Missouri torches the nets as the Tigers beat Alabama

To join the MizzouToday community click here for our sign up page and get either a month-to-month subscription or save some cash with a year-long sign up.

A Mizzou Arena suite wasn’t the only thing on fire Wednesday night.

While a suite spread smoke through the Missouri Tigers’ home after the game (it was put out quickly after and no injuries were reported), the No. 15 Tigers were scorching the nets all night to take a 110-98 win against the No. 4 Alabama Crimson Tide, giving Missouri its third win against a top-5 opponent this season.

“You score 110 points in a game, no overtime, it says we’re continuing to take the steps we need to take, one at a time,” Missouri coach Dennis Gates said. “I’m proud of the direction we’re going in as it relates to getting better. I still do’t think our team has played its very best.”

The Tigers shot 60.3 percent from the field (35-of-58) and 39.1 percent from 3 (9-of-23) while connecting on 31-of-47you free throws.

And as expected, Alabama was on fire as well, connecting on 35-of-65 (53.8 percent) overall, 13-of-31 (41.9 percent) from 3 and 15-of-21 (71.4 percent) from the line.

In the end, it was a hot start that created the final advantage.

The Tigers won the tipoff and after a Tony Perkins miss, he grabbed his own rebound and kicked it out to Trent Pierce for a left-corner 3.

Then Pierce tipped a pass, the first of the Tigers’ 12 steals, leading to an Anthony Robinson 3 from the left wing off a drive-and-dish assist from Tamar Bates.

Perkins then grabbed defensive rebound and turned it into an assist to Robinson on a layup that was granted goaltending, before Bates turned a steal into a layup and Pierce drove from the left wing for a tough layup.

At the end of the opening spurt, Alabama called timeout with Missouri up 12-0.

“We just have a lot of weapons,” Missouri forward Mark Mitchell said. “I think we can beat you inside, we can obviously beat you outside and I think that makes it hard for teams to game plan.”

The Tigers stayed hot throughout the first half, building to a 15-point lead when Caleb Grill turned a steal into a Tony Perkins swinging assist to Bates for a 3 from the left wing, sending the Mizzou Arena crowd into hysterics as the Tigers led 24-9 with 14:37 left in the first half.

“It was electric inside of Mizzou Arena,” Gates said. “And our guys just continue to feed off of it.”

Then a Robinson steal turned into a Grill layup to create a 33-17 lead and a Mitchell dunk off a Pierce assist built a 42-25 advantage.

The Tigers built as far as a 20-point lead in the first half when Bates tipped a pass, which turned into a Robinson assist on a Mitchell fast-break dunk.

The Tigers put up 59 points, the most they have scored in the first half of a conference game since 61 against Nebraska on Feb. 7, 1996, shooting 61.1 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from 3. They led 59-46 at halftime.

Mitchell went on to lead the Tigers with a new career high of 31 points, resetting the mark he set just a week ago with 25 against Oklahoma.

“I got some easy ones early to get me going,” Mitchell said. “… I’m a downhill driver, it’s my best strength, and teams were taking that away. So now, just picking and choosing, we ran a couple sets to give me easy ones. And once you get going, it opens it up and you just have a feeling that you can get anything you want.”

Grill ended with a double-double of 25 points and 10 rebounds, out-rebounding any individual on the Crimson Tide except 6-foot-7 Mouhamed Dioubate, who also ended with 10.

“I think it’s a strength of mine,” Grill said of his rebounding. “But at the end of the day, it’s all about winning. You’ve got to want the ball more than the person that you’re going against.”

Robinson added 14 points, three steals, two rebounds and two assists, while Bates had 13 points and four steals and Perkins had 10 points and four assists.

Pierce added eight points, six rebounds and a career-high five assists.

“I’m proud of his growth and what he’s been able to do,” Gates said of Pierce. “He’s probably down on himself about, you know, going 1-for-5 from the free-throw line, but for the most part, he follows the game plan and does a tremendous job. Those assists, he had five assists and that’s a very good job from a guy with that size, that skill, that ability.”

Missouri maintained a double-digit lead until the 11:43 mark of the second half, but when the Crimson Tide cut it to nine for the first time after a Labaron Philon jumper, Jacob Crews responded with a 3 from the left wing.

Then Crews added a turnaround jumper off a Mitchell assist to put the Tigers up 12 again.

“Jacob Crews did a tremendous job sparking us,” Gates said.

Alabama then cut the lead to six with 9:51 to play, but the Tigers responded with a 9-0 run to create an 88-73 lead with 7:51 left.

The Tide cut it back to six with 50 seconds left to play, but the Tigers hit their free throws down the stretch (though struggled from the line through the game before then) to create the final margin.

Alabama won the rebounding battle 33-32, but Missouri forced 14 Crimson Tide turnovers and scored 21 points off of them. Missouri turned the ball over eight times and Alabama scored 12 points on those chances.

Missouri shot just 66 percent from the free-throw line, but still made 10 more free throws than Alabama attempted.

Every other battle was close. Bench points was a 34-30 Missouri win and points in the paint went the Tigers’ way 40-38, while the Tide won second-chance points 14-13.

But Missouri led for 39:28 of a possible 40 minutes and did not trail.

The Tigers (20-8, 9-4) will hit the road to face Arkansas at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Stay up to date on all the Mizzou news with your premium subscription.

Talk about this story in the story thread and discuss so much more in The Tiger Walk.

Make sure you’re caught up on all the Tiger news and headlines.