The Missouri Tigers, behind another strong paint performance by senior center Jeremiah Tilmon, defeated the South Carolina Gamecocks on Tuesday night at Mizzou Arena, 81-70, in a game broadcast on KTTN FM 92.3.
Tilmon led Mizzou with 19 points, 10 rebounds, and three blocked shots, with Mark Smith adding 18 points, and Dru Smith 16 points. The win improves Missouri to 9-2 overall, the program’s best 11-game start since the 10-1 opening to the 2013-2014 season.
SEC leading scorer A.J. Lawson of the Gamecocks was held to five points on just 2-of-9 shooting accuracy.
Mizzou hits the road for a two-game swing at #6 Tennessee on Saturday night at 7:30, followed by a Tuesday trip to “The Plains” to take on Auburn.
In Monday’s Associated Press poll, Missouri dropped to #19, with the Tigers joining Tennessee and SEC-leading #18 Alabama as the only three Southeastern Conference squads in the weekly rankings.
Other SEC Tuesday night men’s scores were:
Alabama 105, LSU 75
Florida 75, Tennessee 49
Ole Miss 64, Mississippi State 46
The Kansas Jayhawks, ranked #9 in the country, lost at #2 Baylor on Monday night, 77-69, with Jared Butler on the Bears scoring a season-high 30 points to go with eight assists. It marks the first back-to-back losses for KU in Big 12 play in almost eight years.
On Monday night, the Mizzou women lost at home to LSU 66-64. Aijha Blackwell had 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Tigers (5-4, 1-3), her fifth double-double of the season. The MU women will host #7 Texas A&M on Sunday afternoon at 4 o’clock.
