The Missouri Tigers let too many offensive opportunities get away from them against a beatable team at LSU. Despite the poor free throw shooting, missed close ranged shots and cold outside shooting down the stretch, Mizzou had the last chance to pull out a win, but came up on the short end of a 64-63 final in Baton Rouge, La. Earlier in the week, head coach Cuonzo Martin said barring a collapse down the stretch, this team was an NCAA Tournament team. This is one of those performances that made Missouri look like a bubble team instead of a shoe-in.
Mizzou was just 7-of-17 from the free throw line and missed several up close chances around the rim. At one point, the Tiger were shooting 9-of-11 from three-point range, but finished the game going 3-for-10 from long range down the stretch.
Kassius Robertson had the ball twice in the final moments to win the game. The first came on a missed layup where he was called for an offensive foul. With five seconds remaining, Daryl Edwards drew the charge from Kassius Robertson. Edwards made a poor inbounds pass and Robertson retrieved the loose ball. Robertson missed a short jumper with one second to play and a weak tip by Cullen Vanleer at the buzzer failed to make it to the rim. One could argue Robertson was held on his final shot attempt with three LSU defenders swarming him, but it shouldn’t have come down to that
“It’s a tough one,” Missouri coach Cuonzo Martin said. “LSU obviously did some good things and protected their home court. We didn’t play as a team in the first ten minutes in the first half. We started to settle in a little bit in the second half. We did a solid job defensively except down the stretch.”
Jordan Barnett scored 18 after a quiet first half. Robertson had 14. Jeremiah Tilmon was held to one point and went 0-for-6 from the field,
