SEC Tournament 2017: Ole Miss Attempts 47 Free Throws In Win Over Missouri

The Missouri Tigers weren’t going down without a fight on Thursday night, and I mean that almost literally: Missouri was whistled for 29 fouls, three Tigers fouled out, and the Ole Miss Rebels attempted 47 free throws in a 86-74 Ole Miss win.

Missouri stayed within striking distance for most of the night. Ole Miss built a 10-point halftime lead, but in the second half Missouri just wouldn’t go away. Except that, well, Missouri couldn’t stop themselves from putting Ole Miss at the foul line, and this might have been even worse if Ole Miss had shot better than 31-of-47 at the line. That more than negated another surprising shooting performance by Missouri; the Tigers shot 12-of-29 from beyond the arc to hang around for most of the game.

Sebastian Saiz put up his 20th double-double of the season with 14 points and 16 rebounds, and Deandre Burnett led all scorers with 23 for Ole Miss while Terence Davis had 19 points. For Missouri, Kevin Puryear, Jordan Barnett, and Terrence Phillips each had 15 points in what will be Kim Anderson’s final game coaching the Tigers.

Missouri finishes the season with a record of 8-24, and Kim Anderson ends his Missouri tenure with a 27-68 overall record. Ole Miss improves to 20-12 on the season — the Rebels’ third straight 20-win season — and moves on to face the Arkansas Razorbacks at approximately 9:25 PM ET on Friday night.