Shawn Phillips Jr. had 16 points and 11 rebounds and Jayden Stone paced a strong bench effort with 13 points to lead Missouri to a season-opening 88-67 victory over Howard on Monday night in Washington, D.C.
Nine different Tigers reached the scoring column during Missouri’s first-ever true road game against a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference opponent. The Tigers, who were a 20.5-point favorite, also won a season opener on the road for the first time since 2003.
Missouri led 46-26 early in the second half, but Howard sank six 3-pointers during a 20-9 run. MEAC preseason First Team selection Bryce Harris’ fourth triple cut the deficit to 55-46 with 12:36 remaining, but Jacob Crews hit an open three on the right wing out of a timeout to help restore the Tigers’ momentum.
Missouri played without junior Trent Pierce, sophomore Annor Boateng and 7-foot-5 redshirt freshman Trent Burns due to injury. But the Tigers’ overall size — led in part by Phillips, a 7-foot transfer from Arizona State who shot 8 of 9 from the field — and depth still proved too much for the Bison.
The Tigers finished with 39 bench points compared to six for the Bison. In addition to Stone, a West Virginia transfer who made three of Missouri’s 10 3-pointers, Crews scored 10 points, T.O. Barrett had nine points and Oklahoma transfer Luke Northweather seven.
Mark Mitchell (six rebounds) and UCLA transfer Sebastian Mack scored nine points apiece for Missouri. The Tigers enjoyed a 47-28 rebounding edge with 16 coming at the offensive end.
Harris topped all scorers with 27 points on 9-of-17 shooting. North Texas transfer Alex Cotton added 20 points, highlighted by six 3-pointers, for Howard and freshman center Danas Kazakevicius had seven points, five assists and one block.
Fans filled Burr Gymnasium for the second-ever meeting between the two programs, but Missouri took control early.
The Tigers led 26-13 by the midpoint of the first half en route to a 42-26 advantage at intermission. Missouri shot 51.5% (17 of 33) from the field during the opening 20 minutes, including 5 of 11 from 3-point range as Stone, Crews, Northweather and Barrett each contributed one.
Missouri tips off its home schedule on Friday against Southeast Missouri. Howard’s season-opening four-game homestand continues Thursday against the University of the District of Columbia.
–Field Level Media
