Trailing by three in the final 15 seconds of the first half, Missouri men’s basketball got the ball to an unlikely hero for the final shot of the opening 20 minutes.
Trent Burns has played sparingly this season for the Tigers, averaging just 5.9 minutes per game entering Saturday’s contest, and had never hit a shot from beyond the arc in his young collegiate career. But he splashed a buzzer-beating triple to knot MU up with Florida at 39 apiece heading into the half, sending a jolt of electricity through the Mizzou Arena crowd.
The Tigers rode that momentum into the early minutes of the second half and picked up their first major win of the 2025-26 season, dispatching the defending national champion Florida Gators 76-74.
“Jacob Crews ended up taking two men — his man and then Trent’s man, who was sagging, off the post on the high post area. And I knew they would leave him wide open,” head coach Dennis Gates said of Burns’ buzzer beater, “We’ve seen him make that shot several times. The cat’s out of the bag now: he’s one of the better shooters [on our team], it’s just a matter of him getting reps.”
The victory gives Mizzou its first top-25 and Quad 1 wins of the season after starting the year 0-2 and 0-3, respectively, in those categories.
“We played with confidence, we executed the game plan, and at the end of the day, our guys did not get discouraged — they were encouraged,” Gates said, “They allowed failure to get them better, they allowed public ridicule to get them better, they allowed Christmas break to get them better. They allowed me to get them better, and at that point, we took a step.”
MU surged out of halftime with a 6-0 run to move ahead 45-39, led by a pair of Anthony Robinson II layups. He put together one of his best performances of the season against the Gators, finishing with 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting and adding five assists.
The Tigers continued their charge out of the break and pushed the lead to double digits, 56-46, on a three from Trent Pierce that prompted Florida head coach Todd Golden to call a timeout.
The triple gave Pierce his first points of the season as he made his return from a lengthy absence due to injury. It was another key player making their return from injury, Jayden Stone, who got Mizzou started.
Stone caught fire early in his first start of the season, hammering home a transition dunk after he intercepted a pass and connecting on two shots from beyond the arc for all of MU’s first eight points. He recorded nine points and grabbed six rebounds in his first game action since November.
Jan 3, 2026; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers guard Jayden Stone (17) dunks the ball during the first half against the Florida Gators at Mizzou Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images
Florida responded to the deficit with a series of scoring runs, cutting the Tigers lead to 64-62 with 4:15 remaining on a Thomas Haugh jumper and prompting a timeout. The Gators completed their comeback with another big shot from Haugh, this one a triple, to pull ahead 65-64 with 3:37 remaining.
But they completed the comeback too soon.
Trent Pierce put the Tigers back ahead, 66-65, before hitting a three-pointer moving off a screen to put Mizzou up by four with just over two minutes on the clock. He ended the game in double-digits with 10 points on 3-of-5 shooting, including two key makes from beyond the arc, and five rebounds.
MU held onto that lead for the final 125 seconds of action with the help of a banked-in triple from Robinson and a key rebound followed by free throws from Crews.
“I had looked at coach Gates and I was like, ‘What do you want me to do?’ He was like, ‘Shoot the ball, make the play.’ I looked at him again, like, ‘Alright, you sure,’” Robinson said about his shot, “And then, ‘Yeah,’ so I just went out there [and] shot it. I’ve been living right, that’s why it banked in.”
Boogie Fland put up a last-ditch attempt at the buzzer with Florida trailing by two but the shot was off its mark, sealing the narrow victory for the Tigers.
Crews went 0-for-1 from beyond the arc but was still a key contributor, recording 13 points and four rebounds with the help of a 9-for-10 performance from the free throw line.
“Once we realized [Xaivian] Lee was guarding him, we turned [Crews] into a post up player. It’s about sacrificing, and our guys were able to sacrifice,” Gates said, “Crews was able to sacrifice and stay away from his three pointers, and get a lot of two-point plays.”
The victory gives Mizzou some much-needed momentum early in conference play as the Tigers look to start racking up quality wins. Gates said that MU is expecting stiff competition and a lot more tight contests as they continue into the new year.
“I’ll continue to do the best that I can to continue to get our guys prepared for games, because this conference is going to be a tough, tough conference,” he said, “night in, night out. This is a typical SEC blowout: a one possession win.”
The win moves Mizzou to 11-3 on the season and 1-0 in SEC play. The Tigers will travel to Lexington for their first conference road matchup Wednesday against Kentucky. That game will tip off at 6 p.m. and be broadcast on ESPN2.
Jan 3, 2026; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers guard Anthony Robinson II (0) celebrates after defeating the Florida Gators at Mizzou Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images