2/16/2021 basketball Edit

Post-Game Report: Another second half collapse sinks Mizzou at Georgia

Mitchell Forde • PowerMizzou

Staff

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Missouri came out of halftime strong and looked to take control at Georgia. The No. 20 Tigers scored the first nine points of the second half to take a 13-point lead, and they still led by 13 with 13:22 to play.

Then everything started to go wrong. In what has become a familiar sight for Missouri fans, the Tiger offense got stagnant and Georgia got hot from behind the three-point line. Minus Jeremiah Tilmon for the second game in a row, Missouri could never stop the bleeding. Georgia outscored Missouri 41-20 down the stretch to run away with an 80-70 win.

The third straight loss for the Tigers dropped them to 13-6 on the season and 6-6 in SEC play. Below is our recap of the game, including what we learned.

* The root cause of this particular second-half meltdown was Missouri's offense getting out of sync. The Tigers started slow at Georgia but found their stride for most of the first half and the start of the second, attacking the Bulldogs inside with forwards Kobe Brown and Parker Braun. The two sophomores combined to score nine of Missouri's points in an 11-0 run late in the first half.

But when Missouri's offense faltered, Georgia made its run. Missouri had one stretch of nearly three minutes without a point, then later went 4:33 without a field goal. Head coach Cuonzo Martin said a combination of live-ball turnovers and missed opportunities around the rim allowed the Bulldogs to get back into the game, then the Tigers panicked and took several quick, low-percentage three-pointers.

"I thought we had a couple key missed layups around the rim, and then those live ball turnovers led to maybe, I think they had like four threes at one point," Martin said. "That’s a 12-point turnaround."

Missouri, which committed just two turnovers during the first half, gave the ball away 11 times in the second. Eight of those came during the final 13:22 of game action. During that same span, the Tigers made just eight shots. They shot 2-9 from three-point range during Georgia's closing run. It's not like that marked a particularly cold stretch, either, as Missouri shot 6-26 from behind the arc for the game.

"That’s one of those things that we talk about, you have to understand how you got the lead and maintain that," Martin said. "I mean, just because there’s a lead and this shot seems to be easy or looks good, it’s not the best shot if that’s not who you are all the time. And I think that’s the biggest key, just finish what we do to tried to do to get us to that point, and let’s finish the game that way."

* Missouri's defense is not without blame, of course. The Tigers have now allowed an opponent to score at least 80 points in five of the past seven games after going 19 consecutive contests without giving up that number. Georgia scored 41 points in the final 13:14 on Tuesday.

Missouri's issue early was staying in front of the Bulldog guards, but the Tigers actually appeared to get that corrected. Georgia scored 23 points in the first 9:06 of the game, then just 10 in the following 11:54. Tom Crean's squad got untracked with a flurry of three-point makes. Georgia, which entered the game shooting 31.4 percent from behind the arc this season, worse than Missouri, made its first four threes of the second half and five of six in the final 20 minutes.

While the hot shooting played a role in Georgia erasing Missouri's lead, the Bulldogs pulled away down the stretch by beating the Tigers down the floor and getting to the free throw line. Missouri committed a whopping 17 fouls in the second half, allowing Georgia to shoot 21 free throws. On the game, the Bulldogs shot 21-26 from the line compared to 12-15 by Missouri. Georgia also scored 12 of its 16 points in the second half.

"We can’t just let them keep scoring on us and scoring on us," Braun said. "We gotta buckle down and really rely on our defense, because that’s what this program and organization kind of takes pride in.”

* For Missouri fans, the most concerning aspect of this performance is not that the Tigers lost, but that this team appears to be making a habit of crumbling down the stretch. Tuesday marked the fourth time since conference play began that Missouri has allowed an opponent to make a huge second-half run. Previously, the Tigers saw a 14-point lead turn into a 15-point loss at Mississippi State; they gave up a 21-2 run to Alabama and had to hold on to win by three points after leading by 22 in the second half; they got outscored 38-22 in the second half by Ole Miss on Wednesday.

Martin didn't want to compare this game to past meltdowns, saying "different things happen in different games." However, he did note that this was different than Wednesday's loss at Ole Miss, when he wasn't shy about questioning his players' effort after the game. Martin felt his team played with energy throughout the game at Georgia, but it was a lack of execution, particularly on the offensive end, that sunk the Tigers.

"I didn’t think the effort fell off," Martin said. "I just thought a quick shot here, a live-ball turnover, missed layups for us around the rim, a couple of those for us, it’s like, the momentum shifts. They make a play here, and all of a sudden they hit two or three threes in a row, that changed the game."

Martin noted that, while Missouri's players are experienced, few have played in meaningful late-season games, especially as a ranked team, which increases the likelihood that an opponent is going to play hard. He insisted he's not worried about his team's ability to snap out of its current funk. But he did point out one thing the Tigers have lacked that might have helped avoid some of the team's problematic second halves: a vocal leader who can take charge and snap the team out of its funk.

"It’s like, somebody has to take the bull by the horns, so to speak, and say, 'okay, here we go, we have to get a stop here, let’s execute it,'" Martin said. "And it can’t always come from the sideline, and I think that is the biggest key in going through those situations, understanding what it takes to win, having the grit to win, the grit to get the stop, because we have all that. But it can’t be waiting on somebody else to do it for you. Somebody has to take the torch.”

* The one bright spot for Missouri was the play of its young interior players. With Tilmon out of the lineup, Georgia's defense clearly prioritized trapping Xavier Pinson and Dru Smith on the perimeter, forcing someone else to score the points for Missouri. Brown and Braun rose to the challenge.

Brown scored a career-high 21 points while also grabbing five rebounds and recording two blocks. Brown missed most of the second half against Arkansas on Saturday due to cramps, but against Georgia, he took it upon himself to make up for the absence of Tilmon. Martin said the coaching staff has been asking Brown to play with a similarly aggressive mindset more often, even when Tilmon is present.

“I thought he was aggressive, thought he was in attack mode," Martin said. "And he started cramping up a little bit, but it wasn’t bad. But I thought he was a threat in and around the rim and even facing up, making plays. We felt like we had an advantage with him, and again, I felt like the key with him was just being aggressive mentally, the mindset to look to score."

Braun only attempted three shots, but he was a consistent playmaker on the offensive end during his 21 minutes. He finished with seven points and three assists, and also had three blocks on the other end. Braun has now played more than 20 minutes in two straight games after having just one such previous game in his college career. Brown applauded his teammates' ability to stay focused and prepared for the opportunity.

"Not being able to play as much up until the last few games, it shows he’s been locked in in practice, locked in, just paying attention even though he’s not playing," Brown said, "and his number was called and he’s been ready for it.”

* As good as the two sophomore forwards were, Missouri's two primary scoring threats with Tilmon absent — Pinson and Dru Smith — could never get going. Smith saw his streak of 10 straight games scoring at least 10 points come to an end, as he finished with nine points on 4-10 shooting. He dished just two assists compared to four turnovers.

Pinson was worse. The junior did score 11 points, but he had to take 13 shots to get there. He made just one of his seven attempts from behind the three-point line. Pinson also had four turnovers, and when he was in the game, Missouri got outscored by 19 points. By contrast, when senior Drew Buggs was manning the point guard spot, the Tigers outscored Georgia by 10.

“I think just strong drives, stuff we talk about all the time," Martin said when asked if he'd like to see more from Pinson. "Strong defense, executing what we’re trying to do as a point guard, one of the experienced guys in our program. ... But it’s nothing different than I talk about all the time.”

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT: There was a lot to not like from Missouri's second half, but the biggest issue appears to be the team's tendency to panic on the offensive end when things start to go wrong. The Tigers had found a working offensive formula in getting the ball inside to Brown and Braun, but once Georgia erased their lead, they abandoned that game plan and the miscues started stacking up.

With about five minutes to play, the game was tied at 62. Buggs missed a pair of free throws, then Georgia's Toumani Camara scored and drew a foul on the other end. Here is how Missouri's next nine possessions unfolded: missed three-pointer, turnover, missed three-pointer, two made free throws by Pinson, turnover, turnover, missed three-pointer, turnover, turnover. During that span, Georgia outscored Missouri 16-2 and effectively put the game out of reach.

"I just thought we had great energy, great game plan and everything we were trying to do and just we couldn’t maintain, for whatever reason, and just really execute what we try to do offensively," Martin said.

STAR OF THE GAME: Despite the loss, Brown played the best game of his young career, taking advantage of a favorable matchup on the offensive end and swatting a couple shots on defense, as well.

WHAT IT MEANS: This is Missouri's worst loss of the season by NET ranking, and a very strong season appears to be in legitimate danger of going off the rails after a third straight loss. Pretty much all the regular-season goals for this team that were being discussed a week ago are now off the table. Missouri is currently in seventh-place in the SEC standings after being alone in second a week ago. It is now probably more likely to be the lower-seeded team in a first-round NCAA Tournament matchup than a top four seed. And while it would take a fairly epic collapse, it's not out of the question that the Tigers could miss out on the Big Dance altogether if the losing streak continues too long.

QUOTABLE: “Just having that grit in situations where teams make a run. I think at Ole Miss we didn’t have the grit. I think in this game, quick shot here and there, a couple easy misses around the rim kind of take the momentum out of you. Then they get their heads up, live-ball turnovers, and they made plays there. But I thought we had what we needed to win the game.” -- Cuonzo Martin