A poor first half and slow offense led the Tigers to lose in the second round, dimming their hopes at an NCAA Tournament bid.
NASHVILLE — Missouri men’s basketball traveled to the Music City to take on the Kentucky Wildcats as the seeded favorites in an 8-9 matchup in the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
It’s hard to walk a block in Nashville without seeing or hearing music.
But by the time the final buzzer sounded, the music had stopped — at least for Missouri. The Tigers fell 78-72 to the Wildcats, ending their chances at capturing a conference title and dimming the outlook of an NCAA Tournament bid with it.
As has been the case numerous times this season, Missouri’s tournament loss was a tale of two halves. Missouri shot 57.1% from the field and 50% from 3-point range while team captain Mark Mitchell poured in 23 second-half points. It even led 70-69 with 2:34 remaining, marking its first lead of the second half and second lead of the entire game.
That lead quickly evaporated, as the Wildcats sparked a 7-0 run over the next 2:22 to put the nail in the Tigers’ coffin. But perhaps if the Tigers played like they did in the second half for the entire game, it could have beaten Kentucky and advanced to the third round.
“If’s” are for November, December, January and February. This is March. Missouri is one “if” away from losing an opportunity to correct its mistakes. Team captain Anthony Robinson II knows exactly what one of those mistakes were.
“Getting out and not getting punched first in the mouth,” Robinson said, “Punching them first.”
Kentucky had Missouri’s number from the start, as the Tigers led for just 20 seconds the entire first half, all of which were in the first 2:00 of action. Slow starts have been quite the commonality for Missouri this season, but what went wrong in the latest issue?
For starters, Missouri shot just 37% from the field and 2-for-7 from 3-point range in the first half, digging itself into a double-digit deficit as the halfs’ end drew nearer. The Tigers also turned the ball over seven times, including four in the first 6:00, leading to eight Wildcat points off turnovers.
Starting center Shawn Phillips Jr. found himself in foul trouble — as has happened frequently in conference play — and only played five minutes in the opening period. His presence was sorely missed.
“We gifted some points in the paint based off our turnovers, we gifted fast break points,” Head coach Dennis Gates said. “Obviously you can't put yourself in a situation like that where they're unearned opportunities… it seems just because they scored that our offense wasn't Excellent. Our offense was okay. Our mistakes came from the points off turnovers that they earned.”
Missouri typically overwhelms opponents with its size, presenting jumbo lineups of three players standing at 6-foot-10 or taller alongside stocky guards. But Kentucky matched that — bigs Malachi Moreno, Brandon Garrison and Mouhamed Dioubate held their own while Otega Oweh exploited mismatches on the perimeter.
The out-musclers got out-muscled.
“Our problem was our physicality early on,” Phillips said. “We allowed them to come out with more juice in us, and that allows them to be the most physical team. So that's what we gave them the edge”
Away from the physicality, Missouri had a few positive takeaways to look back on. Mark Mitchell tied his recently-set career-high with 32 points, while T.O. Barrett tacked on 13 points and seven assists.
Regardless, the offensive struggles outweighed the few bright spots, as Jayden Stone, Trent Pierce and Robinson combined for just 12 points on 4-for-14 shooting.
Missouri will now sit and wait until 5 p.m. CT Sunday, when the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee reveals which teams will be dancing in March. The pressure of days of silence before finding out their destiny could weigh heavy on a team, but point guard T.O. Barrett thinks his guys are set for smooth sailing.
“I think we'll be just fine,” Barrett said.