No. 6 Tennessee falls to Missouri on another buzzer-beater, 86-85

It happened again. Missouri hit a long, desperation 3-point shot as time expired and shocked No. 6 Tennessee in an 86-85 win at Thompson-Boling Arena.

The Vols had rallied from down 17 points with 17 minutes left but Santiago Vescovi missed a free throw with four seconds left and Tobe Awaka committed a lane violation on the second attempt. Missouri’s DeAndre Gholston then hit a deep, running 3-pointer for the win.

Vescovi made two free throws with 7.1 seconds left, giving Tennessee a three-point lead. The Vols fouled up three on Missouri’s next possession, with the Tigers making one of two. Mizzou then fouled Vescovi before the following inbound, with 4.1 seconds left.

Tyreke Key, Tennessee’s graduate-transfer shooting guard, scored 21 of his season-high 23 points in the second half to lead the Vols’ comeback attempt. Vescovi scored 17 points and Zakai Zeigler scored 11 points before fouling out with 2:49 to go.

Missouri (19-7, 7-5) got 19 from Kobe Brown. Gholston had 18, Sean East II scored 16 and D’Moi Hodge added 14. Brown and Hodge spent the second half in foul trouble, with Tennessee in the bonus for the final 12 minutes.

The Vols, who trailed 49-32 at the 17:33 mark of the second half, tied the game on two Vescovi free throws with 8:41 left, and took the lead on a Vescovi three a minute later. Tobe Awaka scored on the next possession to build the lead to five and make it a 15-0 run. 

Before the fouls piled up, Missouri scored five straight to start the second half and get the lead to 17 with 17 minutes left. Tennessee was back within six less than six minutes later.

Key hit a 3-pointer with 14:22 left and hit four free throws before delivering a corner three with 11:41 to go, cutting Missouri’s lead down to 59-53.

The Tigers punched back with a bucket just before the shot-clock horn, then got a Vescovi turnover in the backcourt and hit another three to get the lead back to 10 with 10:17 left.

Key answered with back-to-back threes of his own, getting it back to a four-point game and giving him 16 points on 4-for-5 shooting from the 3-point line in the first 11 minutes of the second half.

Missouri led 44-32 at half after shooting 51.5% from the field, 8-16 from 3-point line

Missouri took over in the first half with a 10-0 midway through the first half and didn’t look back, turning what was as much as a six-point deficit into what was as much as a 14-point lead.

Mizzou led 44-32 at the break after shooting 51.5 percent from the field and 50.0 percent from the 3-point line, going 8-for-16 from the arc. Vanderbilt finished 10-for-25 from the 3-point line in its 66-65 win over Tennessee on Wednesday, the most 3-pointers the Vols had allowed this season.

Tennessee shot 44.0 percent from the field and went 3-for-10 from the field in the first half. Zeigler, who went 4-for-5 from the floor before halftime, was the only Tennessee player to hit multiple shots from the field in the first half.

Senior wing Josiah-Jordan James did not dress for the game, sidelined by the sprained left ankle he suffered in the final minute of the loss at Vanderbilt on Wednesday. Freshman Julian Phillips didn’t play in the second half due to a hip flexor injury. He had four points and two rebounds in 10 minutes in the first half.

Up Next: No. 3 Alabama vs. No. 6 Tennessee, Wednesday, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN2

The Vols are back at Thompson-Boling Arena Wednesday to host No. 3 Alabama, a 7 p.m. Eastern Time start on ESPN2. Tennessee then goes on the road for two straight, at Kentucky on Saturday (1 p.m. ET; CBS) then at Texas A&M on February 21.

The regular-season schedule ends with two more home games, against South Carolina on February 25 and Arkansas on February 28, then a road game at Auburn in the finale on March 4.