Missouri forward Aidan Shaw (23) beats Tennessee forward Tobe Awaka (11) to a rebound during the first half Tuesday’s NCAA college basketball game at Mizzou Arena. (Photo: Terrance Williams)

NCAA Men’s Basketball	1	2	Final
#5 Tennessee	26	46	72
Missouri	29	38	67

Terrance Williams
Staff Writer

COLUMBIA, MO — The same story of nearly every Southeastern Conference game this season happened again for the University of Missouri men’s basketball team.

The Tigers played well at times. They were in the game for awhile, even led for small portions of it.

But in the end, Mizzou couldn’t make enough plays to stay with Tuesday’s opponent, No. 5-ranked Tennessee, and eventually lost the game, 72-67.

“What a great, great team we played tonight. Unbelievable team,” Missouri head coach Dennis Gates said. “I think the best team Rick Barnes has ever had.”

The loss was Mizzou’s 13th in a row, which ties the program record for most consecutive losses. Those tough times occurred during the 2014-15 and 2016-17 seasons. Missouri has not yet won a game in 2024 and have only one victory since the beginning of December.

“Our guys played hard,” Gates said. “They played really, really hard, especially in that first half. Thought the second half, when you saw that basketball go in and we knew Dalton Knecht was going to come out and make some shots. He made some tough ones. I thought our guys got discouraged. At that point, we got to do a better job of not fouling.”

Mizzou led at halftime 29-26, but Tennessee took control of the game early in the second half, when it went on a 14-3 run that turned the Tigers’ three-point edge into an eight-point deficit.

From that point on, Missouri was chasing and never really caught up.

Grad student seniors Sean East and Noah Carter led the Tigers in scoring. East put up 24 points and had a game-high six assists. Carter added 20 points and seven rebounds.

Missouri will look to break its losing string on Saturday, when it goes on the road to play Arkansas. That game at Bud Walton Arena will tip off at 11 a.m., and will be televised nationally on ESPN2.

Tennessee 72

##	Player	GS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	ORB-DRB	REB	PF	A	TO	BLK	STL	PTS
03	Knecht,Dalton	*	36	6-16	3-6	2-4	2-8	10	3	2	5	0	1	17
00	Aidoo,Jonas	*	31	6-9	0-0	2-4	4-0	4	2	2	1	4	1	14
05	Zeigler,Zakai	*	30	3-9	2-4	2-3	0-1	1	4	3	2	0	1	10
30	James,Josiah-Jordan	*	18	1-6	0-4	2-2	1-2	3	1	0	2	0	2	4
25	Vescovi,Santiago	*	26	0-3	0-3	1-2	1-4	5	2	0	2	0	2	1
11	Awaka,Tobe		23	6-8	0-0	6-7	5-5	10	2	0	1	1	1	18
02	Gainey,Jordan		25	1-2	0-0	3-4	0-1	1	2	2	0	1	1	5
15	Mashack,Jahmai		11	1-4	0-0	1-1	1-1	2	1	1	1	0	0	3
TM	TEAM		0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-3	3	0	0	1	0	0	0
	Totals	–	200	24-57	5-17	19-27	14-25	39	17	10	15	6	9	72

Missouri 67

##	Player	GS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	ORB-DRB	REB	PF	A	TO	BLK	STL	PTS
55	East II, Sean	*	37	7-15	3-6	7-11	3-1	4	2	6	5	0	0	24
35	Carter, Noah	*	28	5-10	3-4	7-8	3-4	7	3	1	1	0	0	20
10	Honor, Nick	*	34	4-11	2-9	0-0	0-0	0	4	1	2	0	2	10
02	Bates, Tamar	*	36	3-15	1-5	0-0	1-5	6	2	2	3	0	2	7
00	Butler, Jordan	*	12	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-1	1	5	0	1	2	1	0
13	Carralero Martin, Jesus		13	1-2	0-0	1-2	1-1	2	0	1	2	1	1	3
14	Robinson II, Anthony		6	1-3	1-3	0-0	2-1	3	1	0	0	0	0	3
45	Majak, Mabor		23	0-0	0-0	0-0	1-4	5	3	0	0	0	1	0
23	Shaw, Aidan		11	0-0	0-0	0-0	1-1	2	3	0	0	2	0	0
TM	TEAM		0	0-0	0-0	0-0	2-2	4	0	0	1	0	0	0
	Totals	–	200	21-56	10-27	15-21	14-20	34	23	11	15	5	7	67

2023-24 Mizzou Tigers Men’s Basketball Schedule

Date	Time	At	Opponent	Location	TV
February 24, 2024 (Saturday)	11 a.m.	Away	Arkansas	Fayetteville, Ark.	ESPN or ESPN2
February 28, 2024 (Wednesday)	5:30 p.m. CT	Away	Florida	Gainesville, Fla.
March 2, 2024 (Saturday)	7:30 p.m.	Home	Ole Miss	Mizzou Arena
March 5, 2024 (Tuesday)	8 p.m.	Home	#12 Auburn	Mizzou Arena
March 9, 2024 (Saturday)	7:30 p.m.	Away	LSU	Baton Rouge, La.
March 13-17, 2024 (Wednesday)	TBA	Bridgestone Arena	SEC Tournament	Nashville, Tenn.