Mizzou basketball's star duo of Mark Mitchell and Anthony Robinson faltered, struggling with fouls and offensive woes in a tough 78-70 road loss to LSU.
Missouri entered Louisiana in search of its fourth Southeastern Conference win of the season, while the Tigers of LSU were searching for its first, having gone winless in its starting quartet of conference play. The traveling Tigers were in a perfect position to further their impressive start to a tough SEC slate.
But Missouri's offense struggled in the new scenery, and like walking through the swamps of the bayou, trudged scoreless through the first 5:42 of the first half, trailing LSU 10-0.
Mark Mitchell put an end to the drought by sinking a post fade, but that didn't mean Missouri's offense had clicked. In fact, it meant the opposite: LSU held the lead for the entire 40:00 of game time, keeping a firm grip on the lead for its eventual 78-70 takedown.
Missouri scored 27 points in the first half. Starting center Shawn Phillips Jr. — who averaged 6.5 points in the Tigers' first four conference games — led Missouri with six points at the half. He was the only Missouri player to shoot 50% or better from the field, as the team combined to shoot 8-for-24 from the field.
Mitchell — who had four points at the following time — picked up his fourth foul with 14:27 remaining in the game, essentially fouling himself off the court. Mitchell isn't Missouri's usual foul-trouble culprit — his only other game with four fouls this season was the season opener against Howard.
Robinson, Missouri's typical foul-trouble culprit, was subbed out at the 18:01 mark of the second half. He had four points and three turnovers on 1-for-4 shooting. Starting with 14:27 remaining in the second half, Missouri would have to play without both team captains.
Once-surprising — but now rather familiar — Jayden Stone heroics kept Missouri within striking distance. Stone scored 20 points on 7-for-14 shooting, including three timely triples. Backup point guard T.O. Barrett also stepped up, dropping 11 points and four assists. Missouri had brought the deficit to within six multiple times, but couldn't quite snatch the lead.
Head coach Dennis Gates used his final timeout with 6:01 remaining to get his captains back in – one last effort to snatch the lead.
Mitchell scored nine points — seven of which were free-throws — and played until the final buzzer. Robinson was subbed back out at the 5:34 mark, playing less than three minutes in the second half, and ending his afternoon earlier than usual.
During Robinson and Mitchell's struggles, Gates tried his hand at about every lineup combination he could have — 11 of Missouri's 12 active players received at least two minutes of action, with junior forward Luke Northweather as the lone exception.
Despite late-game efforts, Missouri eventually fell in the bayou for its second SEC loss of the season, dropping to 3-2 in conference play. The Tigers will next host Georgia at Mizzou Arena Tuesday evening with a chance to bounce back and improve to 4-2 in conference play and 14-5 on the season.