Gainesville, Fla. – University of Missouri men’s basketball took down its second top-five team of the season, earning an 83-82 road win at No. 5/4 Florida on Tuesday night.

The Tigers’ first road win against a top-five team since 2012, Mizzou improves to 14-3 on the season and 3-1 in SEC play for the first time in program history. The nationally-ranked Gators drop to 15-2 and 2-2 versus league foes.

MIZZOU LEADERS

Graduate guard Caleb Grill led the Tigers with 22 points, connecting on 7-of-11 field goals and 6-of-10 from 3-point range. The graduate student set the pace early with 12 first-half points, making his first four triples, and also added three steals and two assists in the winning effort.

Overall, four Tigers scored in double figures on the night. Junior Mark Mitchell added 15 points and eight rebounds, while sophomore Anthony Robinson II chipped in a dozen points. Senior Tamar Bates added 10 points, while matching his career high with five steals.

GAME RECAP

The Tigers came out on fire and set the tone that the night would not be a smooth game for the No. 5 Gators. Mizzou made 14 of its first 21 shots and seven of its first 10 3-point attempts to pull in front by 19 points, 42-23. A 13-3 run midway through the period stretched the Missouri advantage from three to 13, 30-17, with the last nine points of the spurt coming from the 3-point shooting of Grill.

The Gators pulled to within 10 after the 19-point MU lead, but Mizzou held the hosts without a point the final 4:32 of the period to go back in front by 16, 50-34, at the half.

Florida, however, would not go away. A 19-8 run to start the second stanza pulled the Gators within five, 58-53, with 12:20 remaining in the game. The Tigers responded with a mini 7-1 run to go back in front by 11, 65-54, only for the Gators to score the next eight points for a three-point game, 65-62.

From there, the Tigers responded every time they needed to. Three times, Florida pulled to within a single possession but the Tigers never allowed Florida to get a shot off with a chance to tie the game. Josh Gray knocked down two free throws the first time, Robinson added one of his own a second time and Trent Pierce knocked down a triple the final time with 3:14 remaining for a 72-66 lead. The Gators had two more chances when down two but both times – via Mitchell and Grill – the Tigers made both free throws in the final 30 seconds to go back in front by four, finishing off the top-five win,

TEAM STATS

The Tigers shot 44.3 percent in the winning effort, including an 11-of-29 performance from 3-point range. Mizzou was also able to turn 13 Florida turnovers into an 18-6 advantage in points off turnovers to grab the edge in transition.

Florida made 48.1 percent of the field goals, while the nation’s top-rebounding team only finished with a slight, 37-36, advantage on the glass.

UP NEXT

Winners of three-straight games, the Tigers are back in action on Saturday, hosting Arkansas. Tipoff at Mizzou Arena is set for 5 p.m.