On the road Saturday, No. 12 Missouri found a way to avoid a losing streak: Feed the big fella.
Jeremiah Tilmon's career day powered the Tigers at Bud Walton Arena in an 81-68 victory. The senior center poured in 25 points and pulled down 11 rebounds against the undermanned Razorbacks frontcourt to deliver Mizzou's first win in Fayetteville, Ark., since 2015.
The Tigers (7-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) evened their league record following Wednesday's 20-point loss to No. 7 Tennessee. The loss was the first of the year for Arkansas (9-1, 1-1).
Mizzou point guard Xavier Pinson bounced back from his rough outing against Tennessee, scoring 23 points. Mark Smith struggled with turnovers — he had eight of MU's 21 giveaways — but added 11 points and nine rebounds and finally broke out of his 3-point shooting slump with two timely shots from deep.
Arkansas was missing graduate transfer forward Justin Smith, a pregame scratch with an ankle injury, and the Tigers feasted inside, outscoring Arkansas in the paint 34-22. The Tigers made 16 of 24 dunks and layups, compared to just 8 of 30 from Arkansas.
Mizzou built an 18-point lead with 3:24 left, but during the game's final media timeout, Arkansas coach Eric Musselman was ejected after picking up two technical fouls. His team responded with an 8-0 flurry to cut the lead to 10, but Mark Smith squelched the rally with a corner 3-pointer.
With 6:50 left, Smith splashed his first 3 of the game, his first over Mizzou's last three games. Midway through the half, Dru Smith overcame a shaky, foul-troubled start and drilled another important 3 to keep some distance from the Hogs.
It wasn't always pretty, but Missouri trailed Arkansas for only 14 seconds in the first half and took a 33-30 lead into halftime.
Missouri made an obvious effort to attack the paint early and it paid off. From the opening tip, that was the plan as Pinson lofted a perfect lob to Tilmon for a dunk on the game's opening possession. Resisting those quick and convenient 3-pointers, the Tigers went at the smaller Razorbacks inside, led by Tilmon, who eclipsed his scoring high for the season with a game-high 14 points.
As usual, the Tigers struggled with turnovers, giving the ball away 12 times, and shot just 1 of 8 from 3-point range.
But the Tigers picked up their defense in the halfcourt, holding Arkansas to just eight field goals and 24.2% shooting. The Hogs missed nine of their last 10 shots in the half.
