Mizzou overwhelmed by 3-point barrage in 90-84 loss to Saint Louis

After 25 seasons of the rivalry on hold, Mizzou and Saint Louis basketball met at the Enterprise Center on Friday night to battle for the prize of being the top squad in Missouri. When the final buzzer sounded, the claim to that title went to the Billikens of the Atlantic 10.

Missouri coach Dennis Gates put an emphasis on strengthening Missouri's nonconference schedule in the 2026-27 season, and it showed — the Tigers didn't lose until their ninth game last season but were hit with an early-season wake-up call against SLU.

"I am proud of what I saw," Gates said. "Am I proud about the outcome? Not at all. But I'm proud about the fact that 99% of programs would avoid this game. So I'm proud that I put my team in this situation so we can figure out who we are, and we'll see what it does for us."

Five-star freshman Jason Crowe Jr., who led the Tigers with a team-high 23 points against Cleveland State, was at the center of Missouri’s struggles against SLU, finishing with eight points on 3-for-18 shooting. Crowe also had the second-worst plus-minus on the team with -9 but dished out seven assists.

Fellow five-star freshman starter Toni Bryant struggled, too, scoring 1 point in 13 minutes of play.

Gates knew growing pains awaited his young team. He knew it could cost them, too.

“We're not as experienced as these teams that we're playing (in) nonconference,” Gates said at the team’s preseason media day. “So for me, our guys will bump our heads, we'll make mistakes, but how will we respond in those educational moments? It'll either be a coffin or a classroom, and it's up to us to figure out which direction we handle our adversities.”

He kept the same mentality in the postgame press conference.

"What I look at is the potential of (Crowe and Bryant) is growth," Gates said. "This is their second college game, and if we sat here and didn't expect any mistakes to be made, we would be lying to each other. So, what I like is how they didn't hold their head down. ... I'll continue to teach them, but also demand from them."

Gates later added: "I have to continue to push Toni along so that he can continue to help us, which I think he will."

Two of the Billikens’ double-digit scorers, Trey Green and Quentin Jones, were seniors. Sophomore Ishan Sharma and junior Amari McCottry each scored a team-high 17.

The Billikens led by five or more points for the majority of the first half, closing the half with a 49-38 lead. Missouri couldn’t contain SLU’s 3-point barrage, as the Billikens knocked down nine of their 16 triples to account for 55% of their first-half points.

The terror from deep continued in the second half, as Saint Louis finished shooting 14-for-25 from 3-point range, including three or more from Sharma, Jones and Green. Every time the Tigers got close, a devastating Billiken 3-pointer kept them out of reach.

"Ultimately, they got us in rotations, and those rotations were based off some blown coverages," Gates said, "and we left some guys open that we normally would not leave open."

While the Tigers’ weren't terrible from beyond the arc — knocking down eight of their 24 attempts — they struggled immensely at the rim, making just 11 of their 27 layups.

Starting forwards Mark Mitchell and Bryson Tiller were among the Tigers’ few bright spots

After showcasing his playmaking ability with a career-high 10 assists Cleveland State, fifth-year forward Mark Mitchell returned to his familiar form, pouring in 21 points on 8-for-11 shooting.

Transfers Bryson Tiller and Jamier Jones were some of the Tigers’ only other bright spots on the night. Tiller exploded for a career-high 26 points, 15 of which were from 3-point range and 16 of which were in the first half. Tiller also anchored the paint, hauling in eight rebounds and swatting four shots.

Transfer forward Jamier Jones added 13 points and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.

Senior forward Trent Pierce couldn’t garner any scoring momentum, finishing the game with three points on 1-for-3 shooting. Transfer guard Kennard Davis Jr., who tallied a second-highest 19 points against Cleveland State, shot three for nine against SLU.

Mizzou will return to Columbia for a game against Southern Illinois University Edwardsville at 7 p.m. Monday at Mizzou Arena, followed by a neutral-site game against Marquette at 1:30 p.m. Nov. 15.

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