COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Missouri basketball team extinguished a couple streaks Wednesday night in dramatic fashion.
The shorthanded Tigers steered out of their two-game losing skid and snapped a five-game losing streak to Arkansas with a come-from-behind 79-76 victory over the No. 25 Razorbacks at Mizzou Arena.
Arkansas led by 10 with 5:07 left until Dennis Gates’ Tigers (14-4, 3-3 Southeastern Conference) erupted down the stretch.
Three straight baskets by Sean East II kept the Tigers alive late, then a clutch corner 3-pointer by DeAndre Gholston with 2:28 left evened the score at 67-67. Gholston wasn’t done, tying the score again in the final minute with a fade-away jumper on the baseline.
On Arkansas’ next possession, D’Moi Hodge made the defensive play of the game, stepping in front of Devo Davis to draw a charge with 43 seconds left. From there, Kobe Brown drained a pair of free throws with 29 seconds left to push Mizzou ahead for good. MU’s Nick Honor swiped the ball clean from Arkansas’ Jalen Graham in the frontcourt to all but clinch the victory, and in the final seconds, the Tigers sank six more free throws to send the Hogs home until next year.
The Razorbacks’ loss, their fourth straight since beating the Tigers two weeks ago, dropped Eric Musselman’s team to 12-6 and 1-5 in the SEC.
Brown led the Tigers with 17 points with Gholston adding 16 off the bench.
It only gets more difficult for the Tigers (13-5, 2-4) from here: No. 4 Alabama (16-2, 6-0) visits Columbia on Saturday.
The Tigers got off to a brutal start on the offensive end, missing their first seven shots and 11 of their first 12. Even the long-awaited return of Isiaih Mosley couldn’t spark some scoring. The transfer guard from Missouri State entered the game in the fourth minute with a warm greeting from the home crowd, his first appearance since the Tigers played UCF in Miami on Dec. 17. Mosley missed his first three shots — all from 3-point range — then finally broke through with a drive and short jumper with five minutes left in the half.
Speaking of rare appearances, with forward Noah Carter unavailable, 6-10 forward Mohamed Diarra continued to see his role expand with regular playing time. And just when the Tigers needed an offensive splash the junior college transfer drained a corner 3-pointer, his first of the season.
In a first-half slog stalled by constant fouls, Brown poked the ball loose from Ricky Council IV deep in the backcourt and ignited his own personal fast-break, ending with a tumbling toss to the rim like he was auditioning for the gymnastics team. Brown added a free throw to get Mizzou back within three of the lead.
The Tigers took their first lead with two straight 3-pointers from another unlikely source, freshman forward Aidan Shaw, who began the game shooting just 2 of 10 from deep all season.
Mosley and Gholston took turns carrying the Tigers’ scoring late in the half and D’Moi Hodge put Mizzou in front, albeit briefly, with a transition dunk in the half’s final minute. Davis splashed a corner 3 just ahead of the halftime buzzer to put the Hogs in front 35-34. The Tigers turned Arkansas’ 14 points into 18 points, more than half their total for the half.
It was a clunky half on both sides as Arkansas and Mizzou combined for more fouls (25) than field goals (21).
Mizzou used a quick 7-0 surge early in the second half, the kind that carried MU to last month’s signature wins and pushed the Tigers into the national rankings. After a transition 3-pointer from Honor, Hodge stole a pass at midcourt and whipped a pass to Brown for a crowd-exploding dunk — and a quick timeout from Arkansas’ bench.
Arkansas still had soe the Hogs charged back with three straight dunks and continued to control the boards, going ahead 53-47 on a Council put-back after his own miss. The Hogs built their lead from there, moving ahead by double digits down the stretch until Mizzou’s late spurt.
Gates had to use his bench creatively without Carter in his rotation. The team's No. 3 scorer and No. 2 rebounder was ruled out due to health and safety precautions, the team announced 80 minutes before tip-off. Reserve center Mabor Majak also missed the game for the same reason.
Carter started MU's first 10 games and has since been the first forward off the bench the last seven contests. The 6-foot-6 Northern Iowa transfer averages 10.7 points and 4.7 rebounds per game while shooting 49.6% from the floor.
“Man it’s hurting me I can’t be out there with my brothers right now…keep battling and let’s win this game,” Carter tweeted at halftime.
