Mizzou refused to do it the easy way.
The Tigers had a 21-point lead with 8:41 to play over Vanderbilt, but a near-meltdown in the closing stretch of a massive night put the Tigers on the brink of a baffling collapse.
Vandy couldn’t miss with a run of 10 made field goals in 13 attempts. Star point guard Tyler Tanner had Mizzou on the ropes. The Commodores’ high press was giving the Tigers fits. With 64 seconds to go, Vanderbilt was within three points.
The wheels threatened to come off.
But, deserved or not, the Tigers avoided a disaster.
Missouri basketball had done enough work before its brutal closing stretch, and the Tigers picked up a potentially season-altering win with an 81-80 win over No. 18/19-ranked Vanderbilt on Wednesday night at Mizzou Arena.
The Tigers (18-8, 8-5), after a letdown loss to Texas on Saturday night at home, needed a response to avoid falling too far down the March Madness bubble picture, and Dennis Gates’ team exorcised a couple of recent demons early to boost their tourney résumé.
After one of its most gun-shy nights from 3-point range in the Dennis Gates era on Saturday, Mizzou was excellent from 3-point range, led by Jayden Stone’s 4-of-6 night from deep en route to a team-high 19 points. Missouri finished 10-of-20 from 3-point range. T.O. Barrett was generally excellent with 16 points and five assists, and he (technically) iced the game with a pair of free throws.
Vandy got a last gasp look to win it, but Tanner’s half-court heave after a wild Mark Mitchell inbounds play rimmed out.
Before the late collapse, it also had been one of Mizzou’s more efficient defensive performances of the season to date, coming against a Vanderbilt team that has only failed to eclipse 80 points four times this year. That just about held up, despite allowing Vandy to score 35 in the final 10 minutes.
The Commodores (21-5, 8-5) spent most of the evening — before a frantic, hot-shooting final eight or so minutes — shooting below 35% from the field. Vanderbilt’s two top shooters, Tyler Nickel and Tyler Tanner, each opened with just one make from 3-point range in their first five attempts as MU built a big lead.
In a crucial closing stretch to the regular season, in which the Tigers likely need at least three wins in their final six games, Mizzou won. That’s what the record will show.
It’s another ranked matchup for the Tigers this upcoming weekend, as Mizzou next faces Arkansas at 3 p.m. Saturday in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
This section will be updated when the game begins.
There was some real panic-station play going on from Missouri there as Vandy cut the lead from 19 to eight at one point. Mizzou was throwing some really terrible passes, and the Dores have woken up from the field as it gets into last-gasp terriroty.
But, Trent Pierce and Jayden Stone layups have helped steady the ship a little.
74-64 with 3:17 to go.
Right after Missouri opened a 19-point lead, Vanderbilt put together a 9-0 run in 40 seconds. Yes, 40 seconds. Some really, extremely careless basketball from the Tigers to let the Commodores back into this fight.
Vandy’s Devin McGlockton has been ejected for a second Flagrant foul on the night.
There were … a lot of different challenges and reviews. The short of it is that Vandy is down a top player and a timeout, Missouri was successful on all counts, and the Tigers are shooting free throws.
Trent Pierce just took the ball away from Vandy on the perimeter, drove it downhill and slammed it home with one hand, and Mizzou’s lead is now 16 points.
Besides Shawn Phillips Jr. picking up his fourth foul already, this has been a near-perfect second half from Missouri. The Tigers are playing some electric stuff right now.
Barrett has been sensational. Truly fantastic. He has 12 points, five assists and two steals.
Missouri has stormed out of the gate in the second half, and T.O. Barrett has just delivered three absolutely delicious dishes in a row.
A baseline cut to Jayden Stone. A blind kickout to Trent Pierce. Another to Jayden Stone on the opposite wing.
The point guard is on fire. Wow. Mizzou leads 47-33, and they’re playing Mr. Brightside at Mizzou Arena.
Missouri may be allergic to comfortable leads.
A couple unforced errors have let Vandy get back within four after some remarkable individual plays from Jayden Ston and T.O. Barrett opened up an once-8-point lead.
Jayden Stone drew a foul on a 3-pointer, dropped in the freebie for a four-point play, and Mizzou has opened up a 21-15 lead over Vanderbilt.
After a less-than-stellar start, Mizzou has been excellent. In the past 10 minutes, Vandy has four points from the field and six points total. That’ll play.
Quite a lot more to love between media timeouts.
Missouri put together a fast 8-0 run with a T.O. Barrett and-1 and a Jayden Stone triple. Much better defensively from Mizzou, holding Vandy without an FG in over 6 mins.
Mizzou has arrived to the party. That was a fast-paced spurt to take the lead.
Not a lot to love about that start from Missouri. Took about three minutes to get the ball into the paint. A couple of gimme baskets for the Dores on missed rebounds. Three turnovers already. Not great.
Mizzou’s game against Vanderbilt is still on SEC Network, the start time has just been pushed back because Texas A&M versus Ole Miss went long. Should be on the airwaves now, as the game has just tipped off at Mizzou Arena as of 8:11 p.m.
Mizzou is running with its usual crew against Vanderbilt.
T.O. Barrett, Jayden Stone, Trent Pierce, Mark Mitchell and Shawn Phillips Jr. will open the game for the Tigers.
Vanderbilt’s starting five: Tyler Tanner, Tyler Nickel, AK Okereke, Jalen Washington, Devin McGlockton.
Keep an eye on Tanner. He’s one of the SEC’s best playmakers, and keeping him in check early feels like an important piece to the puzzle for Mizzou tonight.
Size has to matter for Mizzou tonight. The Tigers are bigger across the board, and Vanderbilt is going to try and win this game from the free throw line and 3-point range.
Mizzou’s counter: Mark Mitchell.
This feels like a massive spot for the All-SEC forward. Mizzou has to win in the paint. Mitchell is their best player at getting downhill and to the rim.
It’s an interesting question I’ve heard posed a few times this week. I’m hesitant to call this a must-win matchup, because there is a path to the Big Dance without a win for Mizzou on Wednesday night.
That path does get extremely narrow, however, and will likely rely on at least two road wins.
After Vandy, here is Mizzou’s schedule before the conference tournament: at Arkansas; vs. Tennessee; at Mississippi State; at Oklahoma; vs. Arkansas.
Let’s say three more regular season wins (which would put Mizzou at 10-8 in SEC play for the regular season) and a conference tournament is what you need to go dancing. Where do you feel best about picking up those three wins?
At Oklahoma and Mississippi State are, maybe, the easiest games left on the schedule. Does that mean you can count on winning them both?
To me, ideally, Missouri wins two of its remaining three home games. They’re all against stellar opposition but you have to protect home court. That would give Mizzou some cushion on the road.
There’s no right answer. The only thing we can confidently say is that a path to March Madness is much, much easier with a win in hand tonight.
The gameday report is unchanged from Tuesday night, meaning power forward Jevon Porter and small forward Annor Boateng are Mizzou’s lone absentees to face Vanderbilt.
The Commodores will be without Duke Miles and Frankie Collins, which has been the case for most of the past month.
Date: Wednesday, Feb. 18
Time: 8 p.m. CT
Location: Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Mo.
Missouri’s game against Vanderbilt will tip off at 8 p.m. Wednesday night at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Missouri.
TV Channel: SEC Network
Stream: FUBO
Missouri’s game against Vanderbilt will air live on SEC Network. Dave Neal will be the play-by-play announcer for the game, and Jon Sundvold will be the on-air analyst.
The game will be available to stream with FUBO, which offers a free trial to potential customers.
Satellite radio: XM: 106 or 190; SXM App: 960
Tiger Radio Network will air the game live with Mike Kelly as the play-by-play announcer and Chris Gervino as the analyst on satellite channel 106 or 190. Fans can also tune in via the Sirius XM app on channel 960.
Missouri is again expected to be without forward Jevon Porter, who has not played since Dec. 14. Small forward Annor Boateng has been ruled out for the season.
Mizzou guard Sebastian Mack was removed from Missouri’s availability report Wednesday night, meaning he will be available off the bench.
Vanderbilt is missing star guard Duke Miles and Frankie Collins. Miles has been out since late January, while Collins has been a long-term absence for the Commodores.
Trying to predict which Missouri team will show up at this stage of the season is somewhat of a fool’s errand, but we’ll take a stab anyway.
The Tigers are among the last four teams into the NCAA Tournament field at CBS Sports on Monday morning, so the sky didn’t fall despite a massively disappointing night against Texas.
Mizzou can’t afford too many more losses, especially at home, but the Tigers have a tough task against a Vandy squad that has won five of its past six.
Home games are listed in bold.
Neutral-site game listed with an asterisk (*).
All times listed in CDT.
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