Missouri grinds out win over Kentucky behind Rountree and strong running game

It didn’t have the drama of Missouri’s win over LSU in their previous game two weeks ago, but Saturday’s game against Kentucky did produce the one thing that mattered the most to the Tigers – a win.

Larry Rountree III had a career-high 37 rushes for 126 yards and two touchdowns as the Tigers ground out a 20-10 win over the Wildcats in Columbia.

The win ended the Tigers’ five-game losing streak against Kentucky and evened their record in this shortened season to 2-2.

Roundtree’s performance was part of an offensive attack that saw the Tigers run 92 plays, record a 26-8 advantage in first downs and control the ball for more than 43 minutes. They ran the ball 62 times for 220 yards.

The Tigers touchdowns came on a pair of one-yard runs from Roundtree, one in the second quarter and one in the third, and they added a pair of field goals.

Connor Bazelak completed 21 of 30 passes for 201 yards and the Tigers were at their best on third and fourth down, converting 10 of 20 opportunities on third down and going four-for-five on fourth down conversions to keep drives always.

On defense, the Tigers allowed only 145 yard of total offense to Kentucky, just 47 threw the air.

Missouri, which had its game last week against Vanderbilt postponed because of coronavirus concerns, will play at Florida next week.

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