The Missouri Tigers may have struggled a bit on defense against Texas on Saturday, but their offense was as impressive as it has been all year, getting solid contributions from nearly every player on the court.
Phil Pressey led the Tigers on offense, scoring 16 points and dishing out 10 assits for his second double-double of the season. Pressey was especially impressive in a dicey stretch midway through the second half where the Longhorns cut Missouri's lead to just five points down from 16 earlier in the game.
What was even more impressive is that Pressey did this without committing a single turnover. The sophomore point guard still has flashes of inexperience, but if this game doesn't get you excited for the future of Missouri basketball pass this extremely successful season, I don't know what will.
Ricardo Ratliffe was the beneficiary of a lot of Pressey's assists, finishing with a team high 21 points on 10-of-12 shooting. While it seemed impossible, Ricardo Ratliffe actually improved his nation-leading field goal percentage (77 percent) with this performance.
Marcus Denmon also found his scoring touch again, especially in the first 10 minutes of the game when he scored 13 early points. The 6-3 senior finished with 18 points and also crashed the boards for 10 rebounds and another Tiger double-double.
As a team, the Tigers shot 54 percent from the floor and 48 percent from behind the arc to continue their torrid shooting pace midway through the season. The Tigers currently sit second in the nation in shooting percentage as a team at just over 51 percent.
The Longhorns were able to stay in the game with a good offensive performance from the Big 12's leading scorer, J'Covan Brown. The junior guard finished with 34 points, a Mizzou Arena record for a Tiger opponent.
Missouri returns to the court on Monday afternoon against the struggling Texas A&M Aggies. Tip-off is at 4:30 p.m.