A fairly meaningless men’s basketball game between Missouri and Texas A&M was anything but meaningless for Trevor Glassman.

Glassman, a walk-on redshirt junior who will graduate this spring, made his first career start in his last game at Mizzou Arena on Tuesday. And he made the most of his 3:02 on the court in the first half.

Glassman stole the ball from an Aggie player on the first possession of the game. He followed up by taking a charge on the next possession. He also grabbed a defensive rebound.

“I thought Trevor was active and had good energy,” Missouri coach Kim Anderson said.

After his productive three minutes as a Tiger starter, Glassman exited the court to a standing ovation. His family whistled and hollered as they captured the moment through their smart phones.

When Glassman left the court, the positive energy exited with him. After Glassman’s exit, the Tigers put together an uninspiring effort in their final game at Mizzou Arena this season, falling to Texas A&M 60-43. Missouri (7-22, 2-14) also lost to the Aggies 76-73 on Feb. 8.

“I probably should have left [Glassman] in more,” Anderson said.

The players Anderson kept on the court instead put together a 43-point effort, Missouri’s lowest total at Mizzou Arena since it opened in 2004. Missouri shot 24.6 percent from the floor.

“I would be remiss if I didn’t say that probably set the game of basketball back a long time,” Anderson said.

Despite Missouri’s poor shooting early on, the Tigers stayed within striking distance of the Aggies. They trailed 28-18 at half as Texas A&M also struggled to build momentum on offense.

Anderson thought a second-half comeback was a reasonable expectation.

“I know you guys might think I am crazy, but I thought there was no way we could play like that for two halves,” Anderson said.

But the Tigers proved that they could. Missouri never came any closer than eight points down to Texas A&M as scoring struggles continued after the break.

Senior center Russell Woods, who missed each of his seven field goal attempts, could not pinpoint why the Tigers struggled to score.

“I missed a few bunnies I normally put in,” Woods said.

The inability to score wasn’t a disease limited to Woods, though. Anderson said it was contagious, similar to the loss to North Carolina Central early in the season. He also compared Missouri’s performance to the 39-point loss to Florida earlier in the season.

“It was one of those nights when there wasn’t anything there,” Anderson said. “No matter what button you tried to push, it got stuck. It didn’t work.”

It certainly was not the way Anderson envisioned Woods and Glassman’s final game at Mizzou Arena.

“It was a bummer night and a bad night for everybody,” Anderson said. “I hope [Glassman] will remember the fact he started the game and made some plays.”

_Edited by Eli Lederman | elederman@themaneater.com_