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Tigers make it two in a row

How did Missouri beat South Carolina on Tuesday night? Let Frank Martin count the ways.

“They outrebounded us, they outshot us from the foul line, with the game on the line they were tougher than us to score balls at the rim. We couldn’t score and we couldn’t stop them,” the Gamecocks’ head coach said. “They just flat out beat us. Out toughed us, outscrapped us, beat us on the glass, beat us to the rim, beat us running the court. They just beat us.”

The end result was a 72-67 win, just Missouri’s third SEC victory of the season, but its second in a row after a nine-game losing streak.

Terrence Phillips played perhaps his most complete game in Tuesday's win.
Terrence Phillips played perhaps his most complete game in Tuesday's win.
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“It just felt like we expected to win and we knew we were gonna win,” senior center Ryan Rosburg said.

For 37 minutes, Missouri led the Gamecocks. The Tigers jumped out to a 6-3 lead and stayed in front until two Michael Carrera free throws put South Carolina up 63-62 with 2:57 to go. The teams seesawed back and forth until a free throw by Rosburg put the Tigers up for good at 68-67.

“s he as old as I am?” Martin joked after four years of facing Rosburg. “I thought I coached against him when Beasley played for me at K-State. I could have sworn he was on that team.”

If Rosburg has been around a while, he has never been this good. Tuesday marked his fifth consecutive game with at least 17 points and five rebounds. He tallied 18 and five in this one, plus a blocked shot that kept Missouri ahead by three with a minute to play. He was, in every way, the catalyst for the victory.

“Every game I want to win,” Rosburg said. “If it means me scoring, me rebounding, whatever it is, me sitting on the bench cheering on teammates. I just try to be that teammate.”

“I wish my senior center would play with the same urgency that he plays with as their careers are coming to an end,” Martin said. “ A lot of credit to him, that staff that obviously has instilled confidence in him. That’s like four straight teams he just absolutely kicks peoples’ tails.”

Rosburg had 18 points and 5 rebounds and came up big on both ends of the floor late.
Rosburg had 18 points and 5 rebounds and came up big on both ends of the floor late. (Jordan Kodner)

Rosburg had plenty of help in this one. Missouri announced an hour before tipoff that Wes Clark had been removed from the program for failing to meet academic standards. In his absence, Tramaine Isabell put up 10 points, two rebounds, two steals and two assists as the Tigers ran to an eight-point halftime lead. After the break, freshman Terrence Phillips took over, doing most of his damage on a night that ended in 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

“It’s that next man up mentality,” Phillips said. “I saw guys who really, really wanted it tonight.”

But the rock, the steadying force, was Rosburg. On a team all but devoid of both upperclassmen and leadership, the too-frequent punching bag for Missouri fans over the last few years has turned into Missouri’s most reliable player.

On Tuesday, the Tigers even relied on him at the place he has been most erratic: The free throw line. After starting 2-8 from the stripe, Rosburg made six of his final nine attempts...the final one coming when South Carolina intentionally fouled him prior to an inbounds pass with 25 seconds to play.

“I didn’t even know you could do that,” Rosburg said. “I felt like DeAndre Jordan.”

His coach knew they could do it. And while he considered sitting Rosburg for the closing possessions because of that, Anderson chose to trust his lone senior.

“I thought about it but you know what? I’m riding the horse,” Anderson said. “He’s a guy who, he doesn’t get to play in the postseason ever again. I’m gonna ride the horse. He stepped up.

“He’s earned that opportunity to be in there and I was happy he made the free throws he made.”

The win does not erase the rest of the season, does not in the grand scheme of things, probably mean all that much. But in a year where victories have been few and far between, Missouri isn’t trying to give this one back.

“You guys know from everything that’s gone on this year, this has been a tough year here,” Phillips said. “I’m really proud of our guys these last two games. Hopefully we continue it these last two games here.”

“The past couple games it has felt like a different team,” Namon Wright added. “We’re gonna try to win all five games. That’s the plan until we lose. We’re gonna try to win all five and try to ruin some team’s record.”

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