Missouri
19-9,9-6SEC
Tennessee
20-8,10-5SEC
Men’s Basketball Tops No. 20 Tennessee, 73-69
2/24/2026 11:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball
COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Mizzou men's basketball team added another signature win to its resume, picking up a third ranked victory on the season with a 73-69 win over No. 22 Tennessee Tuesday night at Mizzou Arena. Missouri moves to 19-9 with a 9-6 mark in SEC play while the Volunteers now sit at 20-8 with a 10-5 conference record. The win is Mizzou's second ranked victory in seven days.
MIZZOU LEADERS
Sophomore T.O. Barrett poured in a career-best 28 points – including 16 in the second half – on 12-of-17 shooting. Barrett also added five boards and a pair of assists to lead the Tigers to victory.
Senior Mark Mitchell added 23 points and three rebounds, marking the most combined points by a Mizzou duo this season.
Redshirt freshman Trent Burns continued his strong play as of late, matching his career high and leading Mizzou with seven boards to go with a personal-best four steals.
GAME RECAP
A 12-2 Tennessee start forced a Mizzou timeout as the Volunteers used six offensive rebounds to propel ahead for their largest lead of 10 points.
The Vols kept their lead above six for the next several minutes, regaining an edge as great as nine at 21-12 before Mizzou turned up the defensive intensity. Mizzou went the next 5:24 holding Tennessee without a point and the Tigers went on an 8-0 stretch which saw Barrett tally six points as MU got within one, 21-20, before Ja'Kobi Gillespie put an end to Missouri's run with a 3-pointer.
Mizzou then went on a 6-0 spurt in less than a minute highlighted by a pair of dunks, first a putback slam by Burns then an errant inbounds pass stolen by Barrett for a breakaway finish gave the Tigers their first lead of the night, 26-24, finishing off the 14-3 stretch.
Tennessee picked up the last five points of the opening half to take a 29-26 lead into the locker room.
Mizzou reclaimed the lead, 36-34, right at the under-16 timeout courtesy of a 6-0 run consisting of a Trent Pierce 3-pointer then a Mitchell and-one off a turnover.
The next four minutes consisted of a lead change and four ties as the sides were deadlocked at 45 with 11 minutes to play, which marked the start of a 13-3 Missouri run.
The Tigers used a trio of long balls, first from Pierce and then Anthony Robinson II on consecutive shots, to pull ahead 56-48 for their largest lead of the game with 7:52 to play.
The sides swapped points in the following minutes as Mizzou's lead bounced between three and six points until Mitchell converted on another three-point play to put MU ahead 67-60 with 3:34 remaining. The Vols kept Mizzou off the scoreboard for the next 1:37 as Gillespie scored the next five points to bring UT within a pair, 67-65.
Barrett made a layup on the following trip to put MU back ahead by four, then Nate Ament made a second-chance bucket with 25 seconds left for UT. That was as close as the nationally-ranked Volunteers would get, however, as Jacob Crews iced the game with four free throws in the final 10 seconds for the 73-69 victory.
TEAM STATS
A strong finish led the Tigers to shooting 47.3 percent in the game as Mizzou made 16 of its final 24 field goals (66.7 percent). Mizzou also won the battle in the paint, 40-32, and turned 15 Volunteer turnovers into 23 points.
Tennessee, meanwhile, converted 42.9 percent of its field goals and were 7-of-24 from 3-point range.
UP NEXT
Missouri goes on the road to Starkville, Mississippi, to take on Mississippi State on Saturday, Feb. 28. Tipoff is at noon on SEC Network.
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