Sound the bells.

It’s over.

Missouri basketball ended a 20-game losing streak with a 77-62 win over Howard on Friday evening at Mizzou Arena, surviving a late scare from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference visitors to pull away and put a win on the board for the first time since Dec. 30, 2023.

The visiting Bison made it a cagey affair late on in Columbia, making it a four-point game with 3:30 left to play. But Mizzou closed the game with a 14-3 run, and closed the door on a brutal 11-month stretch.

Here are three takeaways from Missouri’s first win of the season and, moreover, its first in the calendar year 2024:

The 3 failed Missouri basketball, but it will keep shooting

There came a point in the second half that MU coach Dennis Gates told the team it was time to change direction.

The Tigers did, after all, have a 3-of-22 — 13.6% — night from behind the 3-point line. For Missouri basketball players not named Tamar Bates, that number was 0-of-19.

MU forward Aidan Shaw said Gates told the players in the second half that the emphasis needed to “get paint touches and score in the paint.” Mizzou finished 26-of-31 at the charity stripe and had 42 points in the paint. That accounts for 68 of their 77 total points. Mission accomplished.

But there was, still, just a little too much temptation as Howard was eating into MU's lead.

“They could not resist it,” Gates said. “Bates made his baseline out, and it's almost like that stirred it up again, where, ‘Oh, we're open. We're open. Let's shoot it.’ And we have to be able to do certain things other than just catch-and-shoot. We were winning the free-throw game.”

That isn’t deterring the Mizzou coach, though. A hallmark of Gates’ offense is taking the shooting opportunities when they come. He wasn’t upset with the overall shot selection Friday, but against Howard it was just time for a change.

But he doesn’t believe the behind-the-arc woes will linger.

“I want to shoot more 3s. I want guys from every position to shoot 3s,” Gates said. “But it wasn't the night for that, and I'm OK with that. I thought our guys listened to the game plan, the scouting report, and we took what the defense gave us. Those were some open shots. They'll fall. We're not a 13% 3-point shooting team, you know? So for me, I want our guys to play with confidence.

“They know that. I told them, ‘hey, I want you to shoot. Shoot it. But it's time now to get into the paint and be able to finish in the paint.’”

More: Missouri basketball survives Howard scare, ends 20-game slump

Marquee transfer Mark Mitchell flashes potential

Speaking of paint touches …

Howard didn’t have an answer for Mark Mitchell, Missouri’s blockbuster offseason transfer addition from Duke, at many points in the first half. He finished the game with 16 points and eight rebounds, and 14 and five of those came in the first 20 minutes.

The forward looked direct and dynamic driving to the basket. He finished 4-of-7 from the field, with six of those shots coming from close range. He drew four shooting fouls and made all eight of his attempts from the free-throw line.

Mitchell didn’t quite replicate his first-half production after the break, but Mizzou clearly had a dynamic offensive outlet with him in the game.

If the 3-pointers aren’t dropping, that could come in useful for Missouri this season. At no point did the Tigers look like they had to live and die by the 3, which wasn’t always the case in the 2023-24 campaign.

More: Brady Cook Friday injury update: Missouri football quarterback ruled out of game vs Oklahoma

Freshmen Boateng, Allen make debuts

True freshman Annor Boateng made the starting lineup for his Mizzou debut, and fellow rookie Marcus Allen came off the bench for his first minutes as a Tiger.

Both four-star prospects delivered at various times.

Boateng opened the scoring, fed a tremendous pass to Mitchell for an assist under the rim and turned a steal into a fastbreak layup in his eight minutes of floor time.

With Mizzou up just four points and 3:30 left on the game clock, Allen worked his way under the rim and received a nicely slipped pass from Bates before deftly finishing a layup to give MU some breathing room.

Touted as an elite high school defender, Allen was on the court as MU held Howard to three points through the closing stretch, logging two defensive rebounds and a steal to assure MU’s streak didn’t extend to 21 games.

As it stands, Boateng and Allen appear the most likely among the five-player MU freshman class to see significant minutes this season.

“Marcus Allen closed the game for us in tough situations,” Gates said. “So, we put two freshmen in situations they've never been in at the college level, and they were able to respond.”

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: 3 takeaways after Missouri basketball ended long slump, beat Howard