The Missouri Tigers defeated the Mississippi State Bulldogs 84-79. A game Mizzou needed to win if it wanted to have any shot at making the NCAA Tournament. As usual, Mark Mitchell was the leader for Mizzou with his 19 points, leading the team, with a dozen of them coming in the second half. 

It was a hard-fought win as Mizzou struggled to put Mississippi State away. The Tigers were an abysmal 1-7 on their final field goal attempts, including not making a shot from the field in the final 3:02. Mizzou did struggle from the line today, a case all too familiar for them, but were able to hit their free throws when it mattered to mercifully close out the game. 

Trent Pierce, in his first start of the year, put up good numbers with 13 points and five rebounds. He cooled off, though, considerably as eight of his first 13 came in the opening minutes of the game. T.O. Barrett had an abysmal shooting day from the field but was perfect from the line as he had 16 points to go along with his eight boards.

Annor Boateng had an impressive slam dunk but then went down hard with an injury, needing to be stretchered off. Coach Gates said postgame, nine times out of 10, he’ll be out the rest of the season. 

Coach Gates, in his postgame presser, said, “It’s tough to lead a game wire to wire. Our guys didn’t relax at all, but Mississippi State got back into it, give them credit, and that’s what the SEC is about, you’ll have one-possession games.” Coach Gates also wanted to shout out the fans for coming out and Mizzou legend Norm Stewart for starting coaches vs cancer. 

Games like this one aren’t going to boost Missouri’s resume for March, but they are important still. If Mizzou does hope to reach March, then these are the gimme games, not so much that they have to win, but they can’t afford to lose. A similar style game awaits them next Saturday when they hit the road to take on South Carolina.