On some nights, you can play great and lose. On some nights, you can play poorly and win. Mizzou did neither of those things in Wichita on Tuesday night. In fact, there are some nights in basketball where things shouldn’t be going your way, but they do. There were a handful of signs that Wichita State was going to end Mizzou’s unbeaten season, but the Tigers pulled out a gutsy 88-84 win in overtime in the first road game of the Dennis Gates era.

After starting the season 7-0, Mizzou had to play away from home for the first time this season. Not only were the Tigers on the road, but they were facing by far their toughest opponent of the year. Coming in at 85 on KenPom, Wichita State was significantly higher than the next closest of Mizzou’s opponents (Penn). The challenges were mounting before the game even started, and as we found out before tip, Isiaih Mosley would be out for the Tigers. Mosley, as Gates said after the game, is dealing with “some personal things” and Gates wants to give him privacy.

The first half went exactly the way Mizzou could’ve wanted it to. Kobe Brown was in foul trouble and picked up his second of the game with around 11 minutes to go in the half. Mizzou, however, was still leading 43-36 at the break. The second half, on the other hand, went in the complete opposite direction.

After trailing by nine, the Shockers went on a 16-0 run to take a seven point lead. Later in the half, Wichita State went on another 10-0 run. In college basketball, the team with more killshots, or 10-0 runs, wins the game 82% of the time. That was not the case at Charles Koch Arena on Tuesday night.

Due to some poor free throw shooting from the Shockers, some coaching adjustments and great execution from players that Mizzou fans probably weren’t expecting to have huge games, Mizzou forced overtime and won it on the road.

Gates credited his players for becoming coaches both on the court and on the bench at the end of the game. He cited Tre Gomillion and Sean East ll as the players who decided to go to a Diamond Press which helped Mizzou close the game in the final four minutes.

It should also be noted that Kobe Brown sat much of the final stretch of both regulation and overtime as Gates decided to play the guys that were having the best nights. Gates noted that Brown stayed engaged while on the bench and said that he turned into a staff member.

Noah Carter led the Tigers with 20 points and eight rebounds and was awarded game MVP via KenPom. Sean East ll was also fantastic and had his best game of the season. East finished with 17 points, five rebounds, four assists and only one turnover. Overall, the Tigers had 16 steals and forced 20 turnovers and won despite the Shockers shooting 15% above their season average from three. Craig Porter Jr. and Jaykwon Walton led the Shockers with 14 apiece.

Mizzou will get two home games now before heading back on the road. The first of two will be against Southeast Missouri State on Sunday and then they’ll have some time off before Kansas comes to town on December 10th. Now, after the road win in Wichita, it’ll be more than likely that Mizzou enters the Kansas game undefeated.