ATHENS, Ga. – Mizzou Men's Basketball (7-7) dropped its Southeastern Conference opener Wednesday night, 77-59, at Georgia (8-4). Freshman forward Kevin Puryear (Blue Springs, Mo.) led the Tigers in scoring with 19 points, the 10th time in 14 games Puryear has scored in double digits.
Joining Puryear in double-digit scoring was junior guard Wes Clark (Detroit, Mich.), who had 13 points, the fourth consecutive game he has scored in double-digits. Sophomore forward Jakeenan Gant (Springfield, Ga.) led the team in rebounds with six while freshman guard Terrence Phillips (Orange County, Calif.) led the team in assists with five.
For the third-straight game, Mizzou shot better than 75 percent from the free throw line, connecting on 18-of-23 attempts for 78.3 percent.
The Tigers got behind early in the first half, falling behind 8-0. From there, the Tigers went on to score 10 of the next 17 points to cut the lead to five after a jumper from sophomore guard Tramaine Isabelkl (Seattle, Wash.) made the score 15-10. With under five minutes left in the half, the Tigers began feeding their freshman big man, Puryear. The Blue Springs native scored eight consecutive points for Mizzou, but the Tigers trailed by 12 at the half, 45-32.
The Bulldogs opened the second half on a 12-3 run to open a 57-35 lead. Throughout the remainder of the half, the Tigers could not cut the deficit to under 15, falling 77-59 at the final buzzer.
