Dennis Gates Dissects Rare Shooting that Put No. 4 Tennessee Past No. 15 Mizzou

Getting past the No. 4 Tennessee Volunteers — on the road, no less — was always going to be a tough challenge for the No. 15 Missouri Tigers.

Missouri kept its foot on the gas until the very last second, but a 57-point second half from Tennessee just narrowly put the game out of reach in a 85-81 loss. Though the Volunteers have been a top team in the Southeastern Conference throughout the season, their offensive output was a bit of an outlier.

Before Wednesday night, Tennessee shot about 33 percent from behind the arc as a team. That put it as the 10th-best shooting team in the conference, while the Tigers ranked confidently at No. 2 with nearly 38 percent. Typically that would be their advantage, but the Volunteers proved otherwise with their strongest offensive performance in SEC play.

Tennessee shot a mightily efficient 10-of-15 on 3-pointers, averaging out to 66.7%. By himself, Zakai Zeigler finished the night with a perfect 4-of-4. While Missouri did have significantly larger attempts, its 12-of-30 paled in comparison with effiency.

"When you shoot 60 percent from the 3 in the second half, 50 percent from the field, that's where they won that game," coach Dennis Gates said following the loss.

Zeigler recorded 21 points, three rebounds and eight assists on 5-of-9 shooting from the field. Though he's shot a measly 28% from behind the arc this season, his shot was on, and the Tigers struggled to adjust. Those makes that could've been prevented, instead hurt them in the end.

That's not to mention Igor Milicic Jr., who added another 21 points, 10 rebounds and five assists on 8-of-10 shooting from the field. Combining for a whopping 42 points with Zeigler, it made for an offensive tandem that took over predominately the second half.

Along with 17 second chance points and 21-of-26 shooting from the free-throw line in the second half, everything was clicking for the Volunteers. Though Missouri put up an adamant fight, it couldn't find enough of a way to adjust.

"When the team gets hot, you got to minimize their second chance points, which we did not do. When they missed it, we didn't recover the rebound ... in addition to that, Zakai Zeigler is not shooting as well this season," Gates said. "Those are baskets that come back to haunt you, especially in those situations."

It's tough to overcome any onslaught of offense like Tennessee was able to accomplish, even if the Tigers could've executed on both ends better. They battled until the clock hit zero, no matter how many free throws it took.

Missouri will return home in an effort to bounce back against the No. 10 Texas A&M Aggies at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Mizzou Arena.

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