Mizzou falls victim to an upset, season comes to a close in first round of NCAA Tournament
WICHITA, Kan. (KMIZ)
The madness of March proved too much for Mizzou, on Thursday night.
No. 6-seeded Tiger men's hoops fell victim to a classic NCAA Tournament upset to No. 11-seeded Drake, on Thursday night, 67-57.
You can watch the full postgame interviews with center Josh Gray, guard Jacob Crews and guard Tony Perkins in the video players below.
The Bulldogs had the Tiger offense looking completely out of sorts in the first half. Drake's slow-paced style of play and aggressive defense, limited the MU to just 33 percent shooting from the field in the first 20 minutes. Head coach Dennis Gates' team couldn't hit from deep, either. The group shot at an abysmal 25 percent clip from 3-point range in that first half.
Drake's aggressive play also forced Mizzou to commit nine turnovers in the opening half, which the Bulldogs converted into 13 points.
After leading by as many as 10 points in the opening half, Drake came out of the locker room with the same intensity. After the Tigers had cut its deficit to five points, courtesy of a couple of Tony Perkins free throws, the Bulldogs got back up by nine.
Bulldog standout Bennett Stirtz was an unstoppable force, on Thursday night. He registered 14 first-half points and added on seven more in the second half to total 21 in the first round win. He added on four assists.
About seven minutes into the second half, back-to-back jams from Isaia Howard and Tavion Banks brought the Bulldog crowd to its feet, as Drake held its biggest lead of the game over Mizzou, 43-28.
Tiger guard Tamar Bates managed to break up an 11-3 scoring run from Drake midway through the second half with a lay in, but the Mizzou offense could never truly find its typical rhythm. That is: Until the final 10 minutes of the game.
Offense and defense finally came together for Coach Gates' Tiger team, at least for a stretch, as energy flooded back into the black and gold at Intrust Bank Arena. With about 6:30 minutes left to play, a couple of free throws from guard Anthony Robinson got Mizzou back within four points of the Bulldogs.
From there, the Tiger surged back.
MU knew that getting to the line was the only way to get it done and they sure did in the late stages of the second half. With about five minutes to go, another pair of free throws made it a two-point game in Wichita.
However, the last sign of life from the Tigers proved to be to no avail.
Drake went on a 6-0 run to get separation from MU once more and continued to get the foul line to secure the upset.
Coming into Thursday's game, there were two Drake stats to watch.
- The Bulldogs have limited opponents to an average of 58 points in the 2024-25 campaign.
- Their opponents have only shot about 31 percent from 3-point range this season.
Those two categories came back to bite Mizzou in the NCAA Tournament, as the Tigers scored 57 points and shot at a 28 percent clip from beyond the arc.
Stirtz led the scoring charge for Drake, as the only Bulldog to get into double-digit scoring, on Thursday.
As for Mizzou, Caleb Grill (14) and Bates (10) were the only two players to get into double-digits.
Gates and company finish the season with a 22-12 overall record and one of the greatest turn-arounds that college basketball has seen in quite some time. The group went from an 0-18 mark in conference play just on season ago to a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament one year later, despite the end result.
