Amari Davis scored a season-high 23 points on 10-for-10 shooting to lead Missouri past injury-depleted Ole Miss 78-53 Tuesday night in Oxford, Miss.
Kobe Brown scored 15 points and Javon Pickett and Ronnie DeGray III added 11 points for the Tigers (8-9, 2-3 SEC), who earned their first road victory of the season.
Daeshun Ruffin led the Rebels (9-8, 1-4) with 12 points. Ole Miss has lost five of its last six games after an 8-3 start.
The Rebels had dominated this series, winning 15 of 18 games against the Tigers, including seven of eight at home before Tuesday.
But Ole Miss played without leading scorer Jarkel Joiner (back surgery), forward Robert Allen (knee surgery) and guard Austin Crowley (ankle) due to injuries.
This matchup remained a one-possession game for the first 10:57 of the game. The lead went back and forth and neither team led by more than three points during that span.
A 3-point jumper by DaJuan Gordon and a 3-point play by Davis pushed Missouri to a 21-15 lead.
After the Rebels cut that margin to two points, the Tigers went on a 17-4 run to take a 38-23 halftime lead. Davis led that charge by hitting a mid-range jumper, throwing down a runout dunk, converting a drive to the basket and knocking down another mid-range jumper.
Ole Miss missed 12-of-15 shots from 3-point range during its first-half struggle and committed seven turnovers. Missouri outrebounded the Rebels 22-13 in the first 20 minutes and shot 55.6 percent from the floor.
Nysier Brooks sparked the Rebels with slam dunks on back-to-back possessions in the first two minutes of the second half. Then Luis Rodriguez hit a pair of 3-point jumpers as Ole Miss cut the lead to 49-38 with 12:30 left.
But Missouri responded with an 8-0 run sparked by DeGray III’s 3-point jumper to push the lead back to 19 points.
The Rebels could get no closer than 10 points the rest the way.
–Field Level Media
