Another section of the Missouri men’s basketball schedule has flown by, and just like the previous nine, the Tigers put another three games in the loss column. 

Missouri dropped games to Texas A&M, Mississippi State and Ole Miss, seeing their record fall to 8-17 on the season and 0-12 in SEC play. 

Missouri has now lost 15 of their last 16 games, and are just 6 losses away from the first winless SEC season since Vanderbilt in 2018-19. Here are three takeaways from  the team’s performance over the last three games. 

Sean East II’s absence was felt

While it’s been clear for most of the season that graduate guard Sean East II is the driving force behind this Missouri offense, fans got a taste of just how important East is during their games against the Texas A&M Aggies and Mississippi State Bulldogs. 

On January 23rd, Missouri lost 63-57 against Texas A&M in College Station, East leading the Tigers with 17 points. With East injured and unable to play in the rematch, it was a much more lopsided contest, as the Aggies swept the season series with a 79-60 win in Columbia. 

Things got even worse against Mississippi State, as the Tigers fell 75-51. Missouri’s 51 points scored are the fewest scored in the Dennis Gates era. In that game, the Tigers shot 34% from the field and went 3-18 from downtown. 

With East back in the lineup for the Ole Miss contest, the offense scored at a much higher rate. Not only did East have a great game as he led his team with his season-high of 25 points, he also was the team leader in assists. Although it wasn’t enough to earn the Tigers their first conference win, it was refreshing to see Missouri being competitive in a game after being blown out in the prior two games. 

Missouri’s rebounding continues to be a weak point

Along with losing the overall scoring battle, Missouri has also been consistently defeated on the glass. The Tigers have lost the rebounding battle in 11 of their last 12 SEC games, with opponents averaging 34.8 rebounds to Missouri’s 25.6. 

The rebounding struggles were on full display against Texas A&M. The Aggies won the rebounding battle 40-22, with 16 of their 40 rebounds coming on the offensive glass. This led to 15 second-chance points. 

It was the same story against Mississippi State and Ole Miss — the Tigers lost those rebounding battles by 10 and eight boards, respectively. 

This is nothing new for the Tigers under Gates. Last year, Missouri finished 14th in the SEC in total rebounds per game. Gates brought in graduate center Connor Vanover — standing at 7-foot-5-inches tall — to help alleviate the problem, but that plan has not panned out. 

With Gates expected to have two to three scholarship spots open for next season, he could be looking to use one of them on a big man from the transfer portal once again to try and help improve the team’s rebounding. He also has two 7-footers in the 2024 recruiting class, Trent Burns and Peyton Marshall, who will hope to make an impact early on. 

A winless SEC season is very realistic

Saturday’s loss to Ole Miss was the 12th of 18 SEC games, meaning that Missouri is two-thirds of the way through conference play without a win in the conference. 

They lost close games to South Carolina and Texas A&M, and couldn’t pick up a win over Vanderbilt, which was the one SEC game in which Missouri was favored by betting sites. 

With Missouri’s best chances at a win in the rear-view mirror,  it can be hard to see where a win could come from when looking ahead at the remainder of the schedule.

The Tigers will play two ranked opponents, taking on No. 8 Tennessee at home and No. 13 Auburn. They also face rematches with Arkansas, Florida and Ole Miss before finishing the season at LSU. 

Of course, anything can happen in sports and upsets happen at any time. But on paper, Missouri is going to be the underdog for all six of its final games, making the dreaded 0-18 conference season seem more and more realistic with each loss. 

Edited by Michael Stamps

Copy Edited by Sophie Gromowsky and Grace Knight | gknight@themaneater.com

Edited by Scout Hudson | shudson@themaneater.com