To join the MizzouToday community click here for our sign up page and get either a month-to-month subscription or save some cash with a year-long sign up.

Here's what was on my mind right at the final buzzer as Missouri lost to Tennessee 85-81.

There's not many other ways to describe what happened after the Tigers went up 39-28 with 19:03 left to play.

That was a terrible finish to the game.

And it wasn't even fun to watch as a neutral observer since every possession turned into a foul for so much of the second half.

It still ended up close and the Tigers did a good job staying within striking distance in the end, but the stretch after the Tigers took an 11-point lead when Tennessee outscored Missouri 42-20 across about 14 minutes was about as bad as it has been recently for the Tigers.

Speaking of fouls, the Tigers had the same free-throw issues once again.

After shooting just 2-of-2 from the charity stripe in the first half, the Tigers ended 19-of-29 from the stripe for a rough 65.5 percent.

The line could have been a good method for the Tigers to get back in the game, but because they missed so many attempts, they just weren't able to play the game the refs were allowing.

I feel weird hitting on the 3-point shooting after every game, but my goodness it's good.

The Tigers hit 7-of-19 in the first half, then ended up at 12-of-30 (40 percent) against a team that was holding opponents to just 26 percent shooting from beyond the arc.

Tennessee's defense had been so, so good around the arc, and the Tigers were still able to make the Vols pay with the deep ball.

But it turned out to be Tennessee's 3-point shooting that made the difference as the Vols shot 10-of-15 from deep when they usually average 33.2 percent with 8.5 makes per game.

Like he did against Florida, it was pretty clear Dennis Gates wanted to use the Tigers' depth to their advantage against a team that sticks with about an 8-man rotation most games.

We saw Peyton Marshall, T.O. Barrett, Jacob Crews and Marques Warrick all in the first half as the Tigers went deeper into their bench in the first 20 minutes than the Vols did throughout the game.

Add in second-half minutes for Marcus Allen and Aidan Shaw and Gates was clearly trying to keep fresh legs in as Tennessee tired out during an offensive track meet.

Man, I don't want to harp on a sophomore, but this stretch has been rough for Anthony Robinson.

Another low-minute game because of foul trouble at the start of both halves.

The Tigers are going to need him and when he's playing well, he's an incredible defender. But that defensive intensity leads him into so, so, so many fouls.

He's got to learn to control when to play up the intensity so that he stops getting into trouble so much.

Stay up to date on all the Mizzou news with your premium subscription.

Talk about this story in the story thread and discuss so much more in The Tiger Walk.

Make sure you're caught up on all the Tiger news and headlines.