Mizzou basketball beat Tennessee by learning from its mistakes and fixing them. Read how the Tigers are hitting their stride at the perfect time.
COLUMBIA — Nearly every one of Missouri basketball’s Southeastern Conference victories have come at the expense of skyrocketing heart rates in the last two minutes, usually not in a good way.
A recent example of such is the Tigers’ narrow victory over Vanderbilt in which they committed seven turnovers in the final 9:00 of the game that tossed a 21-point lead out the window and ended in an unnecessarily last-second, one-point victory.
The near-disaster isn’t a one-off scenario, though.
Nine of Missouri’s 15 conference games have finished with a final score difference of two possessions or less, including its most recent game, a 73-69 win over No. 22 Tennessee. The score was within six points or less for the last 7:00 — Missouri kept letting the Volunteers linger around, which had become a recipe for disaster in previous games.
But instead of entering panic mode, which has been the case countless times this season, Missouri stayed calm. It exhibited poise at the highest level, committing zero turnovers in the final 13:00 of the game despite facing an aggressive Tennessee press for portions of it.
But what changed? This Missouri team was sporadic, reckless and truly a wildcard for much of the season.
I think back to a quote originating from Cleveland Guardians manager Stephen Vogt, which Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay then repeated, followed by the mention of it by Missouri football head coach Eli Drinkwitz.
“Learn the lesson, leave the event.”
Drinkwitz brought up the quote after Missouri’s 27-24 loss to Alabama. Gates discussed a similar message in regards to what his team learned from its near-loss to Vanderbilt and how they applied it in their win over Tennessee.
“If we don't go through lack of press breaking opportunities against Vanderbilt, what does tonight look like in a close game?” Missouri head coach Dennis Gates asked. “I thought our guys learned the lessons that they needed to learn to be able to execute.”
That’s something Missouri should get credit for, both the staff and the players. Players have been adaptable to different roles on the fly the entire season. Jacob Crews began the season on the bench, moved to the starting lineup and is now back to the bench. T.O. Barrett and Trent Pierce both found out they were being inserted into the starting lineup just minutes before the crowd did.
The Tigers have proven capable of learning lineup adjustments on the fly. Now they’re learning in-game adjustments. Having both facets of flexibility in their arsenal makes them dangerous, especially in a postseason situation in which identities vary on a minute-by-minute basis.
“You obviously want to play the best, going into March,” Mark Mitchell said. “We have different guys clicking, different guys playing the best basketball of the year. That's all you can really ask for.”
Missouri’s adaptability has led it to synchronize at the perfect time. There’s three games left in the regular season before the SEC Tournament begins, all of which present an opportunity for the Tigers to put the finishing touches to their NCAA Tournament resume.
They’re inches away from perfecting their tango, and it’ll be on full display in March.