Sluggish, lackluster, lethargic. I could go on and on describing the Missouri Tigers 60-49 loss at Texas A & M on Saturday afternoon. For the second time in SEC play, Mizzou was held to 20 points in the first half and despite a brief lead early in the 2nd half, the Tigers had no continuity to their offense. It was almost as bad as last year’s game in late February when they lost at home to the Aggies by a score of 60-43.
Mizzou shot under 28% in this game. No Tiger finished in double digits for scoring and the Tigers lost in nearly every statistical category head-to-head against the Aggies.
I’ve expressed this theory before. Mizzou has three players they need to rely on for the bulk of their scoring: Kassius Robertson, Jordan Barnett, Jontay Porter and Jeremiah Tilmon. If three of them are producing, the Tigers will win. If only two are generating offense, it usually spells defeat. On this afternoon, none of them stepped up. I’ll break down their numbers.
Robertson: 1-of-11 shooting. Four of his seven points came from the free throw line.
Barnett: Nine points on 2-of-6 shooting. He had two blocks, but was responsible for four of the team’s eight turnovers.
Porter: 0 points. 0-for-8 shooting. He had zero success against 6’10 junior Tyler Davis inside and was awful on his outside attempts.
Tilmon: Fouled out, had nine points on 4-of-9 shooting, but only played 24 minutes. His inability to put in longer minutes was a hindrance once again.
The one thing Mizzou proved is that hard-working defense can keep your team in a game. As bad as they were shooting, they made up a nine point halftime deficit in the first 4:15 of the second half. Robertson’s only made shot, brought Mizzou to within 31-30 and then assisted on Kevin Puryear’s layout to put the Tigers on top 32-31 with 15:47 to play. However, the Aggies answered with a 6-0 run and the Tigers never threatened again.
Mizzou led for a total of 4:26.
The Tigers drop to 13-6 overall, 3-3 in SEC play.