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Not much worked well for the Missouri Tigers as they concluded the regular season on Saturday.

For the majority of the game, the offense looked worse than it had in weeks, the interior defense played better, but the 3-point defense suffered and the Tigers never had an answer to stop the Kentucky Wildcats as they claimed a 91-83 win against the Tigers at Mizzou Arena. It was just the second time Missouri has lost at home this year.

“Instead of being sort of targeting guys, we’ve been the target,” Missouri coach Dennis Gates said. “Hell, I never thought we’d get the floor rushed on us, we got rushed by Vanderbilt. You know, that’s a change in the guard a little bit and that shift emotionally and mentally inside of the season is a lot different than other teams have had to do.”

The Tigers entered the matchup desperate to play better interior defense after allowing 38 or more points in the paint in each of the past six games. And they did play better in that area, allowing Kentucky to score just 26 points in the paint, the least the Tigers have given up since routing Oklahoma on Feb. 12.

But as the Tiger defense collapsed toward the interior, Kentucky was able to knock down 3-pointer after 3-pointer, shooting 11-of-20 from 3. That was the most 3s Missouri allowed in a game since beating Alabama (13-of-31 from 3) on Feb. 19.

“No mental, emotional fatigue or anything like that,” Gates said. “Our guys have done a great job.”

And once again, the Tigers struggled with fouling, though not by quite as much.

Kentucky shot 33 attempts from the free-throw line and the Tigers moved to just 4-10 when their opponents have at least 22 attempts from the stripe.

Though more than half of those (18) came in the final four minutes as the Tigers attempted to slow down the game.

“We had great opportunities,” Gates said. “We cut the lead in that second half to about four or five, they cut it right back up to 10 with free throws.”

All those issues added up to the Tigers’ fourth loss in their final five games of the regular season, limping into the SEC Tournament at 21-10 overall and 10-8 in SEC play after the Tigers controlled their own destiny for the fourth seed and a double-bye in the conference tournament as of Feb. 20. Instead, the Tigers will be either the seventh or eighth seed, depending on tonight’s result between Florida and Ole Miss.

An Ole Miss loss puts the Tigers at No. 7 playing at 6 p.m. Thursday, an Ole Miss win sends them to No. 8 and a noon game Thursday.

The improved interior defense was on display early as the Tigers held Kentucky to just 2-of-11 shooting to start the game. But the Tiger offense was unable to take advantage, as Missouri led just 11-7 with 11 minutes left in the first half.

“The first 10 (minutes), I thought we played well enough,” Gates said. “... We weren’t shooting free throws, and i thought we got fouled in some situations. That should have led us to double-digit free-throw count. The ball is not going to always go in, but ultimately, I just thought our guys put themselves in a situation where the other team just executed more on the line.”

Kentucky came out of the under-12 minute timeout and hit a couple of 3-pointers to take the lead, then added another five points, helped by another 3 from Koby Brea who ended with 17 points, to take an 18-13 lead.

Missouri would not take the lead again.

The Tigers kept it close but Kentucky went on a 9-3 run to create a 33-23 advantage with 1:45 left before taking a 38-29 advantage into halftime.

The Wildcats extended to a 16-point lead with 14:11 left to play, and led by 16 again with 11:41 left before the Tigers began to come back with the help of a fantastic performance from Marques Warrick.

Jacob Crews started a late Tiger run with a layup, then Caleb Grill hit a 3. Warrick used an Anthony Robinson assist off an offensive rebound for a 3 from the left wing, then Warrick took a Mark Mitchell assist for a 3 from the left corner to cut the lead to 66-57 with 8:28 left.

“I’ve just been staying ready for the opportunity whenever my name is called,” Warrick said.

Warrick went on to score 17 points in just 14 minutes, with all of his points coming in 11 second-half minutes, while Mitchell led the way the rest of the game with 22 points and seven rebounds. Other than that pair and 12 points from Jacob Crews who had all 12 come in 13 second-half minutes, the Tiger offense floundered.

Warrick cut the lead to 66-61 with 6:26 left when he turned a steal into a layup, but Kentucky called timeout and regrouped.

Missouri would not get closer than five points the rest of the way.

“There were open possessions, probably about eight of their points specifically never got defended because of our mistakes and turnovers that led to layups or dunks,” Gates said. “Those are self-inflicted wounds, obviously.”

Josh Gray re-entered the starting lineup, replacing Trent Pierce, and brought down a team-high eight rebounds. Robinson had five rebounds and three assists.

Missouri shot 29-of-66 (43.9 percent) from the field, 11-of-28 (39.3 percent) from 3 and 14-of-21 (66.7 percent) from the free-throw line.

Kentucky shot 27-of-56 (48.2 percent) overall, 11-of-20 (55 percent) from deep and 26-of-33 (78.8 percent) from the stripe.

The Wildcats won the rebounding comtest 37-36, but the Tigers had a 15-4 lead in second-chance points. Missouri scored 32 points in the paint, but Kentucky led 14-8 in fast-break points.

“If you look at the entire conference, you guys were shocked that we hadn’t had a three-game losing streak,” Gates said. “... When you look at the history of the NCAA Tournament, some winners have finished right where we are. Some have finished right where we are.”

After the game, the Tigers celebrated the senior class of Tamar Bates, Tony Perkins, Gray, Warrick, Jeremy Sanchez, Grill and Crews (who was honored though he has an extra year of eligibility.”

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