By Abby Doperak
Leading scorers Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Nate Ament were not enough as No. 22 Tennessee fell to Missouri, 73-69, on Wednesday night.
Missouri, unranked, was coming off a narrow 86-84 loss to Arkansas. The Volunteers entered the matchup following a 69-65 win against Vanderbilt.
The star of the game? Missouri’s T.O. Barrett, who led with a career-high 28 points on 12-of-17 shooting.
“They deserved to win the game,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said. “He [T.O. Barrett] went down and got what he wanted. We were trying to get someone over there to try and help our guards a little bit, but we could never get into that rotation. I give them credit, they found a spot they wanted to attack, and they attacked it.”
Tennessee opened the game in control, building a 10-point lead early in the first half, 12-2. The Volunteers held off the Tigers until the final minute before halftime, when Missouri took its first lead. Tennessee responded and carried a 29-26 advantage into the break.
The teams traded baskets for much of the second half until Missouri used a 13-3 run over 3:55 to seize momentum. Tennessee trailed 67-65 in the final minute, but late fouls allowed Missouri to extend its lead by making four of its five free throws and securing the 73-69 win.
Turnovers plagued the Volunteers, who committed 15 and allowed 23 points off those mistakes. Every Tennessee player who saw the court recorded at least one turnover except Jalen Carey and Felix Okpara.
“You can’t turn the ball over 15 times like we did and expect to win a game,” Barnes said.
The Volunteers also struggled with shot selection, leading to Tennessee shooting 43% from the field compared with Missouri’s 47%.
Gillespie led Tennessee with 19 points, followed by Ament with 17. Okpara added 15 points and eight rebounds, while Bishop Boswell scored 13. Carey pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds, and DeWayne Brown II finished with five points.
J.P. Estrella returned to the court after missing the last game with an injury, finishing with no points and one rebound.
“This one is over and done with,” Barnes said. “We’ve got to get ready because the next three, for all of us in the league, are critical games for everybody.”
Tennessee will host No. 17 Alabama on Saturday at home in Knoxville. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. ET.