COLUMBIA, Mo. — There was a moment when the Tigers were in it. Actually, there were a string of moments, the first boiling bubbles of a brewing upset.
And then it was No. 5 Tennessee that got hot.
Missouri men’s basketball lost its 13th consecutive game Tuesday night, falling at home 72-67 to the Vols, who were led by a second-half heater from star guard Dalton Knecht.
The defeat is MU’s 13th in a row, which ties the program record for most consecutive losses, from the 2014-2015 and 2016-2017 seasons. The Tigers have not won a game in 2024 and have only one victory in 17 games since Dec. 3.
MU stuck around through a turnover-ridden, incredibly low-scoring first stretch of the game to lead at halftime, giving up the lead for good with 10:16 left in the game.
Point guard Sean East II scored 24 points, his ninth 20-point performance of the season. Forward Noah Carter added 20 points and seven rebounds.
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Guard Tamar Bates struggled with foul trouble early and didn’t settle his shot, finishing 3 for 15 from the floor.
Knecht, who entered the game as one of the nation’s top 30 scorers, finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Fifteen of those points came in the second half, including most during a particularly lethal 14-3 Tennessee run that took the visitors from down by three to leading by eight.
“I thought the second half, when you saw that basketball go in — and we knew Dalton Knecht was going to come out and make some shots, and he made some tough ones — I thought our guys got discouraged at that point,†Missouri coach Dennis Gates said.
The game started as slowly as a college basketball game realistically can, with only one field goal made by either team — an easy dunk for the Volunteers after an MU inbounds pass was sent toward a tripped player — in the first eight minutes. Mizzou took a 1-0 — yes, 1-0 — lead into the first media timeout.
Within the first eight minutes, the Tigers turned the ball over six times while forcing four turnovers from UT.
Sloppy offense slowed down, and MU traded buckets with the Vols. Three trips to the free-throw line in a 50-second span — four free throws made by Carter, two by East — swung Mizzou from a three-point deficit to a three-point lead.
East hit a deep 3 and secured two free throws near the end of the first half, generating a 29-26 advantage for Missouri at halftime. A weeknight crowd relishing the effort gave the Tigers a standing ovation as they walked back to the locker room.
“I was pretty upset at halftime,†Vols coach Rick Barnes said.
He turned to two-big lineup combinations in the second half, which led to 18 of the visitors’ 46 second-half points in the paint and 23 layup attempts.
Tennessee quickly tied the game at the start of the second half, but MU was not yet deterred. East nailed a cross-court pass to fellow point guard Nick Honor, who hit a 3. On the next trip down the floor, East pulled up from the left side of the 3-point line, holding his follow-through. After Carter snatched an offensive rebound and powered back into space for a hook shot, Missouri led 40-34 with 16 minutes and change left in the game.
Momentum threatened to stall when center Mabor Majak was called for a flagrant foul, but Tennessee missed a technical free throw and the Tigers stole the ball on the ensuing inbounds pass.
Then Knecht started cooking. He hit two shots as part of a run that saw UT tie the game at 46 apiece. A few minutes later, he cashed a deep 3 to put the Volunteers up 53-49. After another shot from long range, the visitors led by six, and a laser-like pass from Knecht to the rim opened up a 60-52 lead for Tennessee with just under eight minutes left in the game.
“He’s SEC player of the year. At least, he has my vote,†Gates said. “That’s what he is. ... It’s not even close, in my eyes.â€
Holding Knecht to a blank from the field in the first half was a defensive accomplishment and something that rattled the Vols, but their star power won out down the stretch.
“They didn’t run plays,†Gates said. “I think we did a great job taking them out of sets. But when you have a guy that can score at all three levels, which is what he did, and the explosion that he was able to do that with, the strength and the balance.â€
From that point, the Vols led by as much as 13 and didn’t face much resistance in closing out the recovered win. Mizzou only managed to make two field goals in the final two and a half minutes: a 3 from Carter and a meaningless buzzer-beater 3 from freshman point guard Anthony Robinson II that left the margin of defeat at five points.
As has been the relentless trend over the course of the season, Missouri went to the free-throw line less often than its opponent — this time, 27 free throws for Tennessee to 21 for the Tigers.
Gates has lamented that differential repeatedly, but his tone took an aggressive shift on Tuesday.
“The big picture of it all was our inability, we got to do a better job drawing fouls,†Gates said. “I think we suck at it. We’re (expletive) terrible — we’re terrible at drawing fouls, and we got to do a better job.â€
It was a tactical deployment of an expletive if there ever was one, and it brought Gates to his request for the reporters who watched the loss — one that cannot be fulfilled here.
“Can y’all write that in there?†he asked. “Make sure you don’t bleep that out, alright?â€