Tigers String Together Wins, Defeat S. Carolina 72-67
February 17, 2016 | Sports,
By: Garrett Dvorkin
For the first time in Kim Anderson’s tenure, the Mizzou Men’s Basketball team has back-to-back SEC conference wins. After Missouri had lost nine games in a row, they have clawed back with two straight wins. Anderson and his squad continued their momentum Tuesday after beating Tennessee Saturday, besting conference foe South Carolina 72-67.
Missouri led for almost the entire game tonight. The Tigers scored first and didn’t relinquish the lead until the 3:41 mark in the second half. South Carolina only had the lead for a total of 38 seconds.
Ryan Rosburg has been hot as of late. After scoring 24 against Vanderbilt and 21 against Tennessee, Rosburg contributed 18 points Tuesday, with five rebounds and an assist. It wasn’t just his scoring that helped propel the Tigers to victory, it was also his starch defense in the paint and his ability to draw fouls. Rosburg was certainly a force to be reckoned with.
For a team that sits third in the SEC standings, this was by all means not a good night for the South Carolina Gamecocks. Poor offensive series and foul trouble doomed SC as they were never really able to get going against the Tigers. As expected, South Carolina’s leading scorer this season, Michael Carrera, played well, with 14 points to go along with 10 rebounds. It was a non-starter Duane Notice who put the Tigers on notice Tuesday. Notice had 21 points shooting 8-of-14 from the field combined with six rebounds, making him the impact player for South Carolina. As three of the Gamecocks’ starters were in foul trouble (Carerra, Kacinas, and Silva all with four fouls), Notice’s one foul was very important.
Although this player didn’t play in the game, junior guard Wes Clark was the talk of the stadium at Mizzou Arena. Clark, who averaged 9.8 points per game this season, was dismissed from the team due to his failure to “meet the academic expectations of the Mizzou Athletics Department” (Statement from Mizzou Men’s Basketball). Although the junior was a focal point for the Tigers’ offense, they didn’t seem to miss him too much as the team scored their third-most points in a game in conference play. As the season winds down, we will see how Clark’s absence will affect the Tigers as they try to win their third straight game at Arkansas on Saturday.