December sure seems like a long time ago.
It was just 18 days ago that the Missouri basketball team beat Morehead State for its sixth straight win. The Tigers finished off a perfect 6-and-0 December and delusions of grandeur started dancing in our heads.
Sixteen days into January, we know they were just that: Delusions.
The Tigers lost their third straight game to start Southeastern Conference play on Wednesday night. This time it was a 70-60 setback to Alabama, which came in 10-and-5, fresh off back-to-back losses to LSU and Texas A&M.
Wednesday's game followed a very similar script to the one that unfolded Sunday at South Carolina. The Tigers hung around for a while, fell behind at halftime and watched the deficit grow for the first ten minutes of the second half. Then they battled back, this time closing to within four points after a 9-0 run, before ultimately coming up short and losing by double digits.
"We were right there, 50-56, 50-57, they got a couple key putbacks and it just kind of changed the game," head coach Cuonzo Martin said. "Our margin for error is so slim, so we have to be sound in a lot of areas. I think we'll get there. Some lessons are painful. You've got to learn them."
Martin didn't seem particularly angry or frustrated in the post-game press conference. Sure, it's possible he is and just doesn't show that face to the media. It's possible he got some of that out in the locker room. But, really, he just seemed like a coach who knows his team is very limited right now.
On nights when things go perfectly, Missouri can look pretty good and beat some teams.
"They play hard. Cuonzo does a great job with his team," Alabama head coach Avery Johnson said. "They're gonna win some games in the SEC. The SEC is tough every night. We're thankful we were able to come on the road and get a win."
Missouri will certainly find itself on the right side of things a few more times this season. But it takes Jeremiah Tilmon on the floor and engaged all night; Mizzou got that for about a half on Wednesday. It takes Jordan Geist leading the way and out-toughing everyone else. Geist was the focus of the Crimson Tide's defense on Wednesday. He didn't score his first point until more than two minutes were gone in the second half and ended up with nine on 4-for-11 shooting. It takes three-pointers going down at a much better than normal rate; Mizzou shot 35% against Alabama, decent, but not exceptional. It takes someone--anyone--other than Tilmon being able to give Missouri something inside; Kevin Puryear, K.J. Santos, Reed Nikko and Mitchell Smith combined for nine points and nine rebounds in 42 minutes.
When all those things go Missouri's way, the Tigers are going to be dangerous. When they don't? They're going to slog through a long conference season that may struggle to reach .500 overall and NIT eligibility.
Realistically, we should have seen this coming. Most did after Jontay Porter went down with an injury before the season started. But then Missouri beat UCF and it beat Xavier and it trounced Illinois and we let the Tigers fool us. We dared to dream a little bit about what could happen if they got off to a hot start in league play.
They haven't. They're one of two winless teams in the SEC. They've lost what two weeks ago looked like a winnable road game and now dropped one at home to a team that many thought would be right in their neighborhood in the SEC standings. Next up is a trip to Texas A&M, which never led while losing to Auburn by 19 on Wednesday night. It's another winnable game, but at some point winnable games need to become wins. If it doesn't happen Saturday in College Station, an 0-and-7 start to league play is a very real possibility.
"You have to fight one game at a time," Martin said. "When you're fighting to get a win and you're so focused on getting a win, then you play tight instead of just playing care-free and winning the basketball game. Again, I just think it's going through it."
Missouri is two years removed from a nightmare that lasted three seasons and realistically in year one of the rebuilding process. Tilmon and Mark Smith are going to be upperclassmen with 70 games under their belts next season. A freshman class led by Pickett (a team-high 13 points in 37 minutes on Wednesday) will have been through a full year of college basketball. There are some signs that the future should be considerably brighter than the present. Until then, Missouri just goes back to work and hopes it pays off at some point this season.
"We go watch film, go to practice, talk as a team, see what we've got to do," Pickett said. "Just go in there our next game with a positive attitude. We can't think about losing streaks. We had our winning streak. We're going to go through this as a team. We're gonna get over this as a team. We'll be all right."
Maybe not as soon as fans hope. Rebuilding isn't much fun. But Missouri's on the ground floor right now with a long climb ahead.
