Tigers Drop Seventh Straight to Ole Miss, 76-73
By: Matt Horn
COLUMBIA, Mo. – The losing streak continued Wednesday night for Missouri as Ole Miss handed the Tigers their seventh straight loss 76-73.
Attendance at Mizzou Arena was a season-low 4,734.
Mizzou held a four-point lead with under a minute left in the game before the Rebels went on a 7-0 scoring run to close. First team All-SEC Stefan Moody was the Rebels’ leading scorer with 23 points and eight rebounds – it was Moody’s 18th game this season recording over 20 points.
Wes Clark played one of his best games of the season with 20 points and five assists. Clark went 10-of-10 at the line and played a season high 34 minutes.
The two teams combined for 30 turnovers in the game. Missouri freshman Terrence Phillips had five steals to contribute to 17 total Rebel turnovers.
“Both teams turned it over a little bit too much,” Rebels’ Head Coach Andy Kennedy said. “You don’t survive 17 turnovers on the road in this league, but the fact that we shot close to 50 percent from three and over 80 percent from the line allows you to do that.”
POST-GAME AUDIO FROM ANDY KENNEDY:
Moody was 4-of-9 from beyond the arc in the first half and accounted for 19 of the Rebels’ 35 points at halftime. He sat for only two minutes throughout the game.
Ole Miss led for 26 minutes until a Cullen VanLeer 3-pointer gave Missouri a 53-52 lead with 9:10 left in the game. After the sixth lead change of the half, Missouri began to foul to stop the clock, and the Rebels pulled away.
“We competed for 40 minutes tonight,” Phillips said. “If we can do that for the rest of the season, its just setting us up for next season- for success.”
POST-GAME AUDIO FROM TERRENCE PHILLIPS, NAMON WRIGHT, AND KIM ANDERSON:
Phillips scored 14 while fellow freshman VanLeer, Namon Wright and Kevin Puryear combined for 31. While things may be looking up for next season, Missouri has South Carolina, Texas A&M and LSU still on their schedule this year.
The return of Tramaine Isabell didn’t do much to help. The sophomore saw just three minutes after a three-game absence for missing practice.
The Tigers will be in Alabama Saturday to take on the Crimson Tide at 2 p.m. CST. Missouri is looking for their second SEC win while Alabama tries to improve to 4-6 in conference play.