COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Mike Anderson won his 80th game in Mizzou Arena as a head coach Saturday, but this one was different.
Arkansas beat Missouri 61-60 to give Anderson his first victory in Mizzou Arena in three tries as the Razorbacks coach. He was 79-11 at home as Missouri's coach for five seasons before taking the Arkansas job.
The announced season-high crowd of 11,022 booed Anderson when he came onto the court before the game, as has been the case in all of his visits, but they left quietly after the Razorbacks held on to win when Tigers sophomore guard Wes Clark missed two free throws with 3.3 seconds left.
Arkansas senior guard Ky Madden grabbed the last of his career-high nine rebounds, and before the Tigers could foul him he threw the ball downcourt as the clock ran out.
"If you wanted a competitive game, you got that. No question about it, right down to the last few seconds," Anderson said. "If you wanted a pretty game, it probably wasn't."
The Razorbacks (15-4, 4-2 SEC) shot a season-low 36.5 percent (23 of 63) from the field but had a season-low 3 turnovers and 16 offensive rebounds that helped them outscore the Tigers 15-8 on second-chance points.
Missouri (7-12, 1-5) shot 39.7 percent (23 of 58) but was in position to win after hitting 7 of 18 three-point attempts, including 6 of 9 by freshman guard Montaque Gill-Caesar, who scored a game-high 16 points.
"Neither team shot particularly well, so it's a game that could've went either way," Anderson said. "But you know what? In conference play, that's how games are going to go. The key is you just want to find a way to win.
"We were very, very fortunate today. I don't think Missouri lost it. It's just time ran out on them."
The game was tied 12 times and had eight lead changes, the last with 1:24 left when Madden hit a 10-foot jump shot to put the Razorbacks ahead 61-60.
The teams then combined for four missed shots and two missed free throws in the final minute.
Clark and De'Angelo Allen missed jump shots for Missouri, and Arkansas got possession with 57 seconds left. Missouri forward Johnathan Williams then blocked a shot by Alandise Harris, but the ball went out of bounds to Arkansas.
Razorbacks guard Michael Qualls missed a jump shot with 23 seconds left, and Allen got the rebound.
Missouri Coach Kim Anderson called timeout with 17.2 seconds to set up a play for Clark to drive on the final possession. He got to the baseline and was fouled by Madden while attempting a shot.
Before Clark went to the line, Mike Anderson called a timeout, which he said was both for talking about strategy to his players as well as trying to ice Clark.
Clark hit his only two free-throw attempts earlier in the game and was shooting 73.7 percent (28 of 38).
"I'm sure if Wes shot those free throws nine other times, he would make them," Mike Anderson said. "But this afternoon it shined on the Razorbacks."
Kim Anderson couldn't listen quietly in Missouri's postgame news conference when Gill-Caesar and Williams were asked about their reaction to Clark's misses and what they said to him after the game.
"I think the first thing to remember is Wes Clark didn't lose the game, OK?" Anderson said. "So all of you can write that down."
Harris and Bobby Portis were on the free-throw lane for the Razorbacks boxing out on Clark's second miss.
"Hoping that he misses both of them," Portis said of his thoughts at the time. "Then hoping that we get the rebound to go and seal the deal."
Harris led the Razorbacks with 14 points, while Portis had 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Qualls, a sophomore who had a career-high 30 points Thursday night in the Razorbacks' 93-91 overtime victory against Alabama to raise his SEC scoring average to 20.8, was held to 8 points and shot 3 of 15 from the field, including 0 of 5 on three-point attempts. He was 2 of 5 on free throws after coming into the game shooting 81.2 percent on the season.
"He was giving us everything he had," Mike Anderson said. "They've got players, too."
Anderson said it's possible Qualls was showing the fatigue of playing 33 minutes Saturday after playing 38 minutes against Alabama, when he carried the Razorbacks in overtime with eight points.
"I think that had something to do with it, but you ask him, he wanted to play through it," Anderson said.
Missouri was the first SEC team to hold Qualls to less than 15 points.
"We just played hard and matched his intensity," Gill-Caesar said. "He's a very intense guy. He moves a lot. We communicated very well about where he was and we focused on our defensive assignments."
Clark was on Qualls for much of the game.
"Wes is an elite defender," Gill-Caesar said. "He's quick, he's smart, so putting him on Qualls was a smart move. Wes made his day very difficult."
Madden had 7 points and 3 assists in 28 minutes without a turnover. Sophomore guard Anthlon Bell had eight points and freshman guard Anton Beard had seven points.
"We've got other people on the team," Harris said of Qualls' offensive struggles. "Other people can score, too. It can be anybody's night."
Mike Anderson has always tried to downplay the personal aspects of his games against Missouri.
"There's obviously a lot of story lines, and everybody wants to talk about it and read about it, but I'm a day-to-day guy," Anderson said. "So it was the next game.
"People here care about basketball. They've got passion about it. That means I did my job when I came here, but other than that, we're just happy to get the win."
Sports on 01/25/2015