Playing for the first time in more than a week at a place where no Missouri team has ever won, Cuonzo Martin’s Tigers came to Florida on Wednesday with postseason seeding stakes on the line.
After weeks of stops and starts, perhaps this was indeed the turning point of Mizzou’s season.
The Tigers can thank Dru Smith.
The senior guard played like a first-team All-Southeastern Conference guard and scored the game-winning basket just before the final buzzer in a 72-70 victory, the finishing touches on one of the best games he’s played in two years for the Tigers. Smith finished with 17 points, nine assists and six steals.
The Tigers (14-7, 8-7 SEC) held off Florida to record their first win at the O’Connell Center in Gainesville, Fla., in five visits, snapped their streak of three straight midweek losses and captured another valuable Quad 1 victory for their NCAA Tournament credentials.
Xavier Pinson broke out of his slump with 14 points, while Mitchell Smith gave the Tigers a career-best 14 points. Jeremiah Tilmon added 12 points before fouling out, while Mark Smith added 11 points in MU’s balanced attack.
With the game tied 70-70, Mizzou had possession coming out of a timeout with 15 seconds left. Dru Smith got the ball on the wing with Florida’s Tre Mann guarding him, blew past his defender and attacked the baseline, dropping a reverse layup for the game-winner.
Long before then, Mizzou continued its trend of strong first-half play on the road, grabbing a 36-29 halftime lead. More like Florida handed the Tigers the advantage. The Gators turned the ball over 15 times on 35 possessions, resulting in 18 Mizzou points directly off the turnovers. The giveaways spoiled a strong shooting half for the Gators, who connected on 12 of 22 shots from the field, but at one point went scoreless for five minutes and 27 seconds.
Florida opened with a 7-0 spurt, prompting a quick Cuonzo Martin timeout. Mizzou immediately answered with an 8-0 run, spurred by a couple Mark Smith jumpers.
The Gators regained control midway through the half with a seven-point lead, but the Tigers answered with their most reliable option: feed Tilmon. On back-to-back possessions, Mizzou found the senior center diving to the rim for easy baskets.
MU regained the lead 27-25 just ahead of the final media timeout with a Mark Smith pull-up jumper along the baseline. Then it was Dru Smith’s turn. The crafty guard was his most crafty on an inbounds play, bouncing a pass to himself off the rump of Gators center Colin Castleton for a sneaky layup, the final points in an 8-0 run. Dru Smith ended the half with nine points, six assists and five steals.
The Tigers weren’t done. Pinson snapped out of his scoring slump with back-to-back 3s for the half’s biggest lead, 35-27.
Mizzou opened the second half with a Mitchell Smith 3-pointer for a 10-point lead but didn’t score another field goal for four minutes as the Gators crawled back into the game. Just when Florida had ripped off a 7-0 run to get within three, Castleton killed his own team’s momentum with a technical foul for yelling at the officials, leading to a couple Mizzou free throws to stop the surge.
The Tigers stayed in front and responded to every Florida burst, including a much-needed Pinson 3-pointer with 6:02 left just when the Gators had gotten within a point of the lead.
Mann drew Tilmon’s fourth foul with 4:11 left on a three-point play, but the Tigers pushed their lead to eight with a huge Mitchell Smith 3-pointer with 2:27 left, giving him a career-high 14 points.
But the Gators wouldn’t go away. Tilmon fouled out with 19 seconds left trying to grab an offensive rebound with his team ahead by two. Castleton tied the game with a pair of free throws, setting up Smith’s last-second heroics.
