Mizzou eliminated from SEC tournament by Alabama, 72-61

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Mohamed Diarra wasn’t happy with himself as he came out of the game. It was early on Saturday afternoon inside Bridgestone Arena, but it was getting late in France, where the Montreuil native’s family was watching him play.

The junior forward wanted to be perfect as No. 4 seed Missouri took on No. 1 seed Alabama in the semifinals of the SEC tournament. He wasn’t. With just over 13 minutes left in the second half, Diarra caught the ball in the paint, drove into the chest of Crimson Tide sophomore big man Charles Bediako and tried to get off a hook shot over him. Bediako denied the shot and Diarra dove to the floor to attempt to recover the miss. The ball went out of bounds off his hand instead.

No one else on the team was perfect, either. Though the Tigers led by as much as four early in the second half, Alabama pulled away to take a 72-61 victory, advancing to the conference championship game and eliminating Missouri.

Diarra was subbed out after the play, MU head coach Dennis Gates sending in senior forward Kobe Brown to take his place on the floor. Gates told Diarra “good job” as he walked to the sideline. Diarra looked disappointed and tried to immediately find a seat on the bench. Gates wouldn’t let him, grabbing his arm. Diarra tried to drop his head as his Gates spoke to him. Gates wouldn’t let him, physically holding Diarra’s face in his hands.

“I made him smile. I wanted him to relax a little bit,” Gates said. “Sometimes when you have young people wanting to be perfect, they miss out on the opportunities. I don't want him to ever measure himself based off of how many 'points I have.’ I want him to measure himself off the whole game, how he's impacting defensively, how he's impacting by making the extra pass, how he's impacting rebounding, how he's impacting even the personality of our team. So you just gotta manage young people who want to be perfect, especially on this stage.

“He just wants to play well and represent his family, represent our institution and his teammates well. He doesn't want to let anyone down.”

That was the feeling from most of the Tigers after the loss. They treated its semifinal game like they were playing in the NCAA Final Four. The team had already gone deeper into the SEC tourney than any other that came before them. But this year’s squad wanted to go even further.

Mizzou looked significantly better than it did the first time it went up against the Crimson Tide on Jan. 21, when it lost at home, 85-64. It still wasn’t enough to pull off an upset over a team that Gates considers to be No. 1 in the nation, let alone the conference.

“The environment, the atmosphere, the intensity of the game, both physical teams, shot-making teams — it was tough,” senior guard DeAndre Gholston said. “It was a long, physical game. And we felt we played a great game, you know, just didn't come up with a win. You know, we have the opportunity to play next week. We'll just take this as a learning experience, watch film and get better.”

The last point is the one Gates wants the Tigers to focus on now. He doesn’t want his players to measure themselves by one loss. He wants them to measure themselves off of the whole year. They were voted 11th in the SEC preseason poll — their season was supposed to be over by now. Instead, Missouri is now a shoo-in to hear its name called on Selection Sunday.

The conference tournament proved Mizzou can compete with anyone in the country. Saturday’s loss may sting for now but Gates won’t let his players drop their heads. They haven't let anyone down.

He needs them to relax a bit. There are more opportunities ahead.

“It's always lessons,” Gates said. “The best part about conference tournaments, no matter what schedule you have … the atmosphere gives you (an NCAA) tournament feel. And there's no better way (to prepare) than to play an NCAA No. 1 seed the week before the tournament. And, you know, we provide ourselves with the lessons that we have to come away with to get better.”

The Crimson Tide didn’t match up with Kobe Brown in their first game against the Tigers as the team captain was sidelined with an ankle injury. But in Saturday’s SEC tournament game, Brown was the center of Alabama's attention on defense.

The All-SEC First Team selection was held to six points on 3-9 shooting.

“I think he's a great player,” Crimson Tide freshman forward Noah Clowney said. “As far as defending him, I think it was a five-man deal. A lot of the things we do incorporate other people on the floor just to defend one player at times. We, as a team, did a great job on him.”

Mizzou as a whole didn’t shoot well on the day, connecting on 33.8% of its field goals and 28.0% of its 3-pointers. Alabama head coach Nate Oats said he thought his team did a good job of changing the Tigers’ shot geography, running them off the arc, denying good looks around the rim and forcing Missouri to settle for mid-rangers.

The defenders assigned to guard Brown were all 6-foot-8 or taller. Oats would send double or triple teams anytime Brown got the ball in the post. It made life difficult for the Huntsville, Ala. native the entire afternoon.

Gates also thought the physicality of the game limited Brown’s ability to get to the free throw line. There were only 26 fouls called throughout the contest, 13 on each team. Gates thought there could’ve been more whistles but didn’t think either side was at a disadvantage. But Brown leads the team in free throw attempts and didn’t take a single foul shot on Saturday. Gates thought it impacted his performance.

“He's a very tough, tough guard, a guy that can get multiple opportunities, whether it's behind the arc, in the paint, as well as the free-throw line,” Gates said. “He wasn't able to do that tonight.”

With Brown held in check, Mizzou needed others to step up to carry the scoring load. DeAndre Gholston and fellow senior guard D’Moi Hodge did their best.

Hodge, the Tigers’ leader in the 3-pointers this season, took just one trey in the first half, but it came at the perfect time. With 4.7 seconds left in the period and two seconds left on the shot clock, Missouri had to inbound the ball from the left sideline. Senior point guard Sean East II threw a football pass with his left hand to the opposite corner as Hodge came around a screen to corral it.

The Cleveland State transfer caught the pass with his back to the basket and Alabama senior guard Dom Welch guarding him tight. Hodge looked down at the sideline to keep his feet inbounds, leaped to turn around and sent a fadeaway prayer to the rim. The ball fell through the hoop and beat the buzzer to cut the Tigers’ deficit down to 31-29 heading into halftime.

“The play was to shoot the ball in the corner,” Hodge said. “Sean, he told me he was going to try regardless. So I just locked in and got the shot up. My team had confidence in me to knock that shot down. I'm happy they had the confidence in me to knock that shot down.”

Hodge knocked down another two triples in the second half and finished the game with a team-high 21 points. Gholston chipped in another 17, with 11 of them coming in the second half. Gholston thought the team could’ve done a better job of finishing inside, though — the team made just nine of 24.

“You know, we kind of feel like we played a good game,” Gholston said. “Like I said, we got things we wanted, got open 3s, good layups. So we gotta just figure it out, just get back in the gym, get our confidence all the way together, back right.”

Mizzou will find out where it’s seeded in the NCAA tournament when the bracket is revealed during the Selection Sunday show, airing on CBS at 5 p.m. CT. The Tigers are currently the second-highest rated No. 7 seed in The Bracket Project’s matrix, which tracks over 100 different tournament forecasts.

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