Alex Oriakhi had a career-high 22 points to go with 18 rebounds, but for the second game in a row, played with a short fuse as the 21st ranked Missouri Tigers crushed Ole Miss 98-79 Saturday afternoon at Mizzou Arena.
Plenty of great basketball and a record setting game for Phil Pressey as well, but tempers were short, late in the second half.
With the game well in hand, Oriakhi got tied up with Reginald Buckner that led to both players landing on the floor. Laurence Bowers jumped in to stick up for his teammate as Buckner got up and approached Oriakhi. Bowers got pushed from behind as Buckner threw an arm into the chin of Bowers.
Buckner was kicked out and in all, five technical fouls were handed out. Oriakhi took a breather on the bench and came back and completed his great performance.
Pressey had four assists to break Anthony Peeler’s career school record and had 22 points as well. His first 11 sparked the Tigers early who jumped out to a 50-34 halftime lead. Pressey was 4 of 8 on three pointers.
Keion Bell hit all three of his three point attempts and finished with 21 points. He also had a hand in shutting down Murphy Holloway.
After scoring 22 points in the first meeting between these two teams in Oxford, Holloway was held to seven points and only one rebound. Frank Haith was proud of the way his team responded in shutting down Holloway after a short turnaround from the A & M loss.
AUDIOÂ Bell, Pressey, Oriakhi and Haith post game (12:00)
Mizzou shot 47% for the game including 12 of 23 from three point range. The Tigers also outrebounded the Rebels 48-24.
The Tigers improve to 17-6, 6-4 in the SEC, handing Ole Miss, their third road loss in conference play. The Rebels entered the game with a 5-2 road mark in the SEC.
