Missouri goes into Gainesville, upsets No. 5 Florida

Tuesday has turned into a night of upsets in the SEC. First, Ole Miss took down No. 4 Alabama for a historic win on the road. Now, another top-five team has lost with Florida dropping a home game to Missouri.

Heading into the matchup, Florida was a perfect 8-0 from home. One SEC win is in there, demolishing Tennessee in front of the Gator faithful. This one was quite different as Missouri came out of the gates hot and held on in the final minutes.

Dennis Gates had a team many believed were flying under the radar. Missouri is now 14-3 overall but 3-1 in SEC play. Some kind of statement win was going to be needed before fully arriving in the early race for a regular-season championship.

Now, the Tigers have exactly that.

The first half’s hot start saw Mizzou lead by 19 at one point, scoring 42 points in the first 13 minutes of the game. From there, the shots began to miss but still, 50 first-half points on the road in the SEC is something any coach in the conference will take.

Overall, an efficient night from the floor was Missouri’s main storyline. Shooting nearly 40% from three when having around 30 attempts is going to lead to success for most teams in college basketball. Mizzou finished 11-29 when firing from deep.

Gates will be happy with his team’s ability to get to the free throw line but opportunities were not cashed. Just 18 of the 29 attempts from the line went in. However, Caleb Grill hit two when they mattered the most.

With five seconds remaining in the game, Grill’s two makes put Missouri up four points and Florida out of reach.

Tony Perkins ejected from game during win over Florida

Tony Perkins was ejected from the game after being hit with a Flagrant 2 foul. Perkins hit Alijah Martin directly in the groin and after review, it was ruled a Flagrant 2.

Officials went to the monitor and apparently, they were not making a decision on a Flagrant 1 or Flagrant 2. ESPN’s Mike Morgan explained exactly what was being reviewed, with the determination having to be incidental or not. Flagrant 1 was never going to be an option for Perkins, either getting nothing or the Flagrant 2.

“By rule, if it’s labeled non-incidental contact to the groin, it’s an automatic Flagrant 2,” Morgan said. “Flagrant 1 was never in play there and again, since it’s Flagrant 2, that is an ejection. So the question there wasn’t Flagrant 1 or Flagrant 2. It was — if it was flagrant, since it was to the groin, it’s an automatic Flagrant 2. A massive call at this point of the game and we will see how it affects the momentum and personnel.”