Takeaways from Missouri Men's Basketball's late SEC loss at Texas A&M
Well... that was certainly something. Missouri came into this game as substantial underdogs to the 11-7 Aggies Tuesday night and it was evident why early in the first half. Missouri found an inability to put the ball through the hoop in the first half regardless of who, when, what, and where, leaving many Tigers fans simply asking 'why?' Regardless of their abysmal first half shooting performance, the Tigers found themselves within striking distance again just to fall short.
So, what can we takeaway from yet another SEC loss for Missouri?
Live By The Three, Die By The Three? (Maybe Less of The Latter?)
Missouri came into this year off an appearance in the March Madness tournament and multiple players put into the NBA. They had a brand new coach, and a brand new identity with a team full of talent and experience to boast. Then the Tigers started playing basketball, and realized that their identity built off shooting the long-ball was not effective unless you could make them.
In the first half of this contest, the Tigers shot just 2-of-12 from behind the arc. In the first 18 minutes of play, the Tigers were 1-10 from three. For a team thats identity and last years persona was built on the three-point shot, one that they took more than all but a select few of teams in the country last year, the Tigers continue to shoot themselves out of games this year with extreme cold droughts and inefficiency. Missouri improved its shooting in the second half, finishing 8-of-29 from three, but no flowers can be given to a team thats shooting performance tonight would put it at 340th in the country behind Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
The reality of the situation is that the Tigers are clearly still ready to shoot from behind the arc at a high volume, but until team can start knocking down shots its going to continue to be difficult for the team to find a way out of this rut. It's clear that head coach Dennis Gates is still working on the rotations almost halfway through the SEC schedule, with freshman Jordan Butler coming into this game averaging just 1.8 points and 8.2 minutes, playing over 23 minutes while only converting on a single shot the entire game. This included in clutch time moments when the team needed to convert the most at the end of the game. There doesn't truly seem to be a law of averages or a system to predict players minutes or impact at the moment for this team. Coach Gates will have to look to make adjustments soon, or the Tigers could be in for disaster the rest of this SEC slate.
Hack-A-Sh... Entire Team?
Missouri had six more total field goals and two more from three-point range than Texas A&M, yet the Tigers still managed to come out of the game on the wrong side of a six-point contest. Missouri lost every part of the foul game that you could think of. Aggies forward Henry Coleman III shot 12 free throws through the course of the contest, not only did he have more free throw attempts than the entire Missouri team (10), but also more made free throws (8) than the entire Tiger side (7).
Missouri not only managed to get outshot at the line by a single player, but also allowed for their attempts to be quadrupled by the Aggies throughout the game. Texas A&M shot a combined 37 total free throw attempts, converting 27 of them. Missouri shot a total of 10 free throw attempts, converting 7 of those opportunities. Not only did Missouri get out-shot and out-scored from the line, but the Aggies also managed to be more efficient from the line with almost quadruple the attempts. Getting behind in the free throw game makes it hard to win games, its almost impossible to win games when you get out-converted on a scale this large.
All of that is before mentioning the fact that Missouri had five total players end the game just a foul away from being fouled-out. This is a death wish for a team that struggles to find rhythm and efficiency as is.
How Was This Close?
This game should never have been as close as it was. Missouri headed back into the locker room at halftime, somehow only down five total points in a game that they had no business being within 20 points of on offense. Missouri scored one single field goal in a total of 12 minutes of elapsed game time in the first half. They found themselves unable to buy a basket as they went on the wrong side of a 23-to-2 run in those 12 minutes of game time, yet when they broke the slump the first shot brought the deficit down to 10 points due to an early lead Missouri had built.
The Tigers managed to push themselves on a 10-to-3 run to end the half, only finding themselves down five. Missouri never were able to hold the lead for long again, but what they did was stay on the Aggies heels the entire game. Finding themselves at moments down or up just a single point, the Tigers made sure there was never a question about the competitiveness of the contest again until the very last horn sounded. They managed to keep themselves in the game, both with a little help from a poor Aggies shooting night and the heart and passion to never count themselves out.
This team has shown that heart and passion time and time again this year. This game will go right alongside games against Kentucky, Minnesota, South Carolina, Georgia, and more, that the Tigers were extremely competitive but just came up short in the end. No team ever wants to lose, but the amount of resilience shown by this squad will be a defining moment to come for this program. There is obvious that there is a culture surrounding a team that never gives up, a true silver lining that Missouri fans can hold onto through this season and into the next.