Mizzou Falls at Memphis in Season Opener, Lets Go of Double-Digit Lead

The Missouri Tigers led by 14 at one point, but suffered too many self-inflicted wounds.

Memphis' Nicholas Jourdain (2) spins away with the ball after colliding with Missouri's Anthony Robinson II (0) during the game between the University of Memphis and Missouri at FedExForum in Memphis, Tenn., on Monday, November 4, 2024. / Chris Day/The Commercial Appeal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The more things change, the more they stay the same for the Missouri Tigers.

Though Missouri’s new talent made a promising debut, a 83-75 loss to Memphis to open the season followed an eerily reminiscent path most of Missouri’s 24 losses last season.

After controlling the pace offensively to jump out to a 42-32 lead in the first half, turnovers, fouls and offensive inefficiency led Missouri to being outscored 51-33 in the second half.

Missouri’s lead was as big as 14 with under six minutes remaining in the first half. Impressive performances from junior Aidan Shaw and sophomore Trent Pierce created offensive momentum for Missouri.

In the span of just three minutes of play late in the first half, Pierce scored on a fast-break dunk, a three-point shot, and an alley-oop assisted by Caleb Grill. He scored 10 points in just eight minutes of play in the first half. Shaw scored nine in his 12 minutes.

Pierce and Shaw were key parts in the Missouri offense racing Memphis down the court, finding success in transition. Missouri scored 12 points in the fast break in the first half while Memphis only managed two.

After opening the game with seven three-point attempts on its first eight total, Missouri found consistency down low. 26 of its 42 points in the first half came in the paint.

But in the second half, Shaw and Pierce mysteriously faded out of the lineup, and Missouri suffered too many self-inflicted wounds. By the 12:28 mark of the second half, Memphis only trailed 47-55. Then, an 11-point scoring run gave Memphis its first lead since the 10:34 mark of the first half.

The stark difference between the two halves for Missouri wasn’t much of a mystery. After only giving up three turnovers in the first half, it gave up 11 in the second. Its foul total doubled from eight in the first half to 16 in the second. 

Missouri provided reasons to be optimistic Monday night. Duke transfer Mark Mitchell flashed signs to be the field conductor he was advertised to be in the first half. The first half showings of Pierce and Shaw were more promising than what most of Missouri’s developmental talent showed last season. 

But until head coach Dennis Gates can crack down on what is causing his teams to crumble in second halves, his teams will continue to fall in the fashion they did most of last season and Monday night.

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How it Happened

Second Half:

Final stats from Missouri's loss to Memphis. / StatBroadcast

FINAL: Missouri falls 83-75

2:35 Memphis 72, Missouri 65: Moussa Cissé makes a free-throw shot. Missouri then gives a posession to Memphis, with Tamar Bates missing Tony Perkins while trying to throw it back in.

3:31 Memphis 71, Missouri 63: Missouri continues to not make the most of its opportunities from the free-throw line, with Trent Pierce splitting two shots.

4:55 Memphis 67, Missouri 62: Tamar Bates intercepts a Memphis pass, launches it down to Tony Perkins who scores a layup, and goes to the line to add one more and bring Missouri within five.

8:23 Memphis 60, Missouri 57: Anthony Robinson II goes to the line for Missouri after a questionable personal foul on Dain Dainja. Robinson splits the two shots, putting Missouri at 6-for-11 at the line.

10:58 Memphis 53, Missouri 55: Missouri has gone cold offensively, shooting 4-for-12 from the field this half. Its up to 16 personal fouls and given up five turnovers so far this half. Meanwhile, Memphis has made seven of its last eight to cut down the Missouri lead.

12:57 Memphis 47, Missouri 53: Missouri guard Anthony Robinson II tripped over himself in transition and fell to the ground. He was grabbing his ankle but was able to walk off after stretching his ankle.

15:49 Memphis 40, Missouri 49: Memphis has scored two unanswered buckets to cut the Missouri lead back down to single digits for the first time since the 1:21 mark in the first half.

16:06 Memphis 38, Missouri 49: Four-star center Peyton Marshall the first of Missouri's freshman to check into the game and is immediately called for a foul on a throw in, then overpursues a ball to open up a lane for a Memphis layup.

17:52 Memphis 36, Missouri 47: Caleb Grill is up to three fouls and Josh Gray up to four. Gray has been called for two in the last minute.

First Half:

Stats from the first half of Missouri men's basketball's game at Memphis. / StatBroadcast

END OF HALF Memphis 32, Missouri 42: Memphis closed the lead to eight points, capitalizing with Missouri cooling off offensively,. Missouri has been able to get into rhythm offensively. The challenge for the team last season was keeping its foot on the break on the second half. Time to see if this team is different.

4:55 Memphis 22, Missouri 36: Missouri has gone on a 16-6 scoring run, led by nine points from Aidan Shaw and six from from Trent Pierce, both off the bench. Pierce has been a force on both ends of the court.

Not slowing down …

Another @trentpierce22 👌#MIZ 🐯 pic.twitter.com/8fSP3c3EbH

— Mizzou Hoops (@MizzouHoops) November 5, 2024

8:33 Memphis 16, Missouri 20: Aidan Shaw has been on a roll over the last four minutes: scoring a layup in transition, followed by a smooth three-point shot, rounded off with a alley-oop dunk, assisted by Caleb Grill.

11:38 Memphis 7, Missouri 11: Missouri continuing to be effective in transition offensively, with Caleb Grill racing in open space to take an easy dunk.

The Tigers in transition #MIZ 🐯 pic.twitter.com/fUm8JqhuHe

— Mizzou Hoops (@MizzouHoops) November 5, 2024

11:54 Memphis 7, Missouri 9: Tamar Bates tosses it to Anthony Robinson II in transition, leading to a quick layup in transition. Both Missouri and Memphis have had opportunities offensively but have yet to shoot the ball effectively.

14:24 Memphis 5, Missouri 5: Officials initially penalized Aidan Shaw for goal-tending on a layup attempt, but after review, the officials pulled back the penalty. But Memphis' Mousse Cisse was still fouled by Missouri's Caleb Grill before shooting, putting Cisse on the free-throw line, where he goes one-for-two.

15:57 Memphis 4, Missouri 5: Tamar Bates breaks the ice, scoring a three, assisted by Duke transfer Mark Mitchell.

16:10 Memphis - 4, Missouri 2: Missouri has been trying to hit from outside the arc early on to no success: 0-for-4 to open.

17:02: Iowa transfer Tony Perkins the first one to sub in for Missouri, taking over for Anthony Robinson II.

Starting Lineups

Missouri	Memphis
G Anthony Robinson II	G Colby Rogers
G Tamar Bates	G PJ Haggerty
G Caleb Gril	G Tyrese Hunter
F Mark Mitchell	F Jourdan Nicholas
C Josh Gray	C Dain Dainja

Pre Game

• Potentially unavailable guard Tony Perkins was seen on the court warming up ahead of the game, per Eli Hoff.
• Freshman Trent Burns has been ruled out of the game due to an illness. Check out the story here.
• Just a few hours before the game, Memphis senior Tyreek Smith entered the transfer portal.

How to Watch: Missouri Tigers at Memphis Tigers

Who: Missouri Tigers (0-0, 0-0 SEC) vs. Memphis Tigers (0-0, 0-0 SEC)

What: Season-opener for Missouri men's basketball

Where: FedExForum in Memphis, Tenn.

When: Monday, November 4, 7 p.m.

TV: ESPN+

Radio: Tiger Radio Network

Series: Memphis leads Missouri, 8-5

Last Meeting: Nov. 10, 2023: Memphis won 70-55 in last year's season-opener, led by Jahvon Quinerly's 18-point performance. Missouri shot just 6-of-30 from behind the arc, with Sean East II's 14 points being the only real bright spot.

Last Time Out, Missouri: The Tigers fell in the first round of the SEC Tournament agains the Georgia Bulldogs, 64-59. Despite making it a close score for most of the game, Georgia was able to pull out a victory behind a 19-point game from Blue Cain.

Last Time Out, Memphis: The Tigers were unable to get past Wichita State in the first round of the AAC Tournament, falling 71-65. David Jones and Nae'qwan Tomlin combined for a total of 42 points, but the duo still wasn't enough to come out with a win.