MIAMI – Mizzou Baseball scored two runs in the top of the ninth inning on a pair of wild pitches to escape host Florida International with a 3-1, opening day win. Sophomore LHP and Preseason All-American T.J. Sikkema (DeWitt, Iowa) was outstanding in relief, throwing 5.0 innings while striking out a seven, his most in a relief outing since March 4 of last season vs. UIC. He allowed just one earned run on four hits in the win.

Junior OF Zach Hanna (Shawnee Mission, Kan.) hit his first Division I homer in the top of the sixth inning Friday, giving Mizzou a 1-0 lead while turning in a two-hit night. Florida International tied the game in the bottom of the sixth but Mizzou took advantage of a leadoff error in the ninth and the two wild pitches to escape with the season-opening win.

Reliever Nile Ball got the final out of the game after a 4-6-3 double play, induced by Sikkema, in the ninth to earn his first Division I save.

TURNING POINT
Junior 3B Brian Sharp (Liberty, Mo.) reached base on a leadoff error in the top of the ninth inning and that spelled doom for the home Panthers. After a Chris Cornelius (St. Louis, Mo.) walk, a successful sacrifice moved the runners up and both scored on wild pitches to give Mizzou a 3-1 lead heading to the bottom of the ninth inning. The first two Panther batters reached base against Sikkema, but a big 4-6-3 double play, Mizzou’s second of the night, squelched the threat before Nile Ball retired the final batter of the game.

— Mizzou Athletics —

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Jordan Frericks scored 19 points and No. 13 Missouri built an early lead and held off Auburn on Thursday night 59-51 to win its fourth straight.

Sophie Cunningham added 12 points for Missouri (21-5, 9-4 Southeastern Conference), which won despite turning the ball over 24 times.

Missouri scored the last nine points of the first quarter to take a 19-7 lead and pushed it to 30-16 at halftime. Auburn shot 18 percent in the first half (7 of 38), going 2 of 13 from distance.

Auburn put together an 18-5 run in the third quarter and back-to-back baskets by Daisa Alexander cut the deficit to 38-34. Missouri made three free throws to end the quarter, and they slowly built the lead back into double figures in the fourth quarter, making 7 of 9 shots.

Janiah McKay had 18 points for Auburn (13-12, 4-9), which finished the game at 28 percent.

— Associated Press —

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Missouri held an 11-point lead with 5:39 remaining against No. 21 Texas A&M. Then came the press, which has caused Missouri problems recently.

The Aggies trimmed the lead to one within three minutes, and stole an inbound pass down two with 14 seconds left. Texas A&M’s Robert Williams missed a put-back layup and the Tigers escaped 62-58 Tuesday night.

It looked good, I thought it was going in,” Missouri’s Kassius Robertson said. “Just in case, we all boxed out. It rimmed out, we got a little lucky.”

For the first 30 minutes, Missouri (18-8, 8-5 Southeastern Conference) played solid defense and clean offense. At halftime, the Tigers had committed just two fouls and three turnovers. Robertson led the Tigers with 16 points and Jordan Barnett added 15.

Missouri turned the Aggies over 16 times and committed just nine fouls. The Tigers scored 12 points off Texas A&M turnovers.

“I thought Missouri’s defense, their ball pressure and our inability to get the ball inside to Tyler Davis was the big key of the game,” Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy said.

Texas A&M (17-9, 6-7) came in ranked fourth nationally averaging 41.76 rebounds per game. The Aggies won the rebounding battle 46-30, but Davis picked up his second foul with 11:07 remaining in the first half and played limited minutes after.

Davis’ absence allowed Missouri’s Jeremiah Tilmon to flourish, scoring a season-high 14 points.

T.J. Starks and Admon Gilder led the Aggies with 14 points each. Robert Williams had nine rebounds for Texas A&M. The Tigers held Texas A&M to just 32 percent from the field in the first half, including 1 of 13 from 3-point range.

BIG PICTURE

Texas A&M: A&M’s four-game winning streak, which included wins over Auburn and Kentucky last week, ended. After scoring more than 80 points in each of its last four games, Texas A&M was locked up by Missouri’s defense.

Missouri: The Tigers continue to climb the SEC standings. Mizzou is fourth, a half-game behind second. When its offense doesn’t turn the ball over, Missouri can be a scary opponent.

FLIPPED THE SCRIPT

Texas A&M big men Davis and Williams dominated Missouri in the post in the two teams’ first meeting on Jan. 20. The Aggies fouled out both Tilmon and forward Jontay Porter.

On Tuesday, Tilmon outscored both of Texas A&M’s starting bigs. This time, it was Davis in foul trouble, and the Tigers were able to keep the points in the paint battle at 28-26 in favor of the Aggies.

“Last game, they got the best of me,” Tilmon said. “This game, I just went out there and played ball. The ball was coming my way, I was feeling really confident.”

IT’S NEVER EASY

On Saturday, Missouri held a 79-67 lead over Mississippi State with just over 90 seconds left in the contest. The game ended up going to overtime after the Bulldogs went on a 12-0 run. The Tigers won in overtime.

“We find ways to make it very interesting,” Missouri coach Cuonzo Martin said.

“Now, we can’t inbound the ball,” Robertson said. “That’s our new problem. We’ve got that on the board and we’ll try to fix that.”

POLL IMPLICATIONS

No. 21 Texas A&M has a chance to remain in the polls with a potential rebound victory against Arkansas on Saturday. But its poll position is definitely in trouble after the loss to Missouri.

The Tigers, on the other hand, would put themselves in great shape for a top-25 ranking with a victory on the road against LSU Saturday. Missouri received 14 votes in the latest AP poll, and has now beaten three top-25 teams in the past four weeks.

UP NEXT

Texas A&M: Plays at Arkansas on Saturday.

Missouri: Tigers take their winning streak on the road to LSU on Saturday.

— Associated Press —

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Sophie Cunningham scored 18 points with four 3-pointers, Jordan Frericks had 15 points and eight rebounds, and No. 13 Missouri beat Arkansas 84-58 on Monday night.

For the first time since 1984-87, Missouri (20-5, 8-4 Southeastern Conference) has three straight seasons with 20-plus victories.

Jordan Chavis added 12 points off the bench for the Tigers, who shot 51.7 percent from the floor with 11 3-pointers. Hannah Schuchts scored 10.

Missouri made 9 of its first 10 shots, including 6 of 7 from distance, to take a 31-10 lead. It was 49-29 at halftime after shooting 60 percent from the field and the Tigers led by 31 with 4:31 to go in the game.

Jailyn Mason scored 15 points and Bailey Zimmerman added 14 for Arkansas (12-13, 3-9), which fell to the Tigers 88-54 on Jan. 21.

The game originally scheduled for Sunday was postponed due to the Tigers’ weather-related travel issues.

— Associated Press —

COLUMBIA, MO. – Sunday’s Mizzou Women’s Basketball game at Arkansas was postponed and has been moved to Monday, Feb. 12, at 6 p.m. CT in Fayetteville, Ark.

The postponement was due to travel issues as icy conditions prevented the Tigers from safely traveling to Arkansas.

Arkansas is working with the SEC Network to televise Monday’s game on SEC Network Plus. Fans who had tickets to Sunday’s game will be allowed to use those for Monday’s game.

— Mizzou Athletics —

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Kevin Puryear had not made a 3-pointer since Jan. 10, missing a dozen attempts since then.

But with the shot clock running out and only 10 seconds left in overtime, Puryear made a 3 from the left corner to give Missouri the lead in an 89-85 victory over Mississippi State on Saturday.

“I knew I was going to shoot it when I got it, because my guy was helping off,” said Puryear. “I had a wide-open 3 in the corner. It was up to me to let it go.”

It was the fourth straight victory for the Tigers (17-8, 7-5 Southeastern Conference) and snapped a four-game winning streak for the Bulldogs (18-7, 6-6).

Mississippi State didn’t go down easily. The Bulldogs scored the final 12 points of regulation, fueled by a full-court press that gave Missouri fits. Lamar Peters sent the game into overtime when he stole the ball from Kassius Robertson and made a pull-up 3-pointer with 25 seconds left.

Peters had a chance to be the hero again after Puryear’s big shot in overtime, but he was called for an offensive foul just before making what would have been a go-ahead 3-pointer. Robertson completed the scoring with two free throws, finishing with a team-high 22 points.

“I’m really proud of our team, the way they fought,” Mississippi State coach Ben Howland said. “The way they came back really showed an incredible amount of heart and toughness.”

Jordan Geist scored 17, Jordan Barnett had 15 and Jontay Porter added 10 for Missouri.

Peters led the Bulldogs with 22 points, Nick Weatherspoon scored 15 and Aric Holman added 14.

Missouri, averaging a SEC-high 14.8 turnovers per game, committed only three miscues in the first half and opened a 42-33 lead at the break by making 7 of 12 3-pointers.

Howland changed his defensive strategy in the second half, as the Bulldogs stopped double-teaming Missouri’s big men. After shooting 60 percent from the field in the first half, the Tigers made just 40 percent in the second half. Still, they were in firm control until the final 97 seconds, when their ball-handling weakness was exposed.

“We made it a lot tougher down the stretch than we would have liked, but that’s part of growth,” Missouri coach Cuonzo Martin said. “I was excited our guys maintained composure, focus and fight. We really executed on both sides of the ball to get the stops we needed.”

Holman scored the first five points of overtime to give Mississippi State an 84-79 advantage. Ado made 1 of 2 free throws with 39 seconds left to push the Bulldogs ahead 85-84.

Missouri looked like it might not even get a shot off in response, but when Robertson drove toward the basket, he drew an extra defender and found Puryear, who picked the right time to end his long-range shooting slump.

“Kash being one of our better scorers — or the scorer — you want the ball in his hands to make a play,” Puryear said. “It was very unselfish of him to kick it to me in the corner.”

BIG PICTURE

Mississippi State: Howland decided against calling a timeout after Puryear’s go-ahead 3-pointer with 10 seconds left in overtime. He wanted to get a shot exactly like the one Peters made. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, Peters’ 3-pointer swished after he was called for an offensive foul for pushing off on Geist.

Missouri: The Tigers, who finished last in the SEC the previous three years, continued to solidify their credentials for the NCAA Tournament.

RALLY FOR RHYAN

It was the third-annual “Rally for Rhyan Game” at Mizzou Arena. The event honors 7-year-old Rhyan Loos, the daughter of former Missouri assistant coach and current athletic department official Brad Loos, and is a fundraiser for the fight against pediatric cancer. Rhyan Loos has been battling neuroblastoma brain cancer, but Brad Loos told the crowd at halftime that her tests have shown no sign of cancer for the last year.

MU announced that more than $60,000 was raised.

Every Missouri player wore a warmup shirt with the name of a local pediatric cancer patient. Puryear’s shirt had Rhyan Loos’ name on the back.

UP NEXT

Mississippi State plays at Vanderbilt on Wednesday.

Missouri will try to avenge a January loss to Texas A&M when the Aggies visit Mizzou Arena on Tuesday.

— Associated Press —-

COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri Head Football Coach Barry Odom announced today the signing of six more standout student-athletes to a National Letter of Intent (NLI) to attend Mizzou and play football for the Tigers.

The latest to join Odom’s program as part of the 2018 class include prep all-stars Tyler Badie (RB – Memphis, Tenn.), Nick Bolton (LB – Frisco, Texas), Xavier Delgado (OL – Glendale, Ariz), Jatorian Hansford (DE – Forsyth, Ga.) and Bobby Lawrence (OL – St. Joseph, Mo.), as well as junior college standout Lindsay Scott, Jr. (QB – Zachary, La./East Mississippi CC). The addition of this group brings the current class size number to 25, after 19 standout athletes signed with Mizzou during the first-ever early signing period from Dec. 20-22.

Odom and the Tiger coaching staff will canvas the state of Missouri over the following two weeks to meet fans and discuss the 2018 signing class, and all things related to Mizzou Football, at four upcoming recruiting events. The caravan begins Feb. 13th in Columbia, and then travels to Kansas City on Feb. 15th, followed the next week with stops in Springfield (Feb. 21st) and St. Louis (Feb. 22nd). Visit MUTigers.com for all the details on how to pre-register to attend these exciting events.

The Mizzou program, fresh off its seven-win season and first bowl appearance since 2014, is currently in the middle of off-season conditioning in preparation for spring camp, which is set to start on March 6th. A seven-game home schedule awaits Tiger fans in the fall of 2018, including games against Georgia, Arkansas, Kentucky and Vanderbilt in the SEC, with non-conference games versus Memphis, Wyoming and UT-Martin.

2018 MIZZOU FOOTBALL RECRUITING CLASS
Announced Feb. 7, 2018 (As of 9:30 a.m. CT)

Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Hometown (High School/Prev. School)

Tyler Badie RB 5-9 170 Memphis, Tenn. (Briarcrest Christian)

Nick Bolton LB 6-0 227 Frisco, Texas (Lone Star)

Xavier Delgado OL 6-5 300 Glendale, Ariz. (Deer Valley)

Jatorian Hansford DE 6-4 222 Forsyth, Ga. (Mary Persons)

Bobby Lawrence OL 6-8 300 St. Joseph, Mo. (Central)

Lindsay Scott, Jr. QB 5-11 210 Zachary, La. (LSU/East Mississippi CC)

— Mizzou Athletics —

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Kassius Robertson scored 27 points to lead four Missouri players in double figures and the Tigers beat Mississippi 75-69 on Tuesday night.

Jontay Porter had 18 points and 13 rebounds as Missouri (16-8, 6-5 Southeastern Conference) outscored Ole Miss 8-2 in the final 90 seconds to win their third consecutive game. Kevin Puryear and Jordan Geist added 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Terence Davis scored 20 points for Ole Miss (11-13, 4-7) but was scoreless in the final 15 minutes. Bruce Stevens scored 15 points with a team-high seven rebounds and Markel Crawford added 11.

The Tigers shot 24 of 53 (45 percent) from the field and 10 of 23 (43 percent) from 3-point range, including five 3s by Robertson. Missouri was 17 of 20 (85 percent) from the free throw line, including a pair by Robertson with 18 seconds remaining to seal it.

Ole Miss was 26 of 65 (40 percent) from the field, but managed only 5 of 17 (29 percent) from 3-point range. The Rebels were 12 of 15 (80 percent) from the free throw line and committed only four turnovers, but missed three field goal attempts in the final minute.

BIG PICTURE

Missouri: The Tigers have won three straight and have two road wins in the SEC. They made all the key plays in the stretch. Porter had a pair of blocked shots as Missouri came up with three consecutive defensive stops to gain control in the final three-plus minutes. Missouri survived a series of runs by Ole Miss, which scored the first 11 points.

Ole Miss: The Rebels have lost six games by six or fewer points and have lost two straight at home after opening the SEC 4-0 at home. Leading scorer Deandre Burnett, averaging 14.8 points per game, was limited to five points and missed consecutive front ends of 1-and-1s in the second half.

FRESHMAN IMPACT

Porter followed up consecutive 13-point games against Kentucky and Alabama with 12 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists in 13 first-half minutes. The 6-11 freshman, coming off the bench in the last three games, has been instrumental in Missouri’s three-game winning streak.

UP NEXT

Missouri The Tigers host Mississippi State on Saturday.

Ole Miss: The Rebels visit LSU on Saturday.

— Associated Press —

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Cierra Porter scored a career-high 27 points and grabbed eight rebounds to help No. 15 Missouri hold off Florida 66-64 on Monday night.

Sophie Cunningham, averaging 18.4 points per game, scored her final points of the game, 10, on a baseline jumper to extend Missouri’s lead to 64-59.

Florida guard Funda Nakkasoglu sank a 3-pointer from the corner with 1:01 remaining to pull to 66-64. Missouri took some time off the clock after a defensive foul but Florida deflected the ball out of bounds off Cunningham’s knee at 12.1. The Gators’ offense stalled near the 3-point arc and Haley Lorenzen didn’t hit the rim on a long 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Jordan Frericks scored 12 of her 18 points in the fourth quarter for Missouri (18-5, 6-4 Southeastern Conference). Porter scored 21 of Missouri’s 32 first-half points as she was 8 of 12 from the field and the rest of the team was just 5-of-19 shooting.

Delicia Washington led Florida (10-13, 2-8) with 23 points.

— Associated Press —

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Missouri has shown upward mobility under first-year coach Cuonzo Martin, and the latest sign came Saturday — the Tigers’ first victory over Kentucky.

Behind 16 points each from Jordan Barnett and Kassius Robertson, the Tigers finally cleared that Big Blue hurdle with a 69-60 victory against the No. 21 Wildcats.

Missouri (15-8, 5-5 Southeastern Conference) had been 0-10 vs. Kentucky (17-6, 6-4) since the teams first played in 1960.

“It’s definitely a really good win, but that’s maybe how I look at it — it’s just another win,” Barnett said. “We’re going to keep competing and hopefully put together a string of wins. I’m not treating this one any different just because of the name on the front of the jersey.”

Kentucky won at least a share of the SEC regular-season basketball title the last three years, while Missouri finished last each time.

Martin said he didn’t realize Missouri had never beaten Kentucky until he was asked about it after the game.

“It’s good for our guys, because there have been some tough years,” Martin said.

The Wildcats didn’t look like a typical Kentucky team. They shot just 31.3 percent from the field and finished with only nine assists.

“The biggest thing is we refuse to pass the ball,” coach John Calipari said. “I don’t have any answer for that.”

Kentucky, which started five freshmen, had only one player reach double figures. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 15 points but made only 5 of 16 shots.

Missouri got nice contributions from its freshmen big men, Jontay Porter and Jeremiah Tilmon. Porter finished with 13 points, eight rebounds and three blocks. Tilmon added nine points and two blocks.

Missouri led 28-18 at halftime. Late in the first half, Kentucky’s Jarred Vanderbilt took exception to Jared Geist’s box-out, wrestled Geist to the court and had to be restrained. Both players received technical fouls, and Vanderbilt was assessed a flagrant foul.

Early in the second half, Geist drew a flagrant foul for elbowing Gilgeous-Alexander in the face.

The Wildcats had erased double-digit deficits the last two games in victories over West Virginia and Vanderbilt, but their poor shooting against Missouri’s stingy defense ensured there would be no rally this time.

The Wildcats cut the lead 33-32 on Jalen Knox’s layup with 16:14 remaining. Then Missouri went on an 8-0 run, started with a 3-pointer and transition layup by Porter and finished with Barnett’s 3-pointer. The Tigers maintained the lead the rest of the way.

“Give Missouri credit,” Calipari said. “They did a great job and fought. I thought we had our chances at the start of the second half, and then we come down and do freshmen stuff.”

BIG PICTURE

Kentucky: The Wildcats made just 2 of 20 shots from 3-point range. The Wildcats’ nation-leading streak of 1,035 straight games with a made 3-pointer — dating to Nov. 28, 1998 — was in jeopardy until Wenyen Gabriel made one with 2:53 left in the game.

“I would imagine they would make more if nobody was on the floor, so we had something to do with it,” Martin said, referring to Missouri’s defensive effort. “We did a good job of playing the scouting report.”

Missouri: The Tigers have played themselves back into NCAA Tournament contention in the last week with two straight victories over top-half SEC teams. Missouri won at Alabama on Wednesday.

“To experience what I experienced those first two years and to have the type of success we’re having now, it’s great,” junior forward Kevin Puryear said.

STEADY AS HE GOES

In the first half, Barnett was a non-factor, going 0 for 3 from the field. In the second half, he was far more assertive and scored 12 points.

“I give him credit — he’s like this the whole time,” Martin said, moving his hand on a horizontal plane. “He’s flying a jet from here to Asia, and he’s just cruising. It doesn’t matter what happens, turbulence, he’s the same the whole time. That’s a skill, because he’s locked in on the next thing. He doesn’t get concerned with what just happened.”

Puryear complimented Barnett — sort of — for his resilience.

“I mean this in the nicest way possible, but Barnett just doesn’t care,” Puryear said. “He’s going to shoot the ball. He has no conscience whatsoever.”

ROUGH DAY FOR KNOX

Knox, who entered the game averaging 15.6 points, scored just five points on 2-of-6 shooting. Knox, a highly touted freshman who considered Missouri before signing with Kentucky, was booed by the Mizzou student section each time he touched the ball.

Vanderbilt said there was no connection between the fans’ reaction and Knox’s performance.

“You have good games, you have bad games,” he said. “This just happened to be one of them.”

Calipari said he didn’t know why Knox struggled.

“But it wasn’t just Kevin,” he said. “We made one jump shot in the first half.”

UP NEXT

Kentucky: Hosts 18th-ranked Tennessee on Tuesday.

Missouri: Visits Mississippi on Tuesday.

— Associated Press —