Men’s Basketball Tops South Carolina, 83-74

Columbia, Mo. — The Missouri men’s basketball team earned an 73-74 win over South Carolina in front of nearly 9,000 fans Tuesday night at Mizzou Arena. The victory propels the Tigers to 18-6 and 6-5 in SEC play, while the Gamecocks fall to 8-16 overall and 1-10 versus league foes.

Four Tigers reached double-digit figures, led by senior forward Kobe Brown with 19 points on 6-for-10 from the floor — his 18th game this season with 10-plus points. The senior also led Mizzou with eight rebounds and six assists to go with three steals in the winning performance.

Senior Sean East II added 15 points, with graduate students Nick Honor and D’Moi Hodge chipping in 14 and 12 points, respectively.

Missouri opened up the contest with an aggressive approach on offense, shooting 5-for-5 in the first three minutes of play — which included the first six points from senior forward Noah Carter. South Carolina settled in and eventually grabbed the lead only for Mizzou to finish the half on a 13-4 run for six-point edge at the break, 43-37.

South Carolina would use hot shooting to stay within striking distance of the Tigers for most of the second half before Mizzou final wore the visitors down. A 7-0 run – capped by a 3-pointer from Honor – put MU in front by double digits for the first with just over four minutes remaining, 76-65. Overall, Mizzou converted 6-of-7 field goals the last 10 minutes of the game and held South Carolina to 3-for-14 to put the game out of reach. 

As a unit, Missouri shot 50.9 percent (27-53) from the floor and 48 percent (12-25) from three. South Carolina would make 52.00 percent of its field goals but the Tigers added nine steals — leading to an 18-7 advantage in points off turnovers.

UP NEXT
The Tigers head to Knoxville, Tennessee for a matchup against No. 6 Tennessee on Saturday. Tipoff is slated for 5 p.m. at Thompson-Boling Arena and will be aired on SEC Network.