Midway through the first half of Missouri’s 75-69 win over Mississippi on Tuesday, Jontay Porter flashed into the lane, caught a pass, had a clear path for a dunk and … floated the basketball high in the air.

Jontay Porter isn’t attempting to dunk on men, yet, but he said he has tried to be more assertive on offense ever since Mizzou lost three in a row — and the effort is showing.

If not for four early turnovers that helped Ole Miss (11-13, 4-7) score the game’s first 11 points, the Tigers (16-8, 6-5) could have blown the Rebels out in the first half.

When that early 11-0 Ole Miss run happened, Missouri coach Cuonzo Martin half-jokingly told his players he didn’t have enough timeouts to help them, that they needed to fix their problems immediately — and they did.

But Martin also knew another Mississippi threat was possible, that it was “part of the game.” Robertson, remembering how aggressively Mizzou played when it had lost three straight earlier this season, also thought so.

He blocked a shot on Ole Miss’ next possession and then ended up wide open under the hoop for a layup.

Geist’s pair of free throws put Missouri up five with 39 seconds remaining and left Ole Miss desperate for a score.