COLUMBIA, Mo.—Marcus Denmon scored 21 points as Missouri defeated Colorado 92-63 Wednesday night.
Keith Ramsey added 13 points on 6-for-6 shooting from the field for the Tigers (21-7, 9-4 Big 12), who beat Colorado for the eighth straight time. Missouri has won three straight overall, its longest winning streak in conference play this season.
J.T. Tiller came close to a triple-double, finishing with 10 points, a career-high nine assists and seven rebounds before being removed from the game with just under four minutes remaining.
Missouri coach Mike Anderson praised Tiller’s efforts and blamed himself for denying his guard a statistical milestone.
“Since the (first) Colorado game you can see his imprint on this team,” Anderson said. “He should have had the double-double, I’ll take the blame for that, pulling him out with 3:45 not knowing that he had nine assists.”
Cory Higgins scored 21 points to lead the Buffaloes (12-15, 3-10), who suffered their most lopsided loss of the season. Colorado has lost 38 of 45 Big 12 games under coach Jeff Bzdelik and 36 straight conference road games, a skid which dates back to Jan. 21, 2006, a victory at Oklahoma State.
“Before we can win we have to play better basketball,” Bzdelik said. “That has to happen on Saturday.”
The Tigers shot 58 percent from the field including a season-high 64 percent (9-of-14) from 3-point range.
The Buffaloes committed 19 turnovers and were 5 for 20 from 3-point range.
“I’m very disappointed in our effort defensively, and I addressed that,” Bzdelik said. “We turned it over several times and it was unforced. The ball just turned over, and you’ve got to be smarter.”
Missouri, which never trailed, jumped out to a 13-2 lead and forced Colorado into two timeouts in the game’s first 5 1/2 minutes. The Tigers led 48-32 at halftime.
The only thing that didn’t go right for Missouri was a knee injury to forward Justin Safford. After a fast-break layup to give him eight points in under seven minutes, he landed awkwardly on his left knee and was helped off the floor by the training staff. He returned to the bench under his own power after halftime and was schedule to have an MRI later Wednesday night.
