Caleb Grill went to the free-throw line with five seconds remaining. The prize for perfection was colossal.
Missouri basketball's once-19-point lead was two. Grill had missed two straight free throws just 77 seconds of gametime earlier.
The Tigers as a team to that point had been 7-of-16 from the stripe in the second half as its big lead had frittered and faded.
Now, Grill -- who had been the architect of many of the moments that allowed Mizzou to even compete for an upset Tuesday in Gainesville -- was a staring at the basket 15 feet ahead of him for oh-so-much more than a just a plain-ol' win.
Bang. Bang. Four-point lead. Ballgame.
Mizzou is coming back to Columbia with an 83-82, season-altering win over No. 5 Florida at Exactech Arena in Gainesville, Florida. It was Missouri's first win on the road against a top-five team since 2012, when MU knocked off Baylor in Waco, Texas, and just its fifth win all-time on the road against a top-five team.
Now, the sky is seemingly the limit for these Tigers.
"Florida is a great team. I think they're a No. 1 seed," Mizzou coach Dennis Gates told Chris Gervino of Tiger Radio Network postgame. "But for us to be able to win on their home court, break a streak, it says something about our conference, it says something, more importantly, about us. I'm proud of our guys."
More: Missouri basketball score: Mizzou offense explodes in first half as it stuns top-5 Florida
Missouri is 14-3 on the season and, even more importantly, off to a 3-1 start in SEC play. Yes, that's the same Mizzou Tigers that failed to register a single win in 19 attempts in conference play last season.
LSU and Vanderbilt at home were must-wins to right some wrongs and prove that this was a team capable of being on the NCAA Tournament bubble come the time the selection committee meets in March to pick its 68-team field. Mizzou handled that.
Florida, as its former 15 wins suggested, was a different animal.
The Gators were ranked No. 5 in the NET entering Tuesday's game. None of the top-six squads in those self-same rankings had fallen at home in the 2024-25 season.
Missouri ended that.
The Gators, now 15-2 overall and 2-2 in the SEC, laid the business down on once-No. 1 Tennessee just seven days ago on the same floor Missouri had to play on, beating the Volunteers by an astounding 30 points.
Missouri made that a distant memory.
The Tigers were operating on a different plane in the first half. Grill, who finished with a team-high 22 points, made his second, third and fourth 3s of the game between the 12:10 and 11:25 mark of the first half -- a 45-second timespan.
Mizzou opened the game 7-of-11 from behind the arc, 7-of-11 from inside the arc and 7-of-7 from the free throw line. If the Tigers were chucking it up, it was typically good. Gates' team was up 16 points at the half. On the road. In the vaunted SEC.
But what goes up ...
That all nearly went out the window in the second half. A Flagrant-2 foul on point guard Tony Perkins meant he was done for the day midway through the second half. A Flagrant-1 on guard Caleb Grill gave UF more freebies. Forward Mark Mitchell, point guard Anthony Robinson and freshman wing Marcus Allen each were in foul trouble with more clock than Gates would have liked left.
Review after review came and went, almost invariably to the benefit of the home Gators. Josh Gray had a seeming goaltending overturned. Grill and Perkins' flagrants both came after trips to the monitor. Florida took advantage.
The Tigers survived it all.
"It was one of the more resilient victories I've ever been a part of, and everyone knows I've been in college forever," Grill, a sixth-year senior, told Tiger Radio Network postgame. ... "We overcame so much adversity."
And, after it was all said and done, Mizzou is heading back to Columbia under vastly different circumstances than before it left for Florida.
The NCAA Tournament is no longer the dream; the optimistic endgame for a bounce-back squad.
Missouri is 2-3 in Quad 1 games and may get a chance to even the score when Arkansas visits Columbia on Saturday. The Tigers will be no worse than tied for third in the still-early SEC standings by the time that game comes around, behind only unbeaten Auburn and Mississippi.
The NCAA Tournament is now the expectation for the Tigers.
Missouri likely needs to get to eight SEC wins to get to the dance. A signature win -- a la Florida -- only aids that cause.
More: Missouri at Florida basketball: Check out photos from the game
After the stunner, Missouri has 14 regular-season games to find five wins.
But it's time to dream bigger than the bubble.
"Our guys are just ready, Gates told reporters in Gainesville postgame. "I just think, at the end of the day, this is a great win. Being able to beat two top-five teams, one on the road, one at home ... for us, it says a lot about our team. I told our guys, 'just be prepared to do what you already know,' and that's win a ball game on the road."