The Tigers have lost three straight games in three very different fashions.
Missouri men’s basketball has got out to a slow start in conference play, falling to win against its first three SEC opponents. The Tigers lost at home to Georgia and South Carolina, as well as on the road against Kentucky.
Here is what you need to know about the Tigers’ struggles in the opening weeks of SEC play:
Missouri vs Georgia
In the opening game in SEC play, Missouri battled back and forth with the Georgia Bulldogs at Mizzou Arena. The Tigers could not find a way to get ahead, leading to an eventual 75-68 defeat.
Junior guard Tamar Bates is emerging as a legitimate second option for the Tigers, putting up 15 points on 6-for-11 shooting. Graduate senior guard Sean East II led the team in scoring with 18. Despite two solid performances, the Tigers could not get the job done.
One major bright spot was the performance of sophomore forward Aidan Shaw. Shaw put up an efficient 14 points to go along with six rebounds and a block. It was arguably his best statistical performance of the season.
The Bulldogs did not dominate any statistical categories except for points off the bench. Georgia had 23 bench points compared to Missouri’s three, which came from senior forward Jesus Carralero Martin. The Bulldogs’ second-leading scorer was senior point guard Justin Hill, who came off the bench and scored 16 points.
Georgia also shot 42.9% from the perimeter, knocking down 12 of their 28 triples. Four of those came from Hill, with senior guard Noah Thomasson and senior forward Jabri Abdur-Rahim knocking down three. The Tigers only made six 3-pointers in total, with three coming from graduate forward Noah Carter.
The Tigers held a two-point lead with 4:45 to play, but a triple from Georgia’s Hill prompted a 9-0 run that would put the Tigers too far back. After the run Missouri trailed 72-65 with 1:11 left, and there was no bouncing back.
Missouri vs Kentucky
Missouri traveled to Rupp Arena for a Top-25 matchup with the Kentucky Wildcats. The Tigers did the one thing you can not do while playing this year’s Wildcat squad, which is getting into a shootout. The Tigers went on to lose 90-77.
The Tigers were resilient in the first half, being down by as much as 14 halfway through the period. Bates and East once again led the way, especially in this minor comeback. A triple from Bates with 3:41 left in the first half cut the Wildcat lead to four, with Missouri trailing 41-37. The Tigers went into halftime down 47-42.
Carter truly stepped up this game, scoring 20 points and knocking down three shots from behind the arc. Along with Carter, East and Bates provided 19 and 18 points respectively.
Throughout the second half, the Tigers kept the score at a meaningful distance away, but they could not narrow it down. Allowing the Wildcats to score 90 points will rarely end in a victory for the opposing team. They are second in the country in points scored per game with 90.8, as well as a top ten team in KenPom adjusted offensive efficiency, which is a metric used to rank how efficient a team is on the offensive side of the ball.
Missouri eventually lost by 13 points. Kentucky’s offense stole the show, shooting 50% on all field goals and outrebounding the Tigers 42-27.
Missouri vs South Carolina
This game was Missouri’s best shot at a win so far this season, falling 71-69 in overtime. The Gamecocks hit a soul-crushing triple to tie the game with just 25 seconds left, forcing Nick Honor to call a timeout on the other side of the floor. East had a look to win the game, but he couldn’t get it to fall.
The Tigers led by one through the first half of play, leading 33-32. Carter led the way for the Tigers against the Gamecocks, scoring 23 points on 9-of-20 shooting. East and Bates followed behind him with 15 and 12.
There’s not much to be said about the second half of play. The Tigers led the entire second half, with the lead growing to as much as six points. They were in a good spot down the stretch, up 60-55 with 2:20 left.
A triple from Gamecock graduate Ta’Lon Cooper would tie the game and send it to overtime, where South Carolina would go on to win by two. Missouri had control of this game for 38 minutes, but could not close it out down the stretch.
Through three early games in conference play, the Tigers remain winless. There have been moments of promise and bright spots in these three games, but at the end of the day they remain as three losses on Missouri’s record.
Edited by Chase Gemes | cgemes@themaneater.com
Copy edited by Grace Knight
Edited by Scout Hudson | shudson@themaneater.com