COLUMBIA, Mo. – Jacob Crews had a season high 19 points and hit six three pointers as Missouri knocked off Jacksonville State 83-72 on Tuesday night at Mizzou Arena to move to 10-1 on the season.
It was not an easy path for Mizzou to get to their tenth straight win. With just under six minutes left in the game, Jacksonville State held a 68-67 lead. However, it was the last lead the Gamecocks would have. After that, Missouri outscored Jacksonville State 16-5, as Crews hit three triples in that time span to help close the game.
“I’m excited with what he did tonight,” Missouri head men’s basketball coach Dennis Gates said. “That’s the Jacob Crews that I think will continue to show up and help us.”
Gates also deployed a zone defense late to help stop Jacksonville State’s offense in its tracks. The Gamecocks went 1-6 from the field in the final five and a half minutes of play along with two turnovers down the stretch that cost them dearly.
“I delayed that zone for a reason,” Gates said. “I didn’t want to give them too much time to adjust, and I think our guys definitely showed up in a way that was honorable.”
Jacksonville State set the tone early in their upset bid. The Gamecocks started the game on a 7-0 run, and Missouri went scoreless for the first three and a half minutes of the game. Tony Perkins then scored eight straight points for the Tigers to get their offense going. He would not score again for the rest of the game.
The rest of the first half would be a back-and-forth battle. The Tigers only made three of their first 15 shots, but made 10 of their final 14 to close out the frame. Jacksonville State was hot on offense themselves, shooting 51% from the field in the first half, and going 5-9 from 3. At the break, Missouri led 41-40.
Jacksonville State hung around in the second half. The Gamecocks made 13 of their first 20 shots in the second half, and used multiple quick runs to stay in front of Missouri. Jacksonville State led for half of the first 34 minutes of play, but could not end the game on a high note.
Missouri used a balanced scoring effort to lead them to their tenth straight win. Mark Mitchell scored 18 points, the eighth time he’s finished in double figures this season. Trent Pierce scored 12 points, and Anthony Robinson chipped in with 11. The Tigers’ bench, which is used more than any other team in the country, scored 40 points which accounted for 48% of Missouri’s points.
Missouri had a lot of success in the turnover battle. The Tigers only had three turnovers on the night, a season low, and the team dished out 14 assists. Missouri also forced 12 Jacksonville State turnovers and scored 14 points off of them.
The problem for Missouri was rebounding. Jacksonville State outrebounded the Tigers 39-28, the most rebounds Missouri has allowed in a game this season. The Gamecocks also had 16 offensive rebounds against Missouri’s defense, making it the third consecutive game where Missouri allowed that many offensive boards. That turned into Jacksonville State scoring 19 second chance points.
“We lost the rebounding war. That’s something we’ve got to fix,” Dennis Gates said.
Missouri has now won 10 games under Dennis Gates for a second season, as the Tigers dodged what would’ve been a major bullet in their non conference resume. Missouri is now 1-0 against Jacksonville State in program history, as Tuesday’s meeting was the first ever between the two sides. It’s the eighth time that Missouri has scored 80 points in a game this season. Missouri only hit that mark seven times last season.
Jacksonville State (6-5) narrowly missed their chance to pick up only their second ever win against an SEC opponent. It would’ve been their first since the 1952-53 season, when they beat Alabama. The Gamecocks are now 1-3 on the road this season, and gave up more points tonight than in any previous game this season. They were led in scoring by Jaron Pierre Jr., who scored 18 points and had 9 rebounds. He was held scoreless in the final 14 minutes, and had four turnovers in the second half. The Gamecocks have now lost four of their last six games, and will look to regroup when they travel to Eastern Kentucky on Saturday for their final road game before league play in Conference USA.
Missouri will look to make it 11 straight wins when they make the short trip to St. Louis on Sunday, December 22. There they will face the Illinois Fighting Illini (7-3) in the annual Braggin’ Rights Game. Tip-off from the Enterprise Center is slated for 12:00 p.m. David Campbell and Jonathan Lidskin will have the live call of the game for KCOU Sports on 88.1 FM and streaming live on kcou.fm.