Dru Smith led the way with a season-high 26 points, with Xavier Pinson chipping in with 14, as the 18th ranked Missouri Tigers held off a strong second half surge by Kentucky to win 75-70 on Wednesday night at Mizzou Arena in Columbia.
The win improves Missouri to 12-3 overall and 5-3 in the SEC, while dropping UK, in the midst of a rare building season for the college basketball blueblood, to 5-11 overall and just 4-5 in conference play.
Kentucky, down 40-27 at halftime, went on a 15-3 run to open the second half, and while the Wildcats rarely gained the lead, they did put noticeable pressure on the Tiger team trying to stay towards the top of the SEC standings. Davion Mintz led Kentucky with 18 points, including four 3 point field goals. Keion Brooks Jr. and Brandon Boston Jr. both had 10 points for Kenutcky. Mark Smith had 11 points, including three 3 point shots, for MU. The Wildcats interior defense held Jeremiah Tilmon, coming off a 33 point explosion on Saturday against TCU, to just eight points and five rebounds.
Missouri won for the fifth time in the program’s last six games, keeping momentum into a Saturday showdown (11 AM / ESPN) with an Alabama team sitting atop the SEC at 10-0. Kentucky is sliding the opposite direction, losers in five of the team’s last six games.
Other SEC finals from Wednesday were South Carolina winning at #22 Florida 72-66, with Alabama defeating LSU 78-60. Vanderbilt at Texas A&M was postponed by COVID-19 protocols.
