Missouri closed the game on a 15-2 run over the final 4:37 for a 73-68 road win over Kentucky Wednesday night.
Mark Mitchell led the Tigers with 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the floor. Jayden Stone was right behind with 20 points and three 3-pointers. Two of those 3-pointers came in the second half.
Kentucky took a 66-58 lead with an Otega Oweh three-pointer, but then collapsed down the stretch with breakdowns on defense and multiple turnovers on offense. Oweh led Kentucky with 20 points and three 3-pointers.
Stone had a dunk and 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions, and Mitchell gave the Tigers the lead for good with a jumper following a turnover with 36 seconds left.
Stone sank four free throws to close out the victory.
It was a wildly entertaining first half, highlighted by Oweh hitting a near-80-foot heave at the buzzer to cut the deficit to 33-32 at halftime.
Head coach Mark Pope got a technical with 1:23 left in the first half after arguing with the officials for not calling a foul on Missouri. Kentucky center Jayden Quaintance couldn’t collect a foul call in the paint during a play on the previous possession.
Kentucky struggled early, hitting just three of their first 11 shots.
With the Wildcats trailing 19-12 with less than nine minutes to play in the first half, Kentucky rallied. Oweh’s coast-to-coast transition lay-up capped a 7-0 run for the Wildcats to tie the game.
It was part of a first half where Oweh led all scorers with 13 points, including his long 3-pointer to close out the first 20 minutes.
Missouri kept the pressure on Kentucky throughout the game. The Tigers shot 50% from the field in the first half, with their leading scorer on the season, Mitchell, leading the way with 10 points.
The Tigers also wouldn’t let the Wildcats pull away in the second half, even after falling behind by multiple possessions on multiple occasions, with the lead never creeping above eight points.
Thanks in part to the decisive 15-2 run, Missouri finished the game shooting 51.9% from the floor and 6-of-17 from beyond the arc.
Kentucky, who has struggled shooting this season, finished at 43.1% and 7-of-18 from beyond the arc.
–Field Level Media
