Missouri uses second half to pull away from Mississippi Valley State

Missouri improves to 5-0 due to an offensive explosion from Isiaih Mosley's team-high 18 points.

Photo courtesy of Tristen Rouse via Columbia Missourian

COLUMBIA – The Missouri Tigers continued their offensive barrage in an 83-62 victory over Mississippi Valley State Sunday night.

Entering this matchup against the Delta Devils, Missouri owned the best offense in the SEC and 15th best in the nation, averaging 94 points a game. After scoring 105 against SIU-Edwardsville, the Tigers looked to duplicate their success against a team that averaged 52.5 points per game.

But the Tigers had to create some of their own energy because of the Thanksgiving break departure of student fans.

"The COVID year helped us a lot, knowing that the bench would give us energy no matter what the situation is," D'Moi Hodge said.

Nick Honor entered this contest 17 points shy of reaching 1,000 in his college career, but he'll have to wait at least one other game before hitting the milestone. Honor finished the game with 10 points and led the team with 6 assists.

"He's very important, he's our point guard, we follow his lead," DeAndre Gholston said.

Mizzou caught fire early on beyond the arc. D’Moi Hodge, who scored 30 points against SIU-Edwardsville, continued his scoring surge with nine points in the first four minutes.

Hodge finished the game tied for a team-high 18 points and 6 steals. After starting 6 for 21 from beyond the arc in the first three games of the season, Hodge is 8 for 18 from 3-point range this week.

But the Tigers couldn’t stop Mississippi Valley State’s Terry Collins early on. Collins was the catalyst of the Delta Devils' offense throughout the first half as he had 22 points.

"He is a good player. He made shots. His teammates found him and all he had to do was catch and shoot," Gates said.

Mizzou, however, did enter halftime with a narrow 40-37 lead. The last time Mississippi Valley State defeated a Power 5 conference opponent was against Northwestern in 2003 with a close 49-47 victory.

"This is the first time our guys faced zone the entire game. That's going to be needed moving forward for us to know who we are because someone else is going to play us zone without a doubt," Gates said.

The Tigers put Collins on lockdown in the second half, which helped create some separation on the scoreboard between them and the Delta Devils. Collins finished with a game-high 27 points.

"D'Moi Hodge and DeAndre Gholston did a great job in the second half of limiting him," Gates said.

Offensively, Isiaih Mosley erupted for the Tigers, scoring 13 points during a Mississippi Valley State seven-minute scoring drought. Mosley helped put the game out of reach with a season-high 18 points.

"I thought Isiaih did a good job of spacing and penetrating the zone," Gates said.

Missouri maintained the rest of the game, ending the contest 50% from the field and 10-30 from deep, and earning the respect from the Delta Devil's head coach.

"They are a good shooting basketball team, they are tough and they move the ball and we respect that," George Ivory said.

Despite having a 5-0 record and generating 21 assists, Gates said he isn't satisfied with one category.

"I'm not happy that we lost the rebounding category. That's an area we have to improve on but it's fixable because we'll have to do it by committee," Gates said.

Missouri's next game is on Wednesday at home against Coastal Carolina. Tip-off is slated for 6:00 pm CT.