Postgame Notes: Missouri 75, Vols 64

Feb. 13, 2016

Postgame Notes

The Basics

Tennessee falls to 12-13 overall and 5-7 in the SEC after dropping an 75-64 decision at Missouri on Saturday at Mizzou Arena. The Vols were led by 21 points from Kevin Punter Jr. and 17 points from Devon Baulkman. Freshman Shembari Phillips added 10 to round out UT's double-digit scorers.

With the loss, Tennessee falls to 1-8 in true road games this season and 1-11 in all games played away from Knoxville.

Missouri's win snapped a nine-game losing streak and the Tigers improved to 9-5 at home.

Rare Struggles At The Line

Tennessee entered the game as the top free-throw-shooting team in the SEC at 74.5 percent for the season, but the Vols shot just 58.3 percent on Saturday in Columbia, going 14-for-24.

It was just the third time this season and the first time since Nov. 22 vs. Gardner-Webb that Tennessee had shot worse than 60 percent from the charity stripe. Against the Runnin' Bulldogs, Tennessee was 12-of-23 (.522) from the free throw line in an 89-64 victory.

Punter Becomes Two-Year Scoring King

With 21 points against Missouri on Saturday, senior Kevin Punter Jr. became Tennessee's all-time leading scorer amongst Vols whose careers spanned two years or fewer. Punter now has 886 career points in 57 games in the Orange and White.

Punter had entered the game tied with former Vol Scooter McFadgon for first place amongst all two-year players (2003-05) with 865 career points.

If Punter can maintain his 22.3 ppg average through the minimum seven remaining games, he will finish with 1,039 career points and become the first two-year player in UT's 105-year history to break into the 1,000 Point Club.

For Starters

Tennessee's starters were Kevin Punter Jr., Shembari Phillips, Devon Baulkman, Armani Moore, and Kyle Alexander for the second straight game.

The freshman Phillips made his second consecutive start after playing a season-best 31 minutes in Tennessee's 71-45 win over Auburn on Tuesday.

Sophomore forward Admiral Schofield was the first Vol off the bench on Saturday, checking in at the 16:06 mark.

Baulkman Heating Up

Devon Baulkman provided the Vols' scoring spark on Saturday, rallying for 13 second-half points at Mizzou Arena.

He went 3-of-7 from deep in the half, finishing the game with four made 3-pointers. It was his second consecutive game of four triples after he converted another quadruple on Tuesday vs. Auburn.

The senior from Bainbridge, Georgia, has now made eight 3-pointers over his last two games after hitting just two over his previous six games entering the week. Baulkman was just 1-of-17 from deep over that shooting slump.

For the year, Baulkman now has 12 games of multiple 3-pointers and seven games of three or more 3-pointers.

Care With The Ball

Tennessee committed a season-low five turnovers Saturday at Missouri. It was also the fourth consecutive game -- and eighth overall -- that UT has committed fewer than 10 turnovers.

On the flip side, the Vols forced 17 Missouri turnovers -- the most forced turnovers for the Vols since No. 24 South Carolina gave it away 17 times in UT's 78-69 upset win on Jan. 23.

The Series

Tennessee falls to 5-6 all-time against Missouri and 1-4 all-time in Columbia.

The Vols' only win in Columbia came last season when UT topped the Tigers, 59-51, at Mizzou Arena on Jan. 17, 2015.

Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes is now 11-8 in his career vs. Missouri and 0-1 against Tigers coach Kim Anderson.

Up Next

Tennessee continues SEC play on the road next week when it travels to face No. 22 Kentucky in Lexington on Thursday.

Thursday's contest tips off at 7 p.m. ET from Rupp Arena and will be televised on ESPN.

The Vols claimed the first meeting between the two teams this season, rallying from a 21-point first-half deficit to top the Wildcats 84-77 on Feb. 2.

Thursday will be the 220th meeting all-time between the two programs. UT is just 16-88 all-time in Lexington.

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