Missouri basketball blows past Presbyterian, 70-55

Missouri improved to 8-1 on the season with the victory.

By Zach Mink

Published Dec. 11, 2010

Coming off a gusty 85-82 win over Vanderbilt, the No. 15 Tigers continued to fire on all cylinders, cruising to a dominating 70-55 victory over the visiting Presbyterian Blue Hose.

Junior guard Kim English broke out of his shooting slump to lead the Tigers with 14 points, while freshman guard Phil Pressey dished out a career-high 9 assists to spark the offense. Pressey, who is still adjusting to division 1 basketball as a freshman, said the season has been a learning experience.

“Its just a process,” Phil Pressey said. “I am seeing the game and its slowing down, that happens to a lot of freshmen. I just have to learn after each game and each practice.”

Missouri surged midway through the first half after being tied at 7 early on. The Tigers rattled off a 14-0 run, fueled by a thundering dunk from senior forward Justin Safford and a three-pointer by sophomore guard Marcus Denmon off a beautiful pass from Pressey. Denmon has been an offensive sparkplug for the Tigers this season, and was a key factor in the win over the Hoyas earlier in the week.

“Each and every game he just continues to play good basketball,” coach Mike Anderson said. “He was efficient today. It’s good to see him really just kind of emerge as a player that’s hopefully going to be one of the better players in the big 12.”

Although Denmon has led the Tiger offense this year, the sophomore said that it has been important to get contribution from the entire team.

“It’s about taking good shots and playing as a team,” Denmon said. “Some nights another guy may be on and that’s who we’ll get the ball to. You have to play as a team, move the ball and the open shots will come.”

Aside from the performances of English and Denmon, Safford also had a breakout game for Missouri after struggling early in the season. The senior put up 14 points to go along with six rebounds, nearly doubling his season average of 7.3 points. Anderson said he was pleased with how Safford looked against the Blue Hose.

“It was great to see Justin,” Anderson said. “I thought he was a lot more relaxed and really fluid out there. He’s one of those guys who knows to cut and slash to the hole. The last few workouts he’s been doing that in practice so it was good to see him bring that practice to the game.”

The Tigers overwhelmed the Blue Hose on both sides of the ball. Missouri dished out a season-high 23 assists, while holding Presbyterian to only 55 points, the lowest of any Tiger opponent this year. The Tigers were also sharp from beyond the arc, hitting 10 three-pointers on the day.

Missouri improved to 8-1 on the season with the victory. The Tigers now get a long break before squaring off against Oral Roberts Thursday at Mizzou Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. central time.