NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Gators shot the lights out on Mizzou’s SEC Tournament run. No. 7 seed Missouri basketball hung around for long stretches of Friday’s quarterfinals bout with the second-seeded Gators, but after never managing to fully track
Florida down, the Tigers’ SEC Tournament is over. Mizzou lost 95-81 on Friday at Bridgestone Arena, as Florida put on a devastating shooting display to end MU’s tournament. Star Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr. briefly limped off to the sideline with seemingly only amounted to some cramping, but in that time Mizzou cut a once-14-point Florida lead to four and were hovering around. But UF had the final sprint. Clayton led Florida in scoring with 18 points, and the Gators shot 61.8% from the field. Tamar Bates led Mizzou with 16 points. Florida, one of the nation’s most in-form squads, capitalized on each Mizzou misstep. When Tamar Bates drove to the basket, Clayton back in the game, and only managed to find room for a fadeway teardrop that clanked harmlessly out, UF hit the Tigers on the fastbreak with blistering speed. Florida got the ball from Clayton’s defensive rebound to Will Richard’s hands to Alijah Martin at the rim for an alley-oop dunk in seven seconds, max. It was a 10-point game with now minutes to play. So went the night. It’s not an egregious error on Missouri’s part, missing a jumper from the painted area. But there was no room for error Friday. The Gators were shooting with lethal accuracy. At the Under-8 timeout, Florida owned a 64.3% clip from the field. No team has shot better from the field than 57.1% — a mark Auburn and OU hit in wins — against Mizzou this season. Florida was devastating in transition. After Caleb Grill missed a wide-open transition look from 3-point range, and Tamar Bates pulled in the rebound and missed another 3-point attempt, the Gators barged down court and made Mizzou rue the missed chances with a Will Richard triple. There was no room for errors for the Tigers, who still made plenty. The high-flying, free-scoring Gators lived up to their high billing immediately out of the gate. Within 67 seconds of the opening tip, they had built an eight-point lead and drawn a Flagrant-1 foul from Mizzou center Josh Gray, who ended up fouling out with 7:20 left in the contest. Within two minutes, Florida was up 10-0. When the game entered the second media timeout, the Gators were 9-of-12 from the field, 5-of-6 from 3-point range and up 14 points as Mizzou was struggling to switch out. Clayton already had eclipsed 10 points. The Tigers spotting Florida a 10-point lead out of the gate proved to be the difference. The Gators move on to face either Alabama or Kentucky in the semfinals of the tournament Saturday. Mizzou waits for Selection Sunday, when it will find out its seed, site and opponent for the NCAA Tournament.
Missouri basketball vs Florida live score updates
This section will be updated when the game begins. The Gators have gone on a quick 8-2 run to restore a double-digit leading heading into the final stretch here. The Tigers briefly threatened to make this a game, but that may very well be that. Mizzou trails Florida 67-60 with 11:42 to go, and this feels a lot more like a game than it did 20 minutes ago. Walter Clayton limped off to the sideline with what looked like hamstring pain and is still on the Florida bench. We'll see if he can return, but anything is on the table here. Tamar Bates draws the and-1 off Thomas Haugh at one end, and Florida goes up court through Alijah Martin and does the exact same thing. Aidan Shaw's putback attempt rolls out, and Florida breaks for another three-point play. The margins are razor-thin, but there appears to just be no tracking down the Gators tonight. Mizzou needs an extended run, and it's hard to pin down where that might come from. With 14:58 left in the game, Mizzou trails Florida 62-51. I don't think Missouri necessarily has been that terrible. Sometimes one of the nation's best players on one of the nation's best teams happen to be your opponent. Walter Clayton Jr. has been incredible to watch in this first half. There isn't an area on the court that he has not impacted. He has 17 points, four assists and two rebounds. A fantastic talent who has run the show tonight. This does not look like a game that Mizzou can claw its way back into. It'll need to defend the 3-point line and get some of these shots that are rolling out to go the other way. If not, it's night night in Nashville. Make a mistake, like Josh Gray not capitalizing on an open fastbreak opportunity, and Florida is going to separate. Don't score, and Florida is going to separate. Mammoth task for Missouri to get back into this one. The Gators are damn good. Freshmen Peyton Marshall and T.O. Barrett checked into the game with Aidan Shaw, Tamar Bates and Marques Warrick, and that sparked some life into this game. The Tigers got a couple stops, Marshall played some bully ball down low, Bates dropped a 3-pointer, and at one point Mizzou had it within four points as Caleb Grill checked back in and took a turnover to the basket for a fastbreak dunk. But, UF responded with an alley-oop, and Missouri missed a pair of open-looking triples before Florida went up court and Will Richard knocked one deep shot down. Those are the ones you need. 33-24 UF lead.
No stopping Florida
Just absolutely filthily good from Florida so far, capped by a remarkable bit of skill from Walter Clayton Jr., who crossed up Josh Gray and took it to the rim for a wide-open layup to make it 27-13 Gators at the 11:03 mark of the first half. There's a reason this team is a likely No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Gators are 9-of-12 from the field, 5-of-6 from 3-point range. Clayton has 10 points, Will Richard has 8 points. Elite guard play, elite bigs, elite basketball team. Mizzou, so far, has not been. At the first media timeout, it's Florida 15, Mizzou 6. Tigers just put together their first encouraging spell of the game, as all three made baskets have come on the end of really great passes. Trent Pierce put another highlight reel dunk on his resume, and was on the end of Caleb Grill dime to get up to 4 early points. But ... oof. Florida has made all of its 3-pt attempts and isn't meeting a ton of resistance. Defense has been an issue, and these Gators can get hot. Dennis Gates wants a timeout as Florida takes a 10-0 lead at the 18:25 mark. Missouri has not yet taken a shot. Tigers are already in a hole that will be tough to climb out of. Mizzou center, just 47 seconds into the game, has been assessed a Flagrant-1 foul for grabbing Will Richard's face while chasing a loose ball. Florida, after the free throws, now has a 5-0 lead. Missouri basketball will not play Mark Mitchell in its game against Florida. “Student-athlete health is our top priority at Mizzou,” Missouri coach Dennis Gates said in a statement. “I have elected to not play Mark tonight in order to prevent any further injury and allow his knee to fully recover and be 100 percent. He had a great walkthrough and workout earlier today and we look forward to him helping us during the rest of the postseason.”
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Good evening from Nashville, where there is a little less than 30 minutes remaining until the Tigers take on Florida in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament. Both teams have been out for pregame warmups, and that included a fairly active session for Mizzou forward Mark Mitchell, who was a game-time decision on the pregame availability report. He is dressed and appears to be making a push to play, although that not necessarily be the way it transpires. Missouri forward Mark Mitchell was listed as a game-time decision on Mizzou's availability report, which was published at 4 p.m., two hours ahead of tipoff. Mitchell missed the full second half of MU's win over Mississippi State on Thursday with a right knee injury. By being a true game-time decision, that means Mitchell theoretically has equal chances of playing as he does of missing tonight's game against Florida. It is, however, worth debating the value in risking Mitchell this close to the NCAA Tournament. Florida did not make any changes on its final pregame availability report, which means forward Sam Alexis will be the only player to miss Friday's game for the Gators.
What time does Missouri vs Florida begin?
Missouri’s game against Florida will tip off at 6 p.m. CDT Thursday at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. Tickets for the game are currently available on the secondary market at
StubHub, with prices starting at $149. What TV channel is Missouri vs Florida on?
Missouri’s game against Florida will air live on SEC Network. Karl Ravech will be the play-by-play announcer for the game, Jimmy Dykes will be the on-air analyst and Molly McGrath will be the sideline reporter. The game is also available to stream live with FUBO,
which offers a free trial to potential subscribers. Tiger Radio Network will air the game live with ‘Voice of the Tigers’ Mike Kelly as the play-by-play announcer and Chris Gervino as the analyst on satellite channel 106 or 190. Fans can also tune in via the Sirius XM app on channel 960.
Missouri basketball injury and availability updates
Forward Mark Mitchell is likely to be listed on Mizzou’s pregame availability report, as he left the Tigers’ game against Florida with a right knee injury and was unable to return. In his postgame press conference, Mizzou coach Dennis Gates did not have an update regarding Mitchell’s status. It's currently unclear whether Missouri plans to attempt to play Mitchell or not. Florida will be without forward Sam Alexis for the game against Mizzou. Alexis has appeared 23 times for the Gators this season, all off the bench, and averages 4.9 points and 3.6 rebounds per game. The final pregame availability report will publish at approximately 4 p.m. Friday, two hours prior to the scheduled tipoff time.
Missouri basketball full 2024-25 season schedule
Home games are listed in bold. Neutral-site game listed with an asterisk (*). All times listed in CDT. Missouri basketball team news
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