Missouri Tigers basketball (20-9, 10-6 in Southeastern Conference) hit full stride. The Tigers picked up a tone-setting win over Mississippi State (13-16, 5-11) on Saturday afternoon, beating the Bulldogs 88-64. 

Missouri exploded for 54 first-half points, making the 54-23 halftime score the Tigers’ biggest halftime lead in conference play. Missouri has now won six of its last eight games and has two regular-season games remaining before kicking off postseason play. 

Here’s three takeaways from the near-perfect win. 

For the first time all season, it feels like Missouri has a complete eight-man rotation that can hang with tough conference opponents on any given night. There’s no longer a glaring weakness of a backup center, point guard play or perimeter shooting — a collection of Tigers have stepped up to fill those voids. 

Look at Trent Burns, a 7-foot-5 redshirt freshman who played just 33 minutes in Missouri’s first 12 conference games. Burns is now averaging 17 minutes, 5.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2 stocks per game in his last four contests and has emerged as a more-than-viable option in the frontcourt. 

Anthony Robinson II, who struggled for the opening 11 games of conference play, is now averaging 10 points 3 rebounds per game while shooting 46.7% from the field and 50% from 3-point range in his last five contests. 

These emergences, on top of the steady presences of Mark Mitchell, Trent Pierce and Jayden Stone, are making Missouri a potentially-lethal team for postseason play. 

Mississippi State shot just 5-for-19 from 3-point range, including shooting 0-for-9 from the first half. 

Star Bulldog point guard Josh Hubbard was also held to 16 points on 6-for-14 shooting, and scored just four points on 1-for-6 shooting in the first half. Hubbard, who averages 21.6 points on the season, has now been shut down by Missouri in both matchups, shooting a combined 15-for-34 from the field. 

Much of the lockdown defense can be credited to starting and backup point guards T.O. Barrett and Robinson II, who overwhelmed Bulldog ball-handlers with their physicality to disrupt any sort of offensive rhythm. Lengthy forwards like Pierce and Mark Mitchell can also hold their own on the perimeter and create problems — Missouri’s defense is hard to exploit. 

Free-throw struggles aren’t easily fixable. It’s hard to turnaround a struggling department in the middle of the season, but that’s exactly what Dennis Gates’ Tigers have done. After shooting 67.4% from the charity stripe through the first 25 games, Missouri has now shot 78.2% in the last four games. 

Is this a case of good shooters finally returning to form? Was this really just a slump that overstayed its welcome? The latter seems likely. 

Missouri shot 20-for-24 from the free-throw line against Mississippi State on the road, keeping its poise and running up the score by taking advantage of free points. Having Pierce and Stone healthy has certainly helped to increase the average, but partial credit must also be given to Mitchell, who’s shot 74.3% in the last four games, and Robinson, who’s shot 76.9% in the same stretch.

Phillips also sank all six of his free-throw attempts against the Bulldogs. 

Free throws will almost certainly play a role in the postseason when intentional foul scenarios arise. For Missouri, a once-glaring weakness now looks like an area in which it can hold its own in.