Missouri’s Anthony Robinson II (14) heads to the basket as Arkansas’ Tramon Mark (12) defends during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Wednesday night at Mizzou Arena in Columbia. (Photo: Terrance Williams)

NCAA Men’s Basketball	1	2	Final
Arkansas (11-10, 2-6)	47	44	91
Missouri (8-13, 0-8)	28	56	84

Cedric Williams
Senior Editor

COLUMBIA, MO — Another night in a rough season continued on Wednesday, when the University of Missouri men’s basketball team suffered a 91-84 loss to rival Arkansas, in a Southeastern Conference game at Mizzou Arena.

Arkansas led nearly start to finish and built its lead to as many as 19 points in the first half — the Razorbacks led 47-28 at halftime — and led by as many as 23 points in the second.

Missouri began to find its rhythm late and hit a series of jumpers, and also made some layups and dunks, to pull within six points in the final minute. But it was all too little, too late, as the Tigers (8-13 overall, 0-8 in SEC play) suffered their eighth straight loss.

“We came out flat to begin the game,” Mizzou head coach Dennis Gates said. “As the head coach, that is my responsibility. We cannot come out that flat regardless of what I have to do. As the leader of this team, I have to do it. Especially here in a home game, in front of a great crowd. I really have to thank our crowd for coming out. I definitely apologize for our performance, especially in the first 10 minutes of the game.”

On the opposite side, Arkansas was sensational in the first half. The Razorbacks made 19 of the 32 shots they took (59percent), including three three-pointers to build its huge lead. Missouri, on the other hand, made just nine of the 28 shots it took (32 percent), even though four of those makes were three-pointers.

Junior guard Tamar Bates led all scorers with 29 points, 25 coming in the second half. It was his fourth 20-plus point game for Missouri this season.

Bates also chipped in five steals and went a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line. Tiger teammates Sean East, a senior, and Anthony Robinson, a freshman, added 11 points and 10 points, respectively. East also had seven assists, and Robinson made three steals.

Arkansas had four players score in double figures, including Makhi Mitchell, who came off the bench to score 19 points and grab 14 rebounds. Tramon Mark led the Razorbacks with 22 points.

“We had great practices,” Gates said. “I thought our guys gave great effort, they followed the details of the scouting report, but credit to Arkansas. They scored 56 total points in the paint, 30 of which were in the first half with 19 field goals. Defensively, you can’t win games that way.

“The positive, in terms of our team, is we were 20-for-22 from the free-throw line and we were 10-for-20 from three. I thought that was great. But the negative assist-to-turnover ratio, you can’t have 18 turnovers and expect to win a ballgame.”

Mizzou will continue to look for its first SEC win of the season on Saturday, when it travels down to Nashville to take on Vanderbilt. That game will tip off at 2:30 p.m., and will be televised on the SEC Network.

Arkansas 91

##	Player	GS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	ORB-DRB	REB	PF	A	TO	BLK	STL	PTS
12	Mark,Tramon	*	34	8-13	0-0	6-8	0-4	4	4	1	3	2	3	22
11	Graham,Jalen	*	26	6-11	0-0	1-2	1-0	1	5	4	3	3	4	13
06	Blocker,Layden	*	29	2-2	0-0	5-6	3-0	3	2	2	3	0	1	9
08	Lawson,Chandler	*	16	3-4	0-0	0-0	2-1	3	0	0	0	0	0	6
00	Battle,Khalif	*	15	2-6	2-2	0-0	0-3	3	3	2	1	0	2	6
15	Mitchell,Makhi		34	8-13	0-0	3-4	5-9	14	3	2	2	0	0	19
01	Menifield Jr.,Keyon		32	4-11	2-3	6-6	0-2	2	0	3	1	0	0	16
24	Davenport,Jeremiah		14	0-1	0-1	0-0	0-3	3	4	0	2	1	0	0
07	Harris,Denijay		0+	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
21	Arbogast,Cade		0+	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
45	Blake,Lawson		0+	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TM	TEAM		0	0-0	0-0	0-0	1-1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Totals	–	200	33-61	4-6	21-26	12-23	35	21	14	15	6	10	91

Missouri 84

##	Player	GS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	ORB-DRB	REB	PF	A	TO	BLK	STL	PTS
02	Bates, Tamar	*	39	9-18	1-3	10-10	2-1	3	1	3	6	0	5	29
55	East II, Sean	*	36	3-8	1-2	4-4	1-5	6	4	7	6	1	0	11
10	Honor, Nick	*	28	2-4	2-2	0-0	1-0	1	3	1	1	0	0	6
35	Carter, Noah	*	16	2-5	2-3	0-0	1-1	2	3	0	1	1	1	6
00	Butler, Jordan	*	12	1-2	0-1	2-2	1-2	3	1	0	0	0	0	4
14	Robinson II, Anthony		20	3-7	2-5	2-2	0-0	0	3	1	0	0	3	10
75	Vanover, Connor		14	3-5	1-2	0-0	2-2	4	2	1	1	1	0	7
04	Lewis, Curt		14	2-6	1-2	1-2	1-0	1	3	0	1	0	0	6
23	Shaw, Aidan		13	2-4	0-0	0-0	0-1	1	2	0	0	0	0	4
45	Majak, Mabor		8	0-0	0-0	1-2	1-3	4	1	0	1	1	0	1
TM	TEAM		0	0-0	0-0	0-0	1-0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0
	Totals	–	200	27-59	10-20	20-22	11-15	26	23	13	18	4	9	84

2023-24 Mizzou Tigers Men’s Basketball Schedule

Date	Time	At	Opponent	Location	TV
February 3, 2024 (Saturday)	2:30 p.m.	Away	Vanderbilt	Nashville, Tenn.
February 7, 2024 (Wednesday)	8 p.m.	Home	Texas A&M	Mizzou Arena
February 10, 2024 (Saturday)	7:30 p.m.	Home	Mississippi State	Mizzou Arena
February 17, 2024 (Saturday)	7:30 p.m.	Away	Ole Miss	Oxford, Miss.
February 20, 2024 (Tuesday)	6 p.m.	Home	#6 Tennessee	Mizzou Arena
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	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.