COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Dru Smith scored a season-high 26 points, Xavier Pinson added 14 and No. 18 Missouri withstood a second-half charge to beat Kentucky 75-70 on Wednesday night.
Smith also had seven rebounds and five assists to go along with 6-for-11 shooting. The senior went 12 of 14 from the free-throw line, knocking down numerous foul shots late to help the Tigers (12-3, 5-3 SEC) hold on.
"He's an experienced guard who's battle-tested," Missouri Coach Cuonzo Martin said. "He plays on both ends, he competes, he gets rebounds."
Smith has scored 10 or more points in seven consecutive games and 12 overall, both team highs. Mark Smith tacked on 11 points for Missouri, hitting 3 three-pointers.
Down 40-27 at halftime, Kentucky went on a 15-3 run to start the second half and cut Missouri's lead to one. But the Wildcats (5-11, 4-5) never got the lead, hurt by a scoring drought of more than three minutes, and couldn't rally after being down by four with the ball and 1:15 left.
Davion Mintz led Kentucky with 18 points and made four three-pointers. Keion Brooks and Brandon Boston tallied 10 apiece. Dontaie Allen, the Wildcats' top three-point shooter at 46% entering Wednesday, didn't score in seven minutes as Coach John Calipari elected not to play him for the entire second half.
"I just ran with the guys that were playing," Calipari said. "If you watch what they were doing to Dontaie, they were going right at him defensively. Our biggest thing was that we were getting great stops and scoring so, you know, next game we may play him 25, 30 minutes. This game, it was my choice."
In a foul-filled second half where both teams were in the bonus with 11:28 remaining, numerous players dealt with foul trouble late into the game. Kentucky big man Olivier Sarr fouled out with 5:32 to play while Boston did so with 1:01 left. Three other players (Kentucky's Devin Askew and Lance Ware, Missouri's Kobe Brown) were saddled with four fouls.
Missouri forward Jeremiah Tilmon was held to eight points and five boards, but the focus on Tilmon inside opened things up for the Tigers' backcourt to attack the rim for layups or kick it out to the wing for three-pointers.
"We've seen how [Tilmon's] been playing, they were sending two at him every time," Dru Smith said. "A couple of times, it looked like he had three or four guys guarding him. I think just even giving a look into the post was getting guys open shots there, especially early."
NO. 10 ALABAMA 78,
LSU 60
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Jaden Shackelford scored 19 points and No. 10 Alabama beat LSU, widening its lead in the SEC standings.
The Crimson Tide held a six-point lead at halftime and opened the second half on an 11-2 run.
After setting a league record with 23 made three-pointers in their previous matchup on Jan. 19, Alabama (15-4, 10-0) showed it has multiple ways to win, this time by holding LSU (11-5, 6-4) to its lowest scoring output of the season.
Cameron Thomas scored 22 points for LSU, which shot 16 more free throws than the home team but struggled from the floor, shooting 31%. The Tigers came in averaging 82.9 points per game, and their previous season low in scoring was 69 in a loss to Kentucky.
Five players scored 10 or more points for Alabama, including Juwan Gary with a season-high 12 points.
SOUTH CAROLINA 72,
NO. 22 FLORIDA 66
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- AJ Lawson scored 22 points, Seventh Woods added 12 and South Carolina beat No. 22 Florida.
Keyshawn Bryant added eight points for the Gamecocks, including six in a decisive 13-1 run over the final 6:37 to close the game. That spurt turned a six-point deficit into a road victory.
Bryant scored on two dunks and a putback, a microcosm of Florida's issues all night. South Carolina (5-6, 3-4 SEC) dominated the Gators (10-5, 6-4) inside, outscoring them 50-30 in the paint and getting 13 offensive rebounds.
Florida was playing its first game as a ranked team in more than 14 months. The Gators snuck into the Top 25 after winning four in a row, including victories against No. 6 Tennessee and at No. 11 West Virginia.
Tre Mann led Florida with 17 points and eight rebounds. Noah Locke added 15 on five three-pointers. Colin Castleton chipped in 11 points, 7 rebounds and 7 blocks.
