Missouri’s Mark Mitchell notched a game-high 17 points and four rebounds, and the Tigers collected their 10th Southeastern Conference victory by bashing Mississippi State 88-64 on Saturday afternoon in Starkville, Miss.

Missouri (20-9, 10-6 SEC) was on its game from the opening tip and ran out to a 20-point lead, 28-8, just past the midway point of the first half and never let up in the wire-to-wire win.

Shawn Phillips Jr. scored 14 of his 16 points in the first half and had four rebounds and two blocks.

Anthony Robinson netted 13 points, and T.O. Barrett and Trent Pierce had 10 each.

Missouri scored 27 points on Mississippi State’s 18 turnovers and moved to 20-1 when scoring at least 73 points in a game.

In losing for the sixth time in eight games and dropping their third straight overall, the Bulldogs (13-16, 5-11) did not take care of the ball on the offensive end and their defense — yielding 80 points per game and ranked next-to-last in the conference — failed to defend.

Josh Hubbard, the SEC’s second-leading scorer at 21.6 points per game, led with 16 points and three steals, while Quincy Ballard had 12 points and six boards.

A very slim favorite in the matchup, Missouri did not play like it right away, scoring the first nine points, highlighted by Phillips’ thunderous putback dunk at 18:45. The home side finally scored nearly three minutes in on Hubbard’s layup.

While Missouri made 7 of their first 10 shots and got four points apiece from Mitchell and Phillips, the visitors’ size and athleticism were an obvious advantage as the Bulldogs hit just three field goals and trailed 20-6 with 12 minutes remaining.

Increasing the lead to 50-19 at 2:07 after two free throws by Barrett, Missouri shot 61.3% (19 of 31) and forced 12 Mississippi State turnovers to take a 54-23 lead into the locker room at halftime — the squad’s largest halftime lead in SEC play this season.

Six minutes into the second half, the Tigers’ lead sat at 60-30 before Missouri went off on a 12-2 run.

That stretch was accentuated by Pierce’s wing three-pointer for a 68-32 edge at 12:42 as the Bulldogs could not chip into the massive deficit.

The Tigers continued the onslaught by growing the lead to 36 points and rolling on to a 6-2 mark in the past eight outings.

–Field Level Media

After losing each of their 11 February games and matching the third-longest skid in club history, the Chicago Bulls await the fresh start of a new month.

To make their March merrier, the Bulls will aim to improve their poise and execution late in games, beginning with Sunday’s visit from the Milwaukee Bucks.

“It’s the winning-play stuff,” Chicago coach Billy Donovan said. “The missed blockouts, the turnovers. It’s fouling when there is no need because you are reaching in and somewhat undisciplined. … We have tried to work hard on that, the winning-play stuff. We’ve got to be able to compete better when the adversity hits.”

Milwaukee can sweep the four-game season series with a victory. The Bucks are 7-3 in the past 10 games against their Central Division rival, including a 131-115 home victory against the Bulls on Feb. 3.

Kyle Kuzma (31 points, 10 rebounds) and Ryan Rollins (21 points, 10 assists) both registered double-doubles for the Bucks. Matas Buzelis led Chicago with 22 points.

A jaunt to nearby Chicago marks a rare appearance away from Fiserv Forum for Milwaukee. The Bucks concluded a 2-2 homestand with a 127-98 loss Friday to the New York Knicks and will play five straight at home after Sunday.

Milwaukee is fighting for the No. 10 seed in the Eastern Conference and the final spot in the East play-in tournament. Still without star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who has missed the last 14 games with a right calf strain, the Bucks produced five double-figure scorers against the Knicks but shot 42.9% while committing 16 turnovers.

“We just got to execute our sets,” said Rollins, who accounted for five of those turnovers. “And when we don’t have fast-break opportunities, still find ways to penetrate and get the ball in the middle and create offense from there.”

Myles Turner led the Bucks with 19 points while Kevin Porter Jr. had 11 points and 10 assists.

“Where we’re at right now, we can’t harp on anything. Even our wins, we got to get to the next game,” Rollins said. “Each game is its own battle, so we got to flush this. We got a great opportunity Sunday.”

Only four losses during the Bulls’ 11-game slide have not come by double digits, including Thursday’s 121-112 home loss to Portland.

After drawing within 108-105 on a Leonard Miller dunk with 3:37 to play, Chicago was outscored 13-7 the rest of the way.

Buzelis scored 20 points to pace the Bulls and has been the team’s top scorer in the past three games, taking increased responsibility after Chicago’s flurry of activity at the trade deadline.

Josh Giddey scored 15 points, finishing in double figures for just the second time in five games since returning from a hamstring injury on Feb. 19.

Giddey has averaged 14.8 points, 9 rebounds and 7.8 assists in his past five games against the Bucks, but he missed the Feb. 3 game due to injury.

Chicago has not lost four straight to Milwaukee since the 2021-22 season.

–Field Level Media

Outfielder Starling Marte agreed to a contract with the Kansas City Royals, multiple media outlets reported on Saturday.

Terms were not disclosed on the reported deal, which is pending a physical.

Marte, 37, batted .270 with nine homers and 34 RBIs in 98 games last season with the New York Mets. He spent four seasons with the Mets after signing a four-year, $78 million contract prior to the 2022 campaign.

A two-time All-Star and two-time Gold Glove winner, Marte is a .285 hitter with 163 homers, 667 RBIs and 361 stolen bases in 14 seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates (2012-20), Arizona Diamondbacks (2020), Marlins (2020-21), Oakland Athletics (2021) and Mets (2022-25).

–Field Level Media