
Isabell later found Jakeen Gant on a back door pass to give the Tigers a three-point lead at 46-43 with 5:06 remaining. Isabell was benched the first half for what head coach Kim Anderson called “poor practice performance,” on Wednesday and Thursday.
Listen to Coach Anderson’s postgame comments
Namon Wright finished with a team high 13 points on 5 of 10 shooting. J3, Keith Shamburger and Isabell finished with eight. The Tigers shot 36.4 % for the game on 20 of 55 shooting.
