Men's basketball
Missouri 72, Baylor 57: Tigers breeze with threes
Missouri makes season-high 14 three-pointers
Missouri’s Marcus Denmon attempts a three-pointer in the second half. Baylor held Ricardo Ratliffe, Missouri’s main inside scoring threat, to six points, but that left the Tigers free to make 14 of 28 from beyond the arc.
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Phil Pressey’s first three-point attempt went in off the glass. The sophomore guard, known more for flashy, no-look passes than his outside touch, took that sketchy success and ran with it.
Pressey scored 19 points, making four of No. 4 Missouri’s season-best 14 three-pointers, and the Tigers defeated No. 6 Baylor 72-57 yesterday. He had no three-pointers the previous five games.
“It just happens like that sometimes,” Pressey said of his bank shot. “I made it, so that’s all that counts.”
Sixth man Michael Dixon also had four three-pointers and Marcus Denmon added three for Missouri (23-2, 10-2 Big 12), which shot 50 percent from beyond the arc.
Missouri is 14-0 at home, with an average margin of 24 points, and got an easier test a week after needing an 11-0 run to defeat Kansas by three. Both games were sellouts, but the matchup against Baylor (21-4, 8-4), carrying a higher ranking, did not match that atmosphere. Still, the Tigers said they were energized by the response from the fans in the second half.
“Yeah, it got pretty loud,” Dixon said. “The crowd does ignite us.”
Quincy Miller had 20 points and Perry Jones III was held to four on 2-for-12 shooting for Baylor, which lost by 14 at home against No. 8 Kansas on Wednesday night. The Bears shot just 36 percent yesterday, negating a 40-27 rebounding advantage.
Baylor has lost twice to Missouri and Kansas and is unbeaten otherwise.
“When Missouri is on, there is nobody in the country as good as them offensively. Nobody. Period,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said. “And when I mean on, is when they’re making their threes. So you have to hope they’re not on. They’ve been on a lot this year.”
Baylor stopped Ricardo Ratliffe, Missouri’s lone inside threat, but no one else. Ratliffe was held to six points on 3-for-9 shooting after entering the game shooting 75.5 percent.
“When you’re making shots, it’s really tough to go out there and try to chase around the guys that they have that can break you down off the bounce,” Drew said.
“So you have to give up something, and tonight we gave up the three.”
