COLUMBIA, Mo. – A trio of Mizzou Football standouts were named Freshman All-Americans by Sporting News on Wednesday (Dec. 16). DT Terry Beckner, Jr. (East St. Louis, Ill.), DE Walter Brady (Florence, Ala.) and P Corey Fatony (Franklin, Tenn.) were the three Mizzou players selected to the Freshman All-America Team. Mizzou’s three Freshman All-Americans are tied for the most among any team in the nation with Alabama.

Beckner was one of the nation’s most dominant freshmen as a DT before being sidelined by injury on the first play vs. BYU on Nov. 14. In what turned out to be just nine games worth of work, Beckner tallied 27 total tackles (13 solo) while tallying eight tackles-for-loss and three sacks. His eight TFLs were the most among Mizzou interior linemen and he was playing his best football before getting hurt vs. BYU. In the previous four games prior to BYU, Beckner tallied five of his eight TFLs, 18 (10 solo) of his 27 tackles and all three of his sacks. He was one of eight true freshmen to see the field for Mizzou in 2015.

As good as Beckner was along the defensive line, Brady may have been the most productive freshman defensive lineman in the nation in 2015. He tied for the team lead in sacks (seven) and was second on the team with 12.5 tackles for loss with an interception, two pass break-ups, seven quarterback hurries and a fumble recovery. His seven sacks led all freshmen nationally and he ranked eighth in the SEC in that category. His 12.5 TFLs ranked 14th in the SEC and no freshman in the SEC had more sacks or TFLs than Brady. He was a Hendricks Award Watch List honoree midway through 2015.

Fatony, who earned the team’s Special Forces Player of the Year, was tremendous as the team’s starting punter. Fatony set the Mizzou single season record with 81 punts, passing a record that had stood at Mizzou since 1995. He was named to the Ray Guy Award Watch List and was the Ray Guy National Player of the Week following Mizzou’s game against Florida (Oct. 10) in which he punted nine time while averaging 47.8 yards per punt with a career-long of 61 yards, pinning the Gators inside the 20 four times with three kicks over 50 yards. He finished the season ranked first among freshmen nationally in net punting, averaging 42.9 yards per punt.

— Mizzou Athletics —

COLUMBIA, Mo. – A pair of standouts from Mizzou Football’s excellent defense have been recognized among the best in the SEC as senior LB Kentrell Brothers (Guthrie, Okla.) and sophomore DE Charles Harris (Kansas City, Mo.) have been named to the Associated Press All-SEC Teams. Brothers was a first team honoree while Harris landed on the second team. That is the same distinction that each landed last week when the SEC announced the coaches’ All-SEC Team.

Brothers put together one of the most prolific seasons in MU history in 2015, and was named a first-team All-SEC performer for his efforts. The tackling machine ended the season with 152 total tackles, which leads the nation (next-most is 140), while his 12.7 tackles per game mark is also tops in the country.  He also leads the nation in 2015 with three blocked kicks on the year.  The 152 tackles ranks as the 4th-most in Mizzou season history, and gave him 358 for his career, which puts him 8th all-time on the MU career chart. He became the first Tiger in the Gary Pinkel era with seven consecutive games of 10+ tackles to close the season. He broke the 15 tackle mark four times in 2015 and added 12.0 tackles for loss, two interceptions and was second in the nation with three blocked kicks.

Brothers becomes the first Mizzou linebacker to win all-SEC acclaim by league coaches since joining the conference in 2012.  He was a second-team All-SEC pick by the Associated Press in 2014 when he led Mizzou with 122 total tackles.  He is the first Tiger linebacker to receive first-team all-conference honors since Andrew Gachkar in 2010 (Associated Press).  The last time a Tiger linebacker was first-team all-conference by league coaches was in 2009 by Sean Weatherspoon.

Harris continued the proud lineage of outstanding play by #DLineZou, as he won second-team All-SEC honors by the AP for a season that included 18.5 tackles for loss (ranking him 8th nationally and first in the SEC) and 7.0 sacks.  Harris, a first-year starter, led the Tigers with 10 quarterback pressures and two forced fumbles, while finishing with 56 total tackles and a pass breakup.

Mizzou’s defense was among the nation’s best in 2015, as it finished the season ranked in the top-10 in scoring defense (sixth – 16.2 ppg) and ninth in total defense (302.0 ypg).

— Mizzou Athletics —

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Kadeem Allen poked the ball free, chased it down and headed toward the opposite end of the court. Glancing over his left shoulder, he saw Gabe York trailing with a clear path to the basket.

Instead of taking on the lone defender by himself, Allen flipped the ball toward the front of the rim, where York seemed to fly in from the rafters to throw down an alley-oop that brought the McKale Center crowd to its feet with a roar.

“I’ve been waiting for that for a long time,” York said after No. 13 Arizona rolled over Missouri 88-52 Sunday night.

York and his teammates have been waiting for a game like this, too.

Though they had lost just once, the Wildcats had yet to really put together a complete game, playing well for a half or in spurts to pull out victories.

Even with center Kaleb Tarczewski (foot) sidelined for the fifth straight game, Arizona (9-1) was at full force against Missouri, blowing out the Tigers before they knew what had hit them.

Arizona raced out to an 11-point lead in the opening minutes and pushed it to 19 by halftime. The Wildcats didn’t let up, either, stretching the lead in the second half to extend the nation’s longest home winning streak to 44 games.

It was Arizona’s largest non-conference win over a Power 5 conference school since beating Kansas State 125-87 in 1997.

“We strung two halves together, which in the past two games we really haven’t been able to do that,” Arizona coach Sean Miller said. “It’s not necessarily who we were playing, but who we were.”

Arizona shot 56 percent and had 20 assists on 31 field goals. Six players scored in double figures, led by Mark Tollefsen’s 17 points. York had 16 points, Allonzo Trier 15 and Ryan Anderson gave Missouri fits inside, scoring 14 points and grabbing nine rebounds.

The Wildcats overwhelmed the smaller Tigers inside all night, outscoring them by 16 in the paint and outrebounding them by 17.

Missouri (5-4) also had trouble with Arizona’s length on defense, shooting 30 percent and going 2 of 14 from 3-point range.

Freshmen Kevin Puryear and Terrence Phillips, Missouri’s two leading scorers, combined for 11 points on 4-of-19 shooting.

“The whole night is disappointing,” Tigers coach Kim Anderson said. “They played really well. I give them a lot of credit. I thought our confidence was shaken a little bit and at times they were playing above the rim and we were just standing there watching them.”

The Tigers spent some unwanted time in Lubbock, Texas, after their plane experienced mechanical issues. Kim Anderson was worried his team wouldn’t get its morning walkthrough, so he held practice in an airport hangar with a makeshift ball and a court marked off on the floor.

It didn’t get much better when Missouri arrived at the McKale Center.

Arizona jumped on the Tigers from the start of a fill-up-the-highlight-reel first half.

Soaring in for dunks and knocking down 3-pointers, the Wildcats raced out to a 15-4 lead in the opening 4 1/2 minutes. Arizona poured it on again with an 11-0 run later in the half, bringing the already-revved-up crowd to its feet when Allen turned a steal into the alley-oop to York in transition.

The Tigers never stood a chance after that.

“Arizona is a really good basketball team,” Kim Anderson said. “We missed some shots and when you do that against a team like Arizona, they are going to make you pay for it.”

ALLEN RETURNS

Allen was a question mark after spraining his right ankle against Fresno State on Wednesday, an injury that left him unable to put any weight on his right leg.

He not only started against Missouri, he moved as though he hadn’t been injured at all. Allen missed all four of his shots, but teamed with Parker Jackson-Cartwright to orchestrate Arizona’s offense to near perfection.

“The man’s a fighter,” Tollefsen said. “He’s a real competitive guy and a gamer, loves to play just as much as anyone or more than anyone, so I knew he would come back as soon as he could.”

TIP-INS

Missouri: Phillips had seven points on 2-of-9 shooting. … Puryear shot 2 of 10 for four points. … Missouri shot 9 of 29 in the first half and went 1 for 9 from 3-point range.

Arizona: Junior guard Elliott Pitts missed his second straight game due to what Miller said is a personal issue. … The Wildcats have won 30 straight nonconference home games.

UP NEXT

Missouri hosts North Carolina State on Saturday.

Arizona hosts Northern Arizona on Wednesday.

— Associated Press —