Overpowering Offense Leads No. 21 Mizzou Past Georgia

The No. 21-ranked Missouri Tigers notched their second-highest scoring performance of Southeastern Conference play Saturday, taking down Georgia on the road in a 87-74 win.

Missouri trailed 41-38 at the end of the first half, but outscored Georgia 33 to 13 in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Four different players scored in the double digits for Missouri.

The win puts Missouri at 19-6 in the season and 8-4 in SEC play. Its just the third road win on the year for the Tigers.

Missouri went cold near the end of the first half though, missing 12 of their last 15 shots from the field in the half.

That was flipped on its head to start the second half, where Missouri made 12 of their first 15 shots from the field. An alley-oop tossed by Anthony Robinson II and slammed down by Mark Mitchell gave Missouri a secure 66-54 lead with 11:33 remaining.

Robinson extended the lead to 17 with a 3-point shot made with 10:29 remaining. The sophomore put together his best performance of SEC play, scoring 15 points, finding five rebounds and seven assists. It was a bounce-back game for both Robinson and fellow sophomore Trent Pierce, who Missouri head coach Dennis Gates challenged to improved;

"I think ultimately, Ant Robinson and Trent Pierce got to play better," Gates said in a press conference Tuesday. "They got to play better. And they know that."

Robinson had scored a combined 16 points over the four games before Saturday's, mostly due to getting into foul trouble early. Robinson still eventually fouled out, but two of those fouls came in the final eight minutes. He managed to stay in for 26. minutes, a higher mark than he had in each of the prior five games.

After only playing a combined eight minutes in the prior two games, Pierce stayed in for 19 against Georgia, scoring eight points and grabbing five rebounds.

Caleb Grill earned himself a confidence-boosting performance too, scoring 15 points after scoring a combined 15 in the last two games. Additionally, Mitchell followed up his 25-point performance against Oklahoma with 14 against Georgia.

Though the Missouri offense took center stage in the second half, the Tigers defense was pesky in the first, forcing five steals in the half. In the second, it held Georgia to shooting 14 for 31 from the field. Defensive play helped Missouri control the pace, with the Tigers scoring 19 fast-break points.

The greatest challenge for the Missouri defense was containing true freshman Asa Newell. In total, the forward scored 23, grabbed 10 rebounds and created 3 blocks.

"Newell is a unbelievable young player that I believe will be in the NBA," Missouri head coach Dennis Gates said in a press conference Friday. He is talented beyond his years. ... He has positional size. He has unbelievable level of IQ."

This was the eighth game of conference play where Missouri managed 80+ points, doing so in four of the last five.

Securing the eighth conference win in dominating fashion is yet another convincing win to add to the legitimacy of Missouri's resume. Being able to silence road crowds by sustaining scoring runs is starting to become a trend for the Tigers, who won by 27 at Mississippi State on Feb. 1.

Missouri will next look to pull off an upset, hosting No. 2 Alabama Wednesday at 8 p.m. at Mizzou Arena. The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.