Men’s Basketball Earns Road Win at Pittsburgh in ACC/SEC Challenge

Pittsburgh, Pa. – The Missouri men’s basketball won its second road game during the non-conference campaign, defeating Pittsburgh in the ACC/SEC Challenge on Tuesday night, 71-64. With the win, the Tigers improve to 6-2 on the year, while the Panthers fall to 5-2.

Graduate guard Sean East II tallied his fourth 20-point game of the season, posting 21 points to go with four assists. Overall, four Tigers scored in double figures with East being joined by Noah Carter with 13 points and a game-high eight boards, Tamar Bates with a dozen points in his first start of the year and Caleb Grill adding 10 points off the bench.

The Tigers also won the battle on the glass against one of the nation’s top rebounding teams. Facing a Pitt squad that entered the game outrebounding foes by 17.5, Mizzou claimed a 36-33 edge on the glass in the winning effort.

The first half was a back-and-forth contest with neither team leading by more than two points over the first 10 minutes. Pitt gained its largest lead thanks to an 8-0 run, 23-17, but the Tigers finished the first half by making eight of their final 12 shots, capped by a triple by East on the final possession, for a 38-35 halftime advantage.

A 7-0 early run by the hosts gave Pitt its only lead of the second half, 44-42. However, freshman Anthony Robinson II completed an and-one to put the Tigers back in front and igniting an 8-0 Mizzou run. Missouri never trailed the rest of the game but did see a double-digit lead shrink to two with 2:30 remaining. Grill, however, would connect for a layup through traffic on Mizzou’s next possession and Vanover finished an open dunk as Mizzou secured the 71-64 victory.

With the win, the Tigers earned their second non-conference road win for the first time since 2003-04, while also winning their fourth-straight road contest overall for the first time since 2000.

The Tigers shot 45.0 percent in the winning effort with an 8-of-22 mark from 3-point range. The defense, though, is what really came to play. Mizzou held Pittsburgh to 34.0 percent shooting, including just 25.0 percent in the second half (6-24) during the winning effort.

Mizzou is back in action, hosting Wichita State on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m.