KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Mizzou often seems like a team that can go toe-to-toe with anyone in the country. But it also often seems like a team that can’t get out of its own way.

In short spurts during their game against Seton Hall on Sunday, the Tigers looked ferocious on both ends of the floor, forcing gritty stops and finding a number of clutch baskets when they needed them most. But in the moments in between, the black and gold looked cautious, unsure of how to propel themselves past the Pirates.

Seton Hall (7-4) took its largest lead of the game at 75-56 with just 5:53 left in the second half. Missouri rallied, trimming the deficit all the way down to five points, but couldn’t complete the comeback, suffering a 93-87 loss inside the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo.

“I feel like just when we tip the ball up, we have to start the game with a mentality of ‘we’re already down 20,’” junior guard Tamar Bates said. “I feel like when we get desperate, we play really hard.”

MU played well in the opening minutes of the afternoon, jumping out to a 16-10 lead by the 12:35 mark. But the Pirates, immediately responded with back-to-back 3-pointers, sparking a 20-5 run for the team that dug the Tigers into an 8-point hole they would never come out of.

Seton Hall entered the game as one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the country, making just 28.9% of its looks from outside. But Mizzou repeatedly failed to close out on open shooters throughout the evening, allowing its opponent to get into a rhythm offensively. Pirates senior guards Dylan Addae-Wusu and Al-Amir Dawes, neither of whom were shooting above 32% from outside on the year, combined to go 8-17 from distance.

Mizzou head coach Dennis Gates thought that his players struggled to come up with deflections as they usually do defensively, which allowed Seton Hall to make the extra pass and find the open man.

“It's impossible to win ballgames if your opponent's gonna shoot (58.9% from the field). They made shots, where they were consistently making five threes a game on average,” Gates said. “You know, their players made plays and they ended up with 10 threes on the game. And I thought some were just open looks and the basketball went in for them.

“Defense starts with communication … The other part of it is, when you see the scouting report and you notice certain guys not make 3s — I thought (Addae-Wusu) did a great job … So I just credit a good basketball team at the end of the day.”

Missouri closed out the first half strong, with a dunk from graduate senior center Connor Vanover cutting it to 42-38. But the black and gold came out of halftime flat-footed. After a layup with the team’s opening possession from senior forward Jesus Carralero Martin, who had a season-high eight points during the game, MU would surrender another trio of triples to give the Pirates a double-digit advantage. The lead extended to 19 at the 12:02 mark of the period and remained there with 5:53 still on the clock.

The Tigers had one last run in them, playing with an urgency and purpose they’d been missing for most of the outing. The team’s guards began getting penetration driving to the rim and its forwards stuffed Seton Hall inside on defense. Freshman forward Trent Pierce, who was subbed in for the first time at the very start of the run, played a big part in the turnaround, producing eight points, a rebound, a block and a steal. A trey from him on the right win narrowed the gap to 87-81 with 44 seconds to go.

But it was too little, too late for Mizzou. As the Tigers sent the Pirates to the free throw line to preserve time, Seton Hall sank five of its last six foul shots to stay in front, ending the game with a 93-87 victory.

It’s a loss that stings for a Missouri team that was making its first appearance in Kansas City since 2019 and playing in front of a Tiger-friendly crowd of 7,062. Gates thought his team’s loss to Kansas last weekend was a game they let slip away — the loss to the Pirates likely meets the same criteria. The head coach thinks every opponent they’ve lost to is capable of making the NCAA tournament. But Mizzou has more lessons to learn before turning those types of games into wins.

“I credit our guys as well for what they've done in the last four minutes of that game,” Gates said. “And if we can borrow that last four minutes up, it would be a completely different game. And I just thought our guys over-thought and tried to play perfect in that situation.

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Sunday’s game was a special occasion for Tamar Bates and sophomore forward Aidan Shaw, both of whom grew up in the Kansas City area. Shaw said he’d seen games at the T-Mobile Arena but hadn’t ever played at the venue before. Bates said the last time he played in the building, he was in the sixth grade competing in a scrimmage during the halftime of a game between Kansas State and North Carolina. His parents sent Gates a video of him scoring the first basket before Sunday's contest.

“It was just nice to actually be able to play here and just have a full-circle moment, I'm sure Aidan can say the same,” Bates said. “But it was huge. A lot of my family's here, people I went to high school with, so it was it was really nice to being able to come back home and play.”

The Indiana transfer rode the emotions of performing in front of familiar faces to churn out his best game of the season. After Missouri missed its first five shots of the afternoon, Bates got the team on the board by sinking his first look from deep. On the next trip down Bates drove inside for a layup.

The Tigers continued to lean on him throughout the first half. He’d hit another two triples during the period to go into halftime leading all players with 15 points.

Seton Hall keyed in on him a bit more in the second, pressuring him into a few turnovers. But Bates played a large role in Mizzou’s comeback attempt down the stretch, hitting a pair of free throws, a 3-pointer and a layup to keep the team in the game. The 6-foot-3 guard finished the evening tying his career high with 22 points to go along with two rebounds and an assist.

It was the type of performance the Tigers will continue needing from Bates with graduate senior guard Caleb Grill sidelined for the next few weeks with a wrist injury. Bates is hopeful his play can lead to more wins for his team.

“The team just needed more from me, whether that was defensively or offensively,” Bates said. “And I just let the game come to me. I didn't force too much. I had a few moments where I did, which caused some turnovers, but for the most part, I just got a lot of my baskets within the offense. But I just translate that by staying patient and staying aggressive and just playing off of instincts. There's not really too much to it. But you know, we just gotta translate that to wins and just be able to, like I said, respond when we get punched in the face. So the stats is cool and all but you know, the bigger picture is about getting W's.”

Missouri (7-4) will go up against its last high-major team in non-conference play on Friday, Dec. 22, taking on No. 16 Illinois (8-2) in the Braggin’ Rights game at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis at 8 p.m., the game airing on FS1.

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