Tenacity & Revenge Help Spark the Tigers Past Ole’ Miss

 

In Saturday night’s showdown at the Mizzou Arena in Columbia, MO, the No. 21 Tigers showed why they are one of the best teams in the country…when playing at home.  No. 23 Ole’ Miss (18-5, 7-3) came in, after decimating the, then No. 10, Tigers in January 64-49, with something to prove in the SEC, however, they could not get anything going, shooting just 42 percent from the floor and six for 18 from behind the arc.

Mizzou (17-6, 6-4), on the other hand, developed a 23 point lead at one point during the game, lead by Alex Oriakhi who went into “beast mode,” putting up 22 points and 18 rebounds in route to Mizzou’s 98-79 victory. 

 Early on, Oriakhi’s temper got the best of him as he pulled down Mississippi forward, Reginald Buckner and found himself a spot on the Missouri bench.  After a minute to cool down, head coach Frank Haith, got Oriakhi to regroup and refocus on the task at hand.  The senior forward, from the University of Connecticut, then had five rebounds and four points in the next 2:35 off the bench. 

 Point guard, Phil Pressey, passed Anthony Peeler as Missouri’s all-time assist leader with 499 in only his third year of play.  Pressey ended the game with four assists and 22 points.

 Once again, every Missouri starter, besides Lawrence Bowers, scored in double digits and never gave up a lead of more than three points.  The Tigers put up 50 points in the first half, a season best, and had a 16-point lead going into halftime.  Missouri scored 42 points in the paint Saturday, tied for its most paint points in any SEC game this season. The Tigers are now 13-1 when they score more than 30 points in the paint.

Frustrations from Ole’ Miss began to show with around 7 ½ minutes left, when Buckner was tripped by Oriakhi and came up swinging.  Buckner was ejected and Oriakhi was called for a flagrant foul, as well technicals called on Jabari Brown and Lawernce Bowers from Missouri and Murphy Holloway from Mississippi for their roles in the altercation.

 The Tigers will try to revamp their road game against dreary Mississippi State (7-15, 2-8) team Wednesday night at 7 pm and should go in as the favorite to win, however, they are still winless on the road and have yet to prove that they have what it takes to get over that bump in the road.

Texas A&M Defends College Station; Keeps Tigers Winless on the Road

Missouri Tiger head coach Frank Haith said after the Bucknell game on January 5^th, that he would “live and die” with Phil Pressey.  At the time, I don’t think he realized how close to home that comment was.

Thursday night, the Tigers (16-6, 5-4), ranked  21^st in the nation, went into College Station three point favorites and hoped to get their first road win of the season.  The Aggies from A&M had another idea in mind.

Right from the start, both teams came out shooting but Mizzou never had the lead throughout the whole game.  Down 36-30 at halftime, the Aggies eventually developed a 15 point lead that would last most of the second half.

Both teams were very aggressive on the floor as Mizzou had 17 fouls throughout the game to the Aggies 15.  The Tigers’ free throw shooting is what kept them in the game down the stretch making 22 of 24 from the line.

Connecticut transfer, Alex Oriakhi, led Missouri with 15 points and eight rebounds.  In fact, all of the Missouri starters, aside from Lawrence Bowers, were in double digits for the night.

Phil Pressey, who is averaging over seven assists per game, to lead the SEC, had only four Thursday night in addition to his seven turnovers.  His final turnover came at the most inopportune time as the Tigers had just taken their first lead of the game (68-67) on a beautiful three point shot by Lawrence Bowers with 53 seconds left on the clock.

Aggie guard, Fabyon Harris, then turned the ball over on an Oriakhi steal and passed the ball off to his point guard, Phil Pressey.  Pressey made an outrageous pass to the second row of seats behind the Missouri bench and A&M regained possession of the ball.

After his costly turnover, Harris redeemed himself and drained a three-point jumper to give A&M the lead with 15 seconds left on the clock.  Pressey then missed a three-point shot and Keion Bell had a layup blocked after an offensive rebound and time expired.

The Tigers, now 0-5 on the road, have the worst road record of any Top 25 team and have probably tumbled their way out of the polls.  Many are saying that the Tigers are now a bubble team going into March Madness.

Prior to the loss, Bracketologist Joe Lunardi, had Mizzou ranked as a nine seed in the Big Dance.  Now, they are lucky to be a 13 or higher.  Five of the Tigers’ last nine games are on the road.  This will be Haith and the Tigers’ toughest stretch to get back in the good graces of the tournament committee.

The Tigers play Ole’ Miss Saturday at noon ct. in a rematch that resulted in a Missouri 64-49 loss in Oxford, MS.

Ross & The Tigers Roar at Home

Phil Pressey (1) and Earnest Ross (33) are all smiles late in the game against South Carolina. Both men hit key 3-point shots in the second half to help secure the 71-65 win at Mizzou Arena.

COLUMBIA, MO – Junior guard, Earnest Ross, played his first two years of college basketball for the Tigers of Auburn.  Saturday afternoon, he faced them for the first time as a Tiger of another team, Missouri.  During his sophomore season, he led Auburn with 13.1 points and 6.6 rebounds per game.  Saturday he came off the bench, after sitting the first 3 1/2 minutes, to score a season high 23 points.

Mizzou went on to beat Ross’ former team 91-77 in a one-sided battle in Columbia.  Five players from Missouri scored double digits including Connecticut transfer, Alex Oriakhi, who scored his 1,000 career point on a three-point play.  The senior transfer student is averaging 10.4 points per game and 57.7 percent shooting this season.

Keion Bell had a team high 24 and star point guard Phil Pressey, who scored just four points, added 10 assists and moved the ball so well his efforts landed him a spot on ESPN’s Top Ten Plays of the Day.  With those 10 assists, Pressey moves into second place all-time in school history with 491, only six behind the leader, Anthony Peeler.

Auburn tried to put up a fight.  Senior guard Frankie Sullivan led the Tigers with 12 points with two others, Chris Denson and Rob Chubb adding 10.  Auburn, who is 8-13 overall and 2-6 in SEC play, is tied with South Carolina for last place in the conference.  They shot just 35 percent on the day equaled to their team average over the past five games.

Mizzou, on the other hand, shot almost 55 percent.  A bit of a different game than Wednesday night at LSU when they only shot 37 percent.  “This is the first game since Dec. 22 that we’ve had our whole team,” coach Frank Haith said. “That’s what I look at. That’s a blessing.”  The Tigers, 13-0 at home this season,  join Florida as the only SEC teams to stay undefeated at home.  Missouri, however, is winless on the road this year and plays five of its next seven outside their comfort zone of Mizzou Arena.