Mizzou’s Aidan Shaw slams one home during the Tigers’ win over Mississippi State, Thursday night in Nashville. (Photo courtesy: Mizzou Athletics)
scoreboard
Terrance Williams
Staff Writer
NASHVILLE, TN — The University of Missouri men’s basketball team used strong defense and a 16-4 run over the final four minutes of the game to defeat Mississippi State in the second round of the SEC Tournament, Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
Missouri, which came into the event as the No. 7 seed, got 25 points from senior guard Tamar Bates and an additional 20 points from grad student Tony Perkins to hold off Mississippi State. The 10th-seeqded Bulldogs rallied from an eight-point halftime deficit to tie the score 12 times in the second half and even went ahead on several occasions.
But Mizzou proved to be the better team down the stretch, as the Tigers made a number of tough buckets in the final minutes and added 11 of 12 free throws to push ahead.
Caleb Grill made a brilliant backdoor cut and finished with a dunk that gave Mizzou a 71-69 lead with 4:05 to go. Then, after an Aidan Shaw free throw, Perkins bullied his way into the paint for a layup that put the Tigers up 74-69. That gave Missouri a two-possession lead and Mississippi State never got closer than that the rest of the game.
Overall, the Bulldogs missed seven straight shots as Mizzou built a 12-point lead.
Mizzou’s Tamar Bates scored 25 points to lead the Tigers to an SEC Tournament second round win over Mississippi State on Thursday. (Photo courtesy: SEC.com)
Missouri will now advance to the SEC Tournament quarterfinals, where it will play No. 2 seed Florida on Friday night. The Tigers defeated the Gators, 83-82, when the teams met during the regular season back in January.
Friday’s contest will tip off at 6 p.m., and will be televised live on the SEC Network. The winner will advance to the SEC Tournament semifinals, which will be played on Saturday.
Mississippi St. 73
| ## | Player | GS | MIN | FG | 3PT | FT | ORB-DRB | REB | PF | A | TO | BLK | STL | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | Hubbard,Josh | * | 38 | 8-22 | 3-14 | 5-7 | 0-1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 24 |
| 22 | Melendez,RJ | * | 20 | 3-11 | 1-7 | 5-8 | 2-2 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 04 | Matthews,Cameron | * | 37 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 2-3 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 02 | Kugel,Riley | * | 31 | 0-7 | 0-3 | 3-3 | 1-3 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| 23 | Nwoko,Michael | * | 7 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 03 | Murphy,KeShawn | 29 | 6-12 | 0-0 | 6-8 | 2-6 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 18 | |
| 05 | Jones Jr.,Shawn | 26 | 4-6 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 2-0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 10 | |
| 00 | Harris Jr.,Claudell | 10 | 0-3 | 0-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 06 | Warren,Dellquan | 2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| TM | TEAM | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 5-5 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Totals | – | 200 | 24-66 | 6-30 | 19-27 | 14-21 | 35 | 21 | 12 | 8 | 3 | 11 | 73 |
Missouri 85
| ## | Player | GS | MIN | FG | 3PT | FT | ORB-DRB | REB | PF | A | TO | BLK | STL | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 02 | Bates, Tamar | * | 33 | 8-12 | 3-5 | 6-6 | 1-3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 25 |
| 12 | Perkins, Tony | * | 31 | 6-10 | 0-1 | 8-8 | 2-5 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 20 |
| 11 | Pierce, Trent | * | 19 | 2-3 | 2-3 | 1-1 | 0-3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 25 | Mitchell, Mark | * | 12 | 3-4 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0-1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 00 | Robinson, Anthony | * | 14 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 4-5 | 0-2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 35 | Crews, Jacob | 22 | 2-8 | 2-7 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| 31 | Grill, Caleb | 30 | 2-11 | 1-8 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | |
| 01 | Warrick, Marques | 6 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 0-1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| 23 | Shaw, Aidan | 12 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 2-2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | |
| 33 | Gray, Josh | 21 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 1-11 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| TM | TEAM | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2-3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Totals | – | 200 | 27-55 | 8-24 | 23-28 | 9-34 | 43 | 19 | 14 | 14 | 3 | 4 | 85 |
2024-25 Missouri Tigers Men’s Basketball Schedule
| Date | Time | At | Opponent | Location | TV/Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 4, 2024 (Monday) | 7 p.m. | Away | Memphis | Memphis, Tenn. | L 83-75 (0-1) |
| November 8, 2024 (Friday) | 7 p.m. | Home | Howard | Mizzou Arena | W 77-62 (1-1) |
| November 11, 2024 (Monday) | 6 p.m. | Home | Eastern Washington | Mizzou Arena | W 84-77 (2-1) |
| November 14, 2024 (Thursday) | 6:30 p.m. | Home | Mississippi Valley State | Mizzou Arena | W 111-39 (3-1) |
| November 22, 2024 (Friday) | 6:30 p.m. | Home | Pacific | Mizzou Arena | W 91-56 (4-1) |
| November 24, 2024 (Sunday) | 4 p.m. | Home | Arkansas – Pine Bluff | Mizzou Arena | W 112-63 (5-1) |
| November 27, 2024 (Wednesday) | 5:30 p.m. | Home | Lindenwood | Mizzou Arena | W 81-61 (6-1) |
| December 3, 2024 (Tuesday) | 6 p.m. | Home | California | Mizzou Arena | W 98-93 (7-1) |
| December 8, 2024 (Sunday) | Noon | Home | #1 Kansas | Mizzou Arena | W 76-67 (8-1) |
| December 14, 2024 (Saturday) | 11 a.m. | Home | Long Island | Mizzou Arena | W 88-61 (9-1) |
| December 17, 2024 (Tuesday) | 6:30 p.m. | Home | Jacksonville State | Mizzou Arena | W 83-72 (10-1) |
| December 22, 2024 (Sunday) | Noon | Neutral | Illinois | St. Louis, Mo. / Enterprise Center | L 80-77 (10-2) |
| December 30, 2024 (Monday) | 6:30 p.m. | Alabama State | Mizzou Arena | Mizzou Arena | W 82-65 (11-2) |
| January 4, 2025 (Saturday) | 3 p.m. | Away | #2 Auburn | Auburn, Ala. | L 84-68 (11-3) |
| January 7, 2025 (Tuesday) | 8 p.m. | Home | LSU | Mizzou Arena | W 83-67 (12-3) |
| January 11, 2025 (Saturday) | 2:30 p.m. | Home | Vanderbilt | Mizzou Arena | W 75-66 (13-3) |
| January 14, 2025 (Tuesday) | 8 p.m. | Away | #5 Florida | Gainesville, Fla. | W 83-82 (14-3) |
| January 18, 2025 (Saturday) | 5 p.m. | Home | Arkansas | Mizzou Arena | W 83-65 (15-3) |
| January 21, 2025 (Tuesday) | 8 p.m. | Away | Texas | Austin, Texas | L 61-53 (15-4) |
| January 25, 2025 (Saturday) | 5 p.m. | Home | #16 Ole Miss | Mizzou Arena | W 83-75 (16-4) |
| February 1, 2025 (Saturday) | Noon | Away | #14 Mississippi State | Starkville, Miss. | W 88-61 (17-4) |
| February 5, 2025 (Wednesday) | 6 p.m. | Away | #4 Tennessee | Knoxville, Tenn. | L 85-81 (17-5) |
| February 8, 2025 (Saturday) | 2:30 p.m. | Home | #10 Texas A&M | Mizzou Arena | L 67-64 (17-6) |
| February 12, 2025 (Wednesday) | 8 p.m. | Home | Oklahoma | Mizzou Arena | W 82-58 (18-6) |
| February 15, 2025 (Saturday) | 2:30 p.m. | Away | Georgia | Athens, Ga. | W 87-74 (19-6) |
| February 19, 2025 (Wednesday) | 8 p.m. | Home | #4 Alabama | Mizzou Arena | W 110-98 (20-6) |
| February 22, 2025 (Saturday) | 7 p.m. | Away | Arkansas | Fayetteville, Ark. | L 92-85 (20-7) |
| February 25, 2025 (Tuesday) | 8 p.m. | Home | South Carolina | Mizzou Arena | W 101-71 (21-7) |
| March 1, 2025 (Saturday) | 5 p.m. | Away | Vanderbilt | Nashville, Tenn. | L 97-93 OT (21-8) |
| March 5, 2025 (Wednesday) | 7 p.m. | Away | Oklahoma | Norman, Okla. | L 96-84 (21-9) |
| March 8, 2025 (Saturday) | 11 a.m. | Home | #19 Kentucky | Mizzou Arena | L 91-83 (21-10) |
| March 13, 2025 (Thursday) | 6 p.m. | Neutral | #10 Mississippi State | Nashville, Tenn. / Bridgestone Arena | W 85-73 (22-10) |
| March 14, 2025 (Thursday) | 6 p.m. | Neutral | #2 Florida | Nashville, Tenn. / Bridgestone Arena |  |