Mizzou rallies but comes up a few bounces short

When Mitchell Smith went to the free throw line needing to make two shots to tie Missouri with Texas A&M, free throws seemed like the one sure thing for the Tigers. Less than two minutes earlier, the public address announcer announced to Mizzou Arena that the Tigers had set an NCAA record by making 51 consecutive free throws across the past two games. That number stood at 53 when Smith strode to the line and the home crowd fell to a hush.

Smith made the first. The second rimmed out, snapping the streak of makes and keeping Texas A&M’s one-point lead intact with 28 seconds to play.

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While that might have been Missouri’s best opportunity to tie the game, it wouldn’t be the Tigers’ last. Ironically, a made free throw likely hurt the team’s chances of doing so. Dru Smith drew a foul with 2.1 seconds remaining and Missouri trailing by three points. After making the first free throw, he tried to miss the second and give his teammates the chance at a putback, but the ball bounced off the backboard and through the rim.

The two trips to the line summed up the night for the Tigers. Even in a furious rally that saw it close a nine-point deficit to one in the final two minutes, Missouri repeatedly came up a few inches short of pulling out a victory. In the words of shooting guard Mark Smith, “we just had some tough bounces today.” The 66-64 loss marked the Tigers’ third straight defeat and dropped them to 1-5 in SEC play.

To be clear, the loss can’t be chalked up solely to bad luck. Missouri entered Tuesday’s game as a 10-point favorite, yet its stagnant offense continually took and missed three pointers, even when it was clear the shots weren’t falling. The Tigers finished the game 9-35 from three-point range and 6-15 from inside the arc.

“Yeah the ball might not have been bouncing our way, but there are things we could have done earlier in the game to combat that,” said Dru Smith. “That’s not something that you can count on every game.”

It was in part by attacking the basket more that Missouri clawed its way back into the game even after some fans had exited the stands. Eight of the team’s 26 free throw attempts came in the final two minutes. But even after the Tigers cut a nine-point deficit with 1:40 to play to two points with 57 seconds left, they continually came up one play short of getting over the hump.

Missouri first looked like it might tie the game or take its first lead since the 14-minute mark of the second half when, with about 30 seconds remaining, Xavier Pinson intercepted an Andre Gordon pass. Pinson drove the length of the court and attempted a wild scooping layup around a defender. He missed, but Mitchell Smith grabbed the rebound and drew a foul from Josh Nebo on his putback attempt. The play not only sent Mitchell Smith to the line with a chance to tie the game but sent Nebo, who scored 14 points, to the bench with five fouls.

Even after Mitchell Smith missed the second free throw, Missouri’s hopes weren’t dashed. The Tigers quickly fouled Savion Flagg, who also tied for the Aggies’ team high with 14 points. Flagg air-balled the first free throw, prompting a roar from the home crowd. His second bounced off the back iron. Missouri advanced the ball to midcourt, then called timeout with 19 seconds remaining.

Dru Smith received the inbounds pass. The junior had a big game, stuffing the stat sheet with 18 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, but as he tried to create space from Quenton Jackson, he planted his left arm in Jackson’s chest. Jackson fell to the hardwood. Offensive foul. While Jackson may have embellished the contact a bit, both Dru Smith and coach Cuonzo Martin said the point guard shouldn’t have put himself in that position.

“You never want to give a ref the chance to make that call,” Martin said, “and he gave the ref the chance to make the call either way.”

Even still, with 10 seconds remaining, Missouri wasn’t out of opportunities. The Tigers initially appeared to receive a gift when Jackson mishandled an inbounds pass and sent the ball out of bounds, but Javon Pickett was whistled for a foul on the play. Jackson went to the line and made both free throws to extend Texas A&M’s lead to three.

Missouri would get three cracks at tying the game. On the first, Dru Smith dribbled to about the elbow, then turned and pitched the ball back to Mark Smith for an open three-pointer. It was a good look for the team’s best three point shooter, but the ball bounced in and out.

Dru Smith leapt for the miss and drew a foul on Jay Jay Chandler. Dru Smith sank the first free throw, but as mentioned above, even his attempted miss found the net. He finished the game 11-11 from the line.

“That’s just kind of how it goes sometimes,” Dru Smith said. “I was definitely trying to miss it.

Mark Smith managed to foul Emanuel Miller before any time elapsed, so Missouri still had 2.1 seconds after Miller made one of two from the line. Martin called timeout and drew up an inbounds play he’d been saving. Mark Smith, a former high school baseball player, threw the ball diagonally the length of the floor. His pass hit 6-foot-10 freshman Parker Braun perfectly in the hands, and in one motion, Braun leapt, caught the ball and dished it to Torrence Watson on the three-point line. As the buzzer sounded, Watson got a clean look from the left wing.

The ball clanged off the back iron.

“From my angle I really actually thought it was going in,” Mark Smith said. “... I thought we actually won the game.”

Ultimately, Martin and his players couldn’t take much solace from the Tigers’ late rally, or the NCAA record it set Tuesday. Missouri is hurtling toward another losing season in conference play, and it doesn’t figure to be favored in many more games — and likely never by double-digits. Martin hopes that a night on which any one of three or four plays might have reversed the outcome will at least show his team how slim the line between victory and defeat can be.

“At this level, the margin for error is so slim,” he said. “It’s pretty much gone at this point, because everybody’s so talented. … You have to be keen on your assignment, and one mistake can cost you.”