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The sun shone brightly upon the Missouri men’s basketball team.

Guard Caleb Grill continued to drain 3-pointers like he’s the best shooter in the nation, which he probably is. The Tigers continued to demonstrate gains in rebounding and poise on the defensive end of the floor. And No. 20 Mizzou floated to an Apollonian 88-61 victory over No. 14 Mississippi State on Saturday.

MU was an underdog, but as its road lead over a higher-ranked opponent soared past two dozen points in the second half, it was an underdog with its head out the window, tongue flapping gleefully in the breeze.

Saturday was the kind of game in which just about everything clicked in harmonious rhythm for Missouri, which moved to 17-4 overall and 6-2 in Southeastern Conference play by thumping the Bulldogs (16-6, 4-5).

“I thought our guys went in, got free, executed the game plan from top to bottom,” said MU coach Dennis Gates, who picked up his 100th career victory as a head coach and 50th in his current job.

For the first time since the 1998-99 season, Missouri has won back-to-back road games over ranked foes — the Tigers’ last away game against a ranked team was their win at No. 5 Florida earlier this season. Saturday’s 27-point margin of victory was MU’s largest ever on the road against a ranked opponent.

Grill, entering the game as the Division I leader in 3-point percentage, made six of his 11 tries from deep, bumping that mark up to 49%, which almost certainly will keep him atop that leaderboard. The Tigers’ sixth man scored 20 points.

And while his hot run of shooting exerts a gravitational pull on both viewers’ eyeballs and opposing defenders, it was his play outside of his jumper that was especially impressive. As Mississippi State aggressively tried to close out against Grill, he regularly drove to the rim, laying the ball in or kicking it out to a perimeter player as needed.

“To be honest with you, that’s not really what we expected,” Grill said on the MU radio broadcast. “We expected to come in here and win, but I don’t think we expected to do it like that.”

Mizzou leaned into drive and kick offense at times to beat the Bulldogs, benefitting from a strong shooting day across the board — 55% from the field and 46.9% from beyond the arc.

Center Josh Gray, sporting a new mustache, impressed off the bench, posting his first double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 boards.

Mississippi State point guard Josh Hubbard, the focal point of MU’s defense game plan, scored 24 points.

Missouri’s dominant win makes a bid in the NCAA Tournament a near certainty for the Tigers. The ability to beat the No. 14 team on the road like they did Saturday solidly moves Mizzou’s status into a different tier.

This MU team isn’t bound for the bubble. The Tigers are very much in the mix near the top of the SEC, where they sit third in the league standings.

A do-it-all start from forward Mark Mitchell earned Mizzou an early lead in Starkville. Heading into the first media timeout, the visitors led 12-5 behind five points for Mitchell, plus a steal, block and assist.

Hubbard hit his first shot from deep as Mississippi State settled in shortly there after, re-taking the lead for a bit.

MU stalled for a bit as point guard Anthony Robinson struggled early on to the tune of six turnovers and three fouls — the latter creating a four-point play for State — in the game’s first 13 minutes.

But Grill, coming off the bench as usual, and wing Trent Pierce hit two back-breaking 3s in the first half.

A drive-and-kick possession fed Pierce a wide open 3 from the left wing in the final two minutes of the first half, which he knocked down. That shot was the Tigers’ eighth made 3-pointer of the game, and they’re now 13-0 when making eight or more in a game.

Just before the break, Grill heaved in a 3 from half-court, a first half dagger thrown from somewhere near Tupelo.

“I was almost laughing,” Grill said of that deep bucket.

Mizzou led 45-31 at halftime — which, as a testament to some of the strong first halves recorded by MU this season, was the team’s fourth-biggest halftime lead in their eight SEC games. The Tigers are undefeated in league play when leading at halftime.

Grill took a blow to his head early in the second half but shook it off to drive through the heart of the Mississippi State defense for a layup that gashed open a 15-point lead.

He pump-faked a defender into blowing past him for a 3, then bagged another to put Missouri up 62-37 with 13:14 to go in the contest — a 15-0 run for the visitors that sealed the win.

Gates emptied the bench in the closing minutes, leading to freshman Annor Boateng’s first career 3-pointer in the SEC.

The Tigers are back on the road for their next matchup, visiting No. 8 Tennessee (18-3, 5-4 SEC) at 6 p.m. Wednesday for a battle of two teams near the top of the league. The Volunteers beat Florida by 20 points earlier Saturday in Knoxville.

No. 20 Missouri 88, No. 14 Mississippi St. 61

MISSOURI (17-4)

Bates 5-7 2-2 14, Perkins 3-6 1-2 8, Robinson 2-5 0-0 4, Mitchell 2-4 2-3 7, Pierce 4-8 0-0 9, Gray 4-6 2-3 10, Grill 7-12 0-0 20, Crews 3-7 0-0 9, Warrick 1-2 0-0 2, Barrett 0-1 0-0 0, Boateng 1-1 0-0 3, Marshall 1-1 0-0 2, Shaw 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 33-60 7-10 88.

MISSISSIPPI ST. (16-6)

Matthews 3-5 0-0 6, Melendez 1-4 0-0 3, Nwoko 0-5 2-2 2, Harris 2-9 1-2 6, Hubbard 7-13 4-4 24, Jones 1-5 2-2 4, Murphy 6-8 4-7 16, Kugel 0-5 0-0 0, Warren 0-1 0-3 0, Alexander 0-0 0-0 0, Chol 0-0 0-0 0, Russell 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-55 13-20 61.

�Ჹ���ڳپ�����—Missouri 45-31. 3-Point Goals—Missouri 15-32 (Grill 6-11, Crews 3-7, Bates 2-3, Boateng 1-1, Mitchell 1-1, Perkins 1-1, Pierce 1-4, Barrett 0-1, Gray 0-1, Robinson 0-1, Warrick 0-1), Mississippi St. 8-26 (Hubbard 6-11, Melendez 1-3, Harris 1-7, Jones 0-1, Matthews 0-1, Nwoko 0-1, Kugel 0-2). �����dzܲԻ��—Missouri 34 (Gray 11), Mississippi St. 30 (Murphy 9). �����������ٲ�—Missouri 18 (Perkins 5), Mississippi St. 11 (Matthews 5). Total Fouls—Missouri 18, Mississippi St. 11. ��—9,584 (10,575).