Missouri basketball upsets Kentucky. Here's what to know from the win

Missouri men’s basketball came into Wednesday’s battle against Kentucky riding high after a win against Illinois last week. The Tigers came out of it even higher, after upsetting the Wildcats 89-75 at Mizzou Arena.

Here are three takeaways from Wednesday’s upset win.

Hot start

Kentucky wasn’t able to run with Missouri early on. D’Moi Hodge got the scoring started for the Tigers, who were able to turn the heat up in the opening minutes.

It a way it was simple. The Tigers hit their shots while the Wildcats simply did not.

When MU took a 10-point 17-7 lead with 14:14 left in the first half, it had made 64% of its field goals. UK had hit just three of its nine attempts.

Consistently in the opening stretch, Missouri, whether it was Noah Carter, Tre Gomillion or Hodge, grabbed Kentucky’s rebounds. The Tigers then hustled down the floor, trying to set up easy buckets.

After the Tigers went up 10, both teams went cold. The Wildcats added three points on a bucket from Sahvir Wheeler and a free throw from Oscar Tshiebwe, but at the under-12 timeout in the first half, MU was on a 3:19 scoring drought and UK had missed its last four field goals.

Kentucky finally figured out a way to get points later in the half, tossing it to Tshiebwe in the paint and letting the reigning national play of the year work his magic. Somewhat bafflingly, the Wildcats didn’t do that consistently.

The Tigers finished the half strong, heading to the locker room up 42-30.

The joint is jumping

When Mizzou Arena filled for the first time this season against Kansas on Dec. 11, the Tigers didn’t look prepared for it. Missouri didn’t meet the moment early, appearing rattled at times and missing shots to create a deficit it wasn’t ready to make up.

The building was rocking again on Wednesday, but this time Missouri looked ready for it. The crowd got up for the game, with dunks by Brown and 3-point shots by Hodge getting particularly huge pops from the Tiger faithful.

MU’s gameday production made it clear that the athletic department knew how pumped the crowd could get. Before the game, Truman the Tiger descended on ropes from the rafters, and Missouri’s player introductions were accompanied by pyrotechnics, the same level of production brought in for the Kansas game.

At halftime, fans were in for another treat. Red Panda, the famed bowl flipper on a unicycle was in town.

Former Missouri women’s basketball star and current all-star for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury Sophie Cunningham was in town and tasked with acting as Red Panda’s bowl thrower. Both Cunningham and Red Panda did their jobs perfectly and the crowd remained energized.

With 10 minutes left in the game, the public address announcer requested Missouri fans not storm the court after the game.  The fans listened, but Wednesday's game still served as a reminder of how good an atmosphere Mizzou Arena could provide.

Bad guys

At the under-12 timeout in the second half, Missouri’s band cued up a pop radio favorite from 2019. As Dennis Gates and John Calipari conversed with their respective squads, the dulcet tones of Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” filled Mizzou Arena.

It was fitting for the moment. MU’s D’Moi Hodge was announcing to the rest of the SEC that he is, in the words of ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, a “bad man.”

Hodge had just gotten the ball on a fast break after Kentucky turned the ball over, then decided not to pass. The transfer from Cleveland State took a long three-point shot and drilled it dead, leading into the timeout.

The guard made his presence known all over the floor, racking up 15 points before the under-eight timeout. He played well all night in transition, whether it was dunks, layups, or three-point shots that conventional wisdom likely wouldn’t have recommended.

Hodge wasn’t the only Tiger playing out of his mind on Wednesday. Kobe Brown followed up a career night against Illinois with another stellar performance against the Wildcats.

Brown also made hay from three-point land, making a long shot late in the second to quell a possible Kentucky comeback, then posing in place for several seconds.

Other Missouri players who had major contributions to the win included Tre Gomillion, Sean East and DeAndre Gholston.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri basketball beats Kentucky at Mizzou Arena