Mizzou loses second half lead, drops rivalry rematch with Arkansas
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KMIZ)
No. 15 Mizzou Men's Basketball's three-game winning streak has been snapped.
The Tigers (20-7) split their season series with Arkansas (16-11), falling 92-85 on the road. With Saturday's loss, MU is locked in a three-way tie with Tennessee and Texas A&M for the No. 4 spot in the SEC standings.
After Mizzou never trailed against No. 4 Alabama on Wednesday night, the Tigers were forced to play from behind at Bud Walton Arena. Arkansas posted a 10-2 scoring run to assemble an early 10-4 lead, following the first media timeout.
MU responded with six straight points but did not regain the lead until Caleb Grill hit back-to-back three-pointers more than three minutes later.
Both teams remained within two possessions of the lead until the final 10 minutes of the first half. Mizzou constructed the first three-score advantage of the contest by recording 10 straight points, five of which were scored by Marques Warrick to stretch MU's lead to 32-25 at 6:14-mark of the first half.
Arkansas cut Mizzou's lead down to one-possession just once during the next six minutes, and head coach Dennis Gates' group returned to the locker room with a seven-point halftime lead, following a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Warrick.
Warrick, Grill and Jacob Crews all reached double figures in the first 20 minutes, and the team shot more than 50% from the field in that half. However, MU uncharacteristically turned the ball over on 12 different occasions before the break, leading to 17 points off takeaways from the Razorbacks.
Although MU entered the second half with a three-score lead, Arkansas capitalized on a pair of rallies to send the Tigers back to Columbia empty-handed. First, the Razorbacks regained the lead for the first time in nearly 13 minutes with a 9-2 scoring run, which featured five of Johnell Davis' 18 points. Then, head coach John Calipari's crew strung together a 12-2 scoring run to take its biggest lead, an 11-point advantage over the Tigers.
Mizzou managed to get that double-digit deficit down to just two-scores on several occasions but was unable to complete a late comeback.
Five different Tigers reached double figures with Mark Mitchell posting a team-best 17 points. Warrick (16), Grill (13), Crews (10) and Tony Perkins (10) also scored double-digit points. Collectively, MU finished the game with a .441 field goal percentage.
However, turnovers and fouls were difference-makers in this contest. The Tigers committed 18 total turnovers, which resulted in 30 points for the Razorbacks. Arkansas also went to the charity stripe 37 times compared to MU's 17 trips to the free throw line.
Up next - Mizzou returns home for a date with South Carolina on Tuesday, Feb. 25. Tipoff at Mizzou Arena is scheduled for 8 p.m.
