COLUMBIA, Mo. — For the second time in seven days, Missouri took down a nationally ranked opponent Wednesday. And, again, it wasn’t particularly close.
For just the third time in program history, the Tigers defeated Kentucky, opening Southeastern Conference play with an 89-75 victory over the No. 19 Wildcats at sold-out Mizzou Arena.
In the fourth chapter of a brutal five-game stretch, the Tigers won their third straight — and can finish what once seemed like an insurmountable month of games with a 4-1 record if they beat Arkansas next Wednesday.
At this rate, count out Mizzou (12-1) at your own risk. Wednesday's win matched the Tigers' win total from last season. Kentucky fell to 8-4.
MU’s Kobe Brown, coming off a career-high 31 points in last week’s Braggin’ Rights win over Illinois, barely cooled off, powering the Tigers (12-1) with 30 points. D’Moi Hodge added 15, while Sean East II supplied a spark off the bench with 12 points, all in the first half.
Mizzou erupted out of the locker room, surging to a 17-7 lead through the first six minutes. The Tigers hit five straight shots in the opening minutes and three of their first four 3-pointers.
East's layup and free throw snapped a string of eight scoreless possessions for the Tigers midway through the first half. He followed with a floater in transition, plus a couple free throws for seven straight points, giving MU its biggest lead 24-13. East, giving the Tigers a major spark off the bench, matched Brown’s team-high 12 points at halftime.
Kentucky came into Wednesday’s game ranked No. 8 nationally in 3-point shooting, making 39.9%. But the Cats missed nine of their first 10 shots from behind the 3-point arc. At the eight-minute timeout of the first half, UK lost one of its best shooters, C.J. Fredrick, when he headed to the locker room with an apparent hand or wrist injury. UK finished 8 of 23 from deep.
Instead, it was the Tigers making huge 3s. Brown and Hodge took turns burying 3s in the first half, while East and Noah Carter got into the shooting splurge after halftime. MU shot 10 of 25 from behind the arc.
Eight minutes into the second half, Hodge lifted the Tigers out of a shooting funk with a transition 3-pointer, extending MU’s lead to 61-47. With 5:25 left, Brown missed a 3 from the wing but drew a foul from Oscar Tshiebwe, the big man’s third, and sank all three of his free throws for an 81-61 lead, MU’s biggest of the night at that point.
Tshiebwe, the reigning national player of the year, finished with his typical busy box score — 23 points, 19 rebounds — but the Tigers minimized the damage from UK’s other scoring threats. Star freshman Cason Wallace scored 19 but got off to a sluggish start.
Freshman Aidan Shaw, sporting a new hairstyle, barely got off the bench last Thursday against Illinois but played a big role in Mizzou’s dominant first half. Midway through the half, Shaw went after a defensive rebound against Tshiebwe and wrestled with the All-American for the ball all the way over to Mizzou’s bench, where the officials called a jump ball. UK had the possession arrow, but Shaw’s toughness against the country’s best rebounder won over the crowd.
A few minutes later, Shaw picked up MU’s full-court press after a made basket and poked the ball loose from UK point guard Sahvir Wheeler but not before Wheeler touched the ball as it skittered out of bounds, good for a UK turnover. Shaw went scoreless in seven minutes in the first half and missed all three of his shots, but delivered the impact expected of the rookie.
