Starkville, Miss. – No. 20/21 University of Missouri men’s basketball dominated No. 14/13 Mississippi State on Saturday afternoon, posting the largest road win over a ranked team in school history with an 88-61 triumph.
The 27-point margin of victory more than doubles the previous best total for Mizzou on the road against a ranked team with the previous high of 13 coming in 1956 against No. 17 Kansas State, 85-72.
The victory also marked the 100th in the career for Whitten Family Men’s Basketball head coach Dennis Gates, collecting 50 at Cleveland State from 2019 to 2022 and 50 at Mizzou the last three seasons.
With the win, the nationally-ranked Tigers improve to 17-4 on the season and 6-2 in SEC play, while the Bulldogs drop to 16-6 and 4-5 against league foes.
MIZZOU LEADERS
Graduate student Caleb Grill was unstoppable on the day, tallying 20 points to lead the Tigers. Entering the weekend as the nation’s top 3-point shooter, Grill made 6-of-11 from 3-point range and 7-of-12 overall in the winning effort.
Classmate Josh Gray added his first double-double of the season, scoring a season-best 10 points to go with 11 rebounds. Tamar Bates added 14 points in the victory, while Tony Perkins paced the Mizzou attack with five assists.
GAME RECAP
The Tigers came out firing, racing to an early 10-2 lead thanks to hot shooting to start the game. Mississippi State responded with an 8-0 run to set up a tight opening 20 minutes of action before a late run gave the visitors a double-digit lead heading into the half.
Leading by four points, 35-31, the Tigers scored the final 10 points of the period to head into the break up by 14. Highlighting the final push of the period was Grill knocking down a triple from the logo as Mizzou took a 45-31 lead into the locker room.
Mississippi State cut its deficit to 10 early in the second but a 15-0 run by the Tigers quickly ended any hopes of a comeback. Grill scored eight points during the spurt with Gray adding four as the Tigers moved in front by 25, 62-37, with 13:14 remaining the game.
From there, the hosts were never within 20 points again as the Tigers cruised to the 27-point victory.
TEAM STATS
Mizzou shot 55.0 percent in the winning effort, including a 15-of-32 mark from 3-point range. The Tigers also held the Bulldogs to 36.4 percent shooting with an 8-of-26 mark from beyond the arc.
UP NEXT
The Tigers look to continue their winnings ways against ranked foes, facing off against No. 8/8 Tennessee on Wednesday night. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. CT in Knoxville on SEC Network.
