Arkansas native Al Green’s hit song “Tired of Being Alone” contains lyrics in which Green pleads, “Won’t you help me, girl / Just as soon as you can?”
The same question was asked of the Missouri men’s basketball bench unit as they traveled to Green’s home state, to which they responded with a resounding “no.”
The Tigers’ bench core — comprised of Anthony Robinson II, Jacob Crews and Trent Burns — totaled 12 points, slightly above half of what the Razorbacks’ bench contributed.
The mainstays of Missouri’s bench — Crews and Robinson — totaled six points. The duo takes up the majority of minutes off the bench during conference play when Dennis Gates has favored a tight eight-man rotation.
To add insult to injury, Missouri’s starting point guard — sophomore T.O. Barrett — totaled four fouls and was sidelined to avoid fouling out, meaning his backup, Robinson, played over 25 minutes.
It took 18 of those minutes for Robinson to find his first bucket, knocking down a second-half 3-pointer that trimmed the deficit to six but carried little weight, as Arkansas answered with a three of their own on the next possession.
He finished the game with five points and four rebounds, diversifying his contributions beyond scoring alone.
In contrast, Crews failed to add anything beyond a single point and a personal foul. The graduate guard couldn’tfind his footing, going 0-for-3 from the field in his six minutes of playing time.
The one saving grace for the Mizzou bench was redshirt freshman Trent Burns, who has emerged as the Tigers’ top backup big man over his past few outings.
The 7-foot-5 center logged six points in 12 minutes, a step down in play time after a career high 19 minutes against Vanderbilt on Feb. 18.
The Tigers’ bench issues only deepened their inability to catch up with the Razorbacks, who ran away with the matchup in the second half. Arkansas held a comfortable lead for the rest of the game, finishing with 94 points — the most points scored against the Tigers all season.
The Tigers return to Mizzou Arena next week, where they will once again ask for help off the bench as they take on another ranked SEC opponent in Tennessee.
