COLUMBIA -- The Missouri Tigers honored the history of the program.
In their “Block M” uniforms the team wore from 1973-96, the Tigers added their 151st win against former Big 8 Conference rival Iowa State, 78-61, on Saturday at Mizzou Arena. The total is the most Missouri has against any school.
“Being able to wear those uniforms is something special,” Missouri coach Dennis Gates said. “Having Norm Stewart and all the coaches who have come before me be involved with the program is a very important thing as we try to build for our future.”
Along with the throwback uniforms, Missouri threw back to its style of play from before the start of conference play.
The Tigers forced 19 turnovers, dished out 14 assists and knocked down 14 3s as they led nearly wire to wire, totaling 38:31 as the frontrunner and just :44 playing from behind.
Kobe Brown had another game showing why he is listed on the Player of the Year watch list, totaling his second double-double of the season with 20 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and three steals, while D’Moi Hodge continued to break out of his shooting slump, hitting 5-of-10 total shots, all from beyond the arc, for 17 points to make him 11-for-21 from deep the past two games.
“Kobe Brown was unbelievable as it relates to rebounding,” Gates said. “D’Moi Hodge was elite at deflections and steals and different things like that.”
The No. 12 Cyclones’ Jaren Holmes got Iowa State on the board first with a reverse layup at the 19:15 mark, two of his team-high 19 points, but the lead didn’t last long as Nick Honor connected on the first of his four 3s, for 12 total points, to put Missouri in front.
The Tigers jumped ahead 8-2 after Hodge drove and kicked the ball to Brown for a 3 from the left wing to give Missouri an 8-0 run early.
Iowa State cut the lead to 15-14, then took the lead after a Holmes 3 with 11:00 left in the first half.
The teams traded the lead five times early, with Missouri taking the advantage it would not give up at the 9:14 mark when Isiaih Mosley connected on a pull-up 3 from the right wing, making Missouri three for its past three and five of its past seven to go up 23-21.
The Tigers extended as far as 10 points at 40-30 and 42-32 heading into halftime after Sean East hit a pull-up jumper from the baseline with 32 seconds left.
Missouri barely missed in the opening half, connecting on 14-of-26 (53.8 percent) of its overall tries, 7-of-12 (58.3 percent) of its 3s and 7-of-7 free throws.
The Tigers began to extend immediately in the second half, building to a 19-point lead at 58-39 with 15:39 left after another of Hodge’s 3s. It was the biggest lead Missouri would have, matched at 65-46 after a DeAndre Gholston and-1 free throw following a made 3 from the left wing and at 67-48 when Gholston double pump faked in the left corner to get his defender to jump, then drove the baseline before spinning into a reverse layup.
Missouri reached a 19-point advantage one more time when Brown turned a steal into a layup with 9:10 left to make it 69-50.
“That run to end the first half, I think, gave us the momentum,” Gates said. “We pushed it to 10 and then we came out of halftime and made the next 10 field goals or something like that. … It opened up the game, but it really ignited our crowd.”
The Cyclones tried to chip away, getting as close as 13 at 69-56 with 7:31 left, but could never get within 10 points the rest of the way.
Missouri finished the day shooting 26-of-53 (49.1 percent) overall, 14-of-30 (46.7 percent) from 3 and 12-of-14 (85.7 percent) at the free-throw line.
Iowa State, which was playing without third-leading scorer Caleb Grill, shot 26-of-58 (44.8 percent) overall, 6-of-15 (40 percent) from 3 and 3-of-8 (37.5 percent) from the charity stripe.
“To have a Quad 1 win in January is very important,” Gates said. “I think (Iowa State) is a 2, possibly a 1-seed team. For us to have that Quad 1 victory is very important not only on selection Sunday, but just for us and our growth to recognize who we are.”
Missouri (16-5, 5-4), which has won three of its past four games and has beat three ranked teams at Mizzou Arena and four total, will look to add to its current two-game win streak going when it hosts LSU at 8 p.m. Wednesday.
Iowa State (15-5) will return to Big 12 play when it travels to face Texas Tech at 8 p.m. Monday.