COLUMBIA, Mo. _ For the third time in as many weeks, Missouri point guard Jordan Geist was in the middle of a play in the final minute of a close game.
This time he did not disappoint.
Geist hit a pair of free throws to secure Missouri's first victory over a ranked team in more than four years as the Tigers beat No. 21 Tennessee 59-55 on Wednesday.
The meeting marked coach Cuonzo Martin's first matchup against a program he previously coached. He was at Tennessee from 2011 to 2014.
Missouri entered the game leading the conference in 3-point shooting and promptly went 0 for 7 in the first half. Sharpshooting seniors Jordan Barnett and Kassius Robertson combined for six points on 2-of-9 shooting and missed multiple open shots.
The Tigers' offense was powered by junior Kevin Puryear, who after going eight games without scoring in double-digits finished with a team-high 12 points and 10 rebounds. With Missouri trailing 17-9 in the first half, Puryear helped power a 7-0 Tigers run to get the game within one possession.
Tennessee's scoring duo of Admiral Schofield and Grant Williams gave Missouri problems in the first half. They combined for 12 points and were all over the floor. Schofield's action-figure-like build gave Missouri some extra physicality to deal with in the paint.
Puryear hit shots from all over the floor and opened things up for freshman Jeremiah Tilmon, who stayed out of foul trouble and played 14 minutes. Tilmon had a layup with 3:54 left in the first half to tie the game at 23. The 6-foot-11 freshman had another a few minutes later to tie the game at 27 after he split a pair of defenders with 1:25 left in the first half.
Despite getting minimal production in the first half from Robertson and Barnett, who have been the spark plugs on offense the whole season, Missouri went into halftime with the game tied at 27.
Missouri's shooting struggles continued into the second half. Robertson and Barnett both had wide-open shots rims out from inside the paint and three-point territory.
Barnett began to heat up in the second half after hitting a jump shot 2 minutes in, and his first three minutes later extended Missouri's lead to seven. Tennessee stormed back to tie the game at 36-36 with 13:07 left in the second half as Williams, Kyle Alexander and James Daniel III all hit shots to chip away at Missouri's lead.
But Missouri had a response. Barnett's hot streak allowed Missouri to build a lead, with help from Geist. Geist hit a 3 with just under 10 minutes left to give Missouri a 43-41 lead and then threw a lob to Barnett for a basket that sent Mizzou Arena into fits and caused his former coach to call a timeout.
Barnett played for the Vols' Rick Barnes during his freshman year at Texas. Barnett made a block right in front of Barnes and fed Geist to extend Missouri's lead to six points. The Tigers' lead would get as high as 10 points after a three by Jontay Porter, but Tennessee cut into it as Schofield and Alexander continued to hit shots.
Tennessee trailed 55-54 going into the final minute of the game, but Geist's and Puryear's four free throws in the final seconds secured the win for Missouri.
Williams led Tennessee with 15 points in the loss.
