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After grabbing two huge ranked wins over teams from the state of Tennessee in less than a week, Dennis Gates still believes his team is early on its timeline of reaching its potential. Considering the fact that the Tigers have found unexpected ways to continue to improve and solidify their NCAA Tournament resume, there’s validity to his claim.
The Tigers’ 73-69 win over No. 22 Tennessee included the best showing yet from a Missouri player that has steadily improved ever since emerging as a starter early in conference play, plus the Tigers’ showing some of their best adaptability yet.
Missouri proved it doesn’t need to be able to exploit a height advantage or play an opponent favorable to its style to win. Instead, the Tigers themselves can be the enforcers.
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Here’s three takeaways from the win that has now put Missouri in a firm position to earn a bid for the NCAA Tournament if they can simply win the games they’ll be expected to out of the final three.
Seek Volunteers to Guard T.O. Barrett
Feb 11, 2026; College Station, Texas, USA; Missouri Tigers guard T.O. Barrett (5) dribbles the ball during the first half against the Texas A&M Aggies at Reed Arena. | Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images
T.O. Barrett took the gloves off Tuesday night, scoring a career high of 28 points. Nothing new was specifically learned about Barrett nor his playing ability in the performance – this was what he’s consistently flashed for most of the last month. But it was the best showing yet of just how much he can impact the game.
There was a run of just over nine minutes in the middle of the second half where Barrett looked as if he controlled the defense at his will. Rick Barnes agreed.
“He went down there and got what he wanted,” Barnes said following the game.
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So did Barrett.
“I didn’t feel like they could guard me, so I just kept going at it,” Barrett said of the second half.
In the stretch, Barrett scored 12 of Missouri’s 24 points in that stretch on his own layups. That stretch was…
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Publish date : 2026-02-25 05:36:00
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