The Southeastern Conference losing streak reached two games for the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team Saturday night.
The No. 6 Volunteers hosted No. 19 Missouri at Thompson-Boling Arena and the Tigers avenged their earlier loss to the Big Orange by capturing a 73-64 victory.
In the earlier meeting, an SEC opener for both schools, the Vols opened a 24-5 lead en route to a 73-53 victory.
Well, the Tigers (10-2, 4-2 SEC) made sure that they wouldn’t have a repeat performance as they darted out to a 17-5 advantage and forced UT (10-3, 4-3) into an uphill battle all night.
Missouri, which led 40-34 at halftime, never trailed in the contest.
It was also a dubious first for Tennessee as Missouri’s Xavier Pinson scored 27 points and became the first opposing player to record 20 points on the Vols’ defense this season.
Pinson had 19 points at halftime as Tennessee committed 10 turnovers in the first eight minutes of the game. Missouri guard Dru Smith scored 18 points.
Yves Pons had a season-high 20 points for Tennessee. He scored 15 points before halftime.
Victor Bailey Jr. and Josiah-Jordan James scored 12 points each.
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