Led by Wright's career performance, Mizzou snaps 13-game skid

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The Missouri Tigers' school-record 13-game losing streak ended with a 64-52 victory over the Florida Gators on Tuesday night at Mizzou Arena.

"Finally," Tigers first-year coach Kim Anderson said. "This has been miserable. It's been hard for me. It's been hard for them."

All it took was a career-best 28 points from freshman Namon Wright and an atrocious free-throw shooting performance by an opponent playing without its top two scorers.

"Missouri outplayed us," Florida senior Jon Horford said. "They played with a lot of heart, a lot of passion. We were lacking that."

Missouri (8-20, 2-13) trailed by seven points with 13:10 left but outscored Florida 27-8 the rest of the way.

3-POINTERS

• It went Wright's way early. Thanks to Wright, the Tigers avoided the kind of slow start that has plagued them during conference play. Wright came out firing, swishing a corner jumper on Missouri's first possession as the shot clock was set to expire. He made his first three shots, one a 3-pointer, and had seven points before the game was five minutes old as Missouri jumped to a 19-13 lead. By the 10-minute mark, the Tigers were on a pace for 84 points. But then came the inevitable scoring drought.

This one lasted five minutes and 11 seconds before Wright made his second 3-pointer of the half. He went into the intermission with 12 points on five-of-seven shooting. The rest of the Tigers made only five of 19 shots as Florida grabbed a 31-27 halftime lead.

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Wright came out even hotter in the second half when he scored Missouri's first 10 points on just three shots (two 3-pointers, a field goal and two free throws). His 28 points were the most by a Tiger this season. "I felt confident," Wright said. "We were having fun. Teammates were finding each other."

• Jumping with Jakeenan. Freshman forward Jakeenan Gant has not done a whole lot to live up to the hype that came with being named player of the year in Georgia last year. He sat out the early part of the season and ranks just ninth on the Tigers in points and rebounds.

But in a six-second sequence in the second half, the 6-foot-8 Gant showed why he arrived at Missouri with such a lofty rep. On one end, he went up high and got a piece of Kasey Hill's five-foot jumper. Then Gant raced to the other end, caught an alley-oop from Shamburger and slammed it home to give the Tigers a 48-45 lead. Missouri led the rest of the way. Gant finished with six rebounds, three blocks and four points in 18 minutes.

• Donovan denied. Florida coach Billy Donovan, gunning to become the only coach besides Bobby Knight to win 500 games before the age of 50, was denied of the milestone for the second straight game. Donovan, 49, will get his next chance Saturday when the Gators host Tennessee.

He might want to spend the week having his players practice their free throws. They made only nine of 23 against the Tigers.

You can follow Stan McNeal on Twitter at @StanMcNeal or email him at stanmcneal@gmail.com.