COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - Alex Oriakhi had a career-high 22 points to go with 18 rebounds, three blocks and a central role in a second-half fracas of No. 21 Missouri's easy 98-79 victory over Mississippi on Saturday.
Phil Pressey had four assists to break Anthony Peeler's career school record and had 22 points for Missouri (17-6, 6-4 Southeastern Conference), which bounced back nicely from its latest discouraging road loss, a 1-point setback at Texas A&M on Thursday. The Tigers are 14-0 at home and 0-5 on the road.
Marshall Henderson had 16 points on 4-for-15 shooting for Mississippi (18-5, 7-3), which was on the verge of cracking the Top 25 last week but has lost three of four. Jarvis Summers also had 16 points while Murphy Holloway, coming off a career-best 24 points, was held to seven in 30 minutes.
Ole Miss whipped then-No. 10 Missouri 64-49 at home on Jan. 12, but gave up 50 points in the first half of the rematch and was outrebounded 50-32.
The game got testy with about 7 1-2 minutes to go when Reginald Buckner apparently was tripped by Oriakhi after the Tigers scored to make it 80-58 and came up swinging with a couple of wild punches that missed Laurence Bowers as Oriakhi danced away.
Buckner was ejected, leaving the court with a towel draped over his right shoulder and then tossing the towel into the stands after finishing with nine points and four rebounds. Oriakhi was called for a flagrant foul, plus Brown, Bowers and Holloway were whistled for technicals.
Missouri matched its season best with 12 3-pointers, four by Pressey and three each by Keion Bell and Jabari Brown. Bell added 21 points and Brown had 14.
Pressey, a junior, has 498 assists in three seasons, one more than Peeler totaled from 1988-92. He leads the SEC at 7.1 assists per game and finished with four assists and one turnover, one game after committing seven turnovers and missing a potential game-winning shot at Texas A&M.
The 50-point first half was a season best for Missouri, which led by as many as 23 points and had a 16-point halftime lead. After Brown's 3-pointer with 7:07 to go in the half, Missouri was up 38-18 and had more 3-pointers (7) than Mississippi had baskets (6). Pressey was just 4 for 13 overall, but hit his first three 3-pointers to fuel the fast start.
Mississippi shot itself out of the game, at 38 percent overall and 2 for 9 from 3-point range. Coming off a career-best 24-point game against Mississippi State, Holloway was scoreless until 6 1/2 minutes to go and totaled two points in the half.
