Offense deserts Tigers in College Station, Mizzou drops another

COLLEGE STATION, TX--If it's not one thing, it's another.

For much of the season, Missouri's biggest problem has been defense. In losing eight of nine games entering Tuesday night, the Tigers had given up 90 points four times. Opponents have often scorched the nets from three-point range. Mizzou lost a game in which it scored 87 points and another in which it never trailed in the second half.

Five times this season, the Tigers have held the opposition below 70 points. They have won all of those games. Until Tuesday.

Texas A&M beat Missouri 63-57 in College Station despite shooting just 28.8% from the floor and making six-of-27 three-point shots.

"Defensively we were able to execute some things hold that team to probably as low as they'll get," head coach Dennis Gates said. "Our guys executed, man, and I'm proud of them."

But it wasn't enough. Again.

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Missouri got off to a hot start in College Station. Sean East and Tamar Bates combined to make six of Mizzou's first nine shots to stake the Tigers to a 13-4 lead less than six minutes into the game. Mizzou would score just two points in the next 12:55 and found themselves down a dozen after a 21-2 Aggie run. No Tiger other than Bates and East scored until Noah Carter made a layup with 2:17 left in the first half.

"Basketball's a game of runs," East said. "We can't control if the ball's going in and out or not, but we can control our defense."

And, yet, the Tigers clawed their way back. After trailing by 12, Missouri used an 8-0 run and was down just five at halftime.

"We held a team to six total field goals in the first half," Gates said. "That's a tremendous, tremendous thing and we weren't able to come into halftime with a lead which I thought the game we should have been up 10-15 points."

The second half was a constant uphill battle. Mizzou would close within a point then fall down by six. The Tigers took a one-point lead. Then gave up seven straight.

Early in the second half, Anthony Robinson missed a wide open three and a layup, both of which would have put Mizzou on top. Down 50-47, Nick Honor missed a three-pointer from the left wing that would have tied it with 5:22 to go. A&M converted the long rebound into an alley oop.

"I do think we were anxious, as we got stops, we wasn't able to execute. And I thought our guys in some cases settled," Gates said. "We shot 29 threes out of 54 shots and that's probably off balance number when you look at the course of the game and what it kind of gave us."

Still not down and out, the Tigers were three down again when Jordan Butler missed a corner triple for a tie with 2:42 to go. That was Mizzou's last salvo. A&M closed it out with a second-chance layup and five free throws for the final margin.

Oh, yeah, the free throws. There were 37 of them for Texas A&M. Twenty came in the first half. Five different Tigers finished with four fouls. Noah Carter had three in his first three minutes on the floor. Bates picked up his fourth with 16:23 to play. While the Aggies made just 15 field goals all game, they outscored Mizzou 27-7 from the line; a 20-point edge in a game decided by just six.

"I thought our guys did a good job playing without fouls," Gates said. "But we ended up with five guys with four fouls and I got to watch the film to see what we could do better."

The result was Missouri's ninth loss in ten games, including six in a row to start conference play. It's the longest losing streak to start a season since Missouri dropped the first nine in 2016-17. Those Tigers finished the conference slate 2-16 in Kim Anderson's final season.

"We're in you know, the infant stages of growth and we got to continue to fight and our guys are giving their very best. And I'm proud of them being able to do that," Gates said. "We just have to keep moving forward and as a leader, I'm not going to stop coaching. I'm going to continue to be right there with the guys, continue to coach."

Missouri fans have been asking for the freshmen. to play more minutes for a few weeks now. Jordan Butler got his chance on Tuesday night. The 7-foot freshman got the first start of his career and logged 24 minutes. He scored three points and had five rebounds, but did not commit a turnover in the loss to the Aggies.

"Jordan did a great job last game and wanted to reward him for that," Gates said. "I wanted to challenge our guys. You know, specifically Noah Carter. In that situation. We had zero rebounds last game with 20 plus minutes of play. And I wanted to reward Jordan for what he's done and what he's been able to accomplish those years as well.

"I think I have (earned some trust)," Butler said. "You know, just get in the gym every day, working harder. Just getting better."

The solace for Mizzou fans in this lost season is a top-five national recruiting class that's headed to Columbia next season. All five of Missouri's November signees are nominated for the McDonald's all-American game and ranked in the 2024 Rivals150. One of them was at Reed Arena on Tuesday.

Houston native Trent Burns made the 90-minute drive to College Station to watch his future team.

"I wanted to be here for my team," Burns said. "I'm going to be a part of it next year. I was too close not to come and support."

Burns, who said he's now up to 230 pounds, said he talks to the coaches on a regular basis about what he needs to improve upon before hitting campus next season. He and his classmates have designs on making sure the arrow is pointed up for Gates' program.

"Trying to come in and win as many games next year as possible," Burns said. "We're not doing so well this year, but we hope to be a lot better next year."

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