Had each half of Missouri's Tuesday night matchup at Vanderbilt ended at the final media timeout, the Tigers would have left Nashville with a second consecutive road win.
Of course, that's not how college basketball works. Instead, Missouri's offense ground to a halt at the end of both the first and second halves and Vanderbilt pulled away late, handing the Tigers yet another close loss, 70-62.
With 4:21 left in the first half, Missouri led Vanderbilt 22-18. Yet the Tigers failed to score for the remainder of the period, allowing the Commodores to take a five-point lead into the locker room. Once again in the second half, Missouri outscored Vanderbilt 36-30 in the first 15:07. With just under five minutes to play, a miraculous Kaleb Brown three from roughly 30 feet at the end of the shot clock swished through the net, giving Missouri a one-point lead.
But then the Tiger offense went cold again. The team wouldn't make a field goal and would score just one point across the next 4:41. During that stretch, Vanderbilt put together a 9-0 run to effectively ice the game.
There were a couple common denominators between the ends of the two halves. Missouri leading scorer Kobe Brown wasn't on the floor. Brown sat the final 7:42 of the first half with two fouls and then played just 37 seconds of the game's final 3:16 before fouling out. And a Tiger offense that struggled mightily to shoot from the perimeter settled for too many jumpers.
Ultimately, three days after Missouri found a way to make winning plays in a four-point victory at Texas A&M, head coach Cuonzo Martin said it was Vanderbilt that mustered those plays Tuesday.
"They just made enough plays down the stretch. I don’t think they did anything better, they just scored more points.”
Here are five things we learned from the loss.
1. Martin was most upset after the game with his team's shot selection. Missouri entered Tuesday's matchup last in the SEC (and last among all high-major teams) in three-point shooting. Vanderbilt, meanwhile, entered third-best in the conference in three-point defense. Thus, Javon Pickett said, the coaching staff put an emphasis on not settling for long-range jumpers.
Missouri did the opposite. The Tigers attempted 25 three-pointers, their most in a game since the league-opener at Kentucky. They made just five. Missouri started the game missing each of its first 15 triples.
Not all of the three-point attempts were contested looks. But Martin was upset because he felt like his players were settling for shots from the perimeter instead of setting an aggressive tone by driving to the basket.
"I thought we settled for threes," he said. "And I’m not saying every one of them was bad. It was comfortable. It was comfort instead of making the next play, making the next move."
When Missouri did get the ball around the basket, it was generally effective. Thirty-eight of the team's 62 points came in the paint. Martin noted driving and looking for opportunities in transition sparked the Tigers' comeback in the second half. Across about seven minutes, Missouri made 10 of 12 shots, including eight in a row. That included three of the team's five made threes on the night.
That needs to be the norm rather than the blip it was against Vanderbilt, he said.
"I think we got back to playing as one," Martin said of the brief hot stretch. "Just moving the ball, sharing the ball, reading the defense and making plays. And we have to understand who we are. We’re a team that shares the ball, we play well together, we have a passion for each other. And there’s accountability in doing the right things. But I think if we come out and take a quick, off-balance shot, then those sorts of things, we’re not as good."
2. A symptom of the Tigers settling for jump shots was a sizable free throw disparity in favor of Vanderbilt. The Commodores attempted 35 free throws to 12 for Mizzou. They out-scored the Tigers 24-7 at the line. Missouri got whistled for nearly twice as many fouls, 27 to 14.
Martin didn't blame that gulf on the officials, but on his team failing to force a whistle by attacking the basket.
"They shot 35 free throws, we shot 12, and I don’t necessarily think the game was poorly officiated," Martin said. "I don’t think that was the case at all. ... I thought we, especially in the first half, I thought we settled."
Winding up on the wrong side of the free throw margin has become a trend for Missouri, regardless of whether it's playing at home or on the road. The Tigers have now attempted fewer free throws than their opponent in seven of 10 SEC contests. In all, Missouri's league opponents have attempted 84 more free throws — an average of 8.4 per game.
Asked Tuesday night whether he attributes that more to Missouri's offense or its defense, Martin picked the former. That's backed up by the numbers, as the Tigers rank last in the SEC in free throw attempts but entered Tuesday ranking seventh in free throw attempts allowed.
"I don’t think we defend and foul a lot," Martin said. "Maybe (DaJuan Gordon) and Kobe some, getting his hands in there, but other than that, I think we try to do a good job of defending without fouling."
3. That said, foul trouble hampered Missouri Tuesday by taking its two most effective scorers out of the game.
Brown played just 27 minutes due to foul trouble. He had done a better job of late at avoiding whistles, having played 32 minutes or more in six consecutive games entering this one, but Vanderbilt's long frontcourt gave him fits. Jordan Wright and Quentin Millora-Brown both logged double-doubles with 11 points and 11 rebounds apiece.
As a result of the foul trouble, Brown scored just seven points. Missouri is now 0-10 this season when he fails to reach double figures. His absence had a notable impact on the Missouri offense, as he was one of two Tiger players to finish with a positive plus/minus at plus-6.
Pickett, Missouri's leading scorer in the game, also fouled out with a little more than minute left in the game.
4. Missouri shut down Scottie Pippen Jr. in the first half but couldn't keep him down all game.
Pippen, who entered Tuesday tied for the SEC lead in scoring at 18.7 points per game, mustered just four points on 1-5 shooting in the first half. But after the break, he resumed his normal offensive ways, scoring 15 second-half points.
Pippen scored in a variety of ways. He got to the free throw line nine times, making five. He scored both around the rim and from the mid-range. And he knocked down two three-pointers, including a nasty step-back over Pickett shortly after Missouri had reclaimed the lead in the second half.
"Any time you have a guy like that on your team, that’s in any conference, you have a chance to win games," Martin said of Pippen. "He knows how to score, he knows how to get to the rim, he can make shots, he can make pull-ups, he knows how to get fouled. He’s a very mature basketball player. You can tell he’s a student of the game. He’s crafty with the ball. So he always has you off balance, and I think there’s a tremendous amount of discipline it takes to defend a guy like that."
5. We might have seen a changing of the (point) guard for Missouri. Boogie Coleman started at the point, as usual, and played the majority of the first half. But after the break, he played just three minutes, with Kaleb Brown taking over and playing 15.
The younger Brown played 25 minutes in all, marking the second game in a row he has exceeded 20 minutes after he never hit that mark during the first 21 of this season.
Kaleb Brown's seven points also marked a career high. He entered the game having made just one of seven three-point attempts on the season but knocked down two triples Tuesday. He also logged three rebounds and three assists. Like his brother, he finished with a positive plus/minus, leading the team at plus-seven.
Martin was very complimentary of Kaleb Brown after the game, calling him "tremendous." His postgame comments also suggested he wasn't particularly pleased with Coleman, as he said players "have to execute what we're trying to do" and "a lack of minutes will dictate that."
"Thought he played very well on both sides of the basketball," Martin said. "He’s really worked on that three-point shot. Happy to see it go for him."
Star of the Game: Pickett provided a spark in his return from injury. He led Missouri with with 15 points, making this the seventh straight game in which he has been healthy that he has reached double figures. Pickett was the one Tiger player who typically looked to get the ball to the rack, whether it was in transition or a half-court set.
Room for Improvement: Three-point shooting would be the obvious choice, but another area where Missouri struggled Tuesday was on the boards. Vanderbilt won the rebounding battle 38-31 and outscored Missouri 17-12 in second-chance points. Four of the Commodores' nine points in its decisive late-game run came after offensive rebounds.
What it means: Not much. Missouri was an eight-point underdog and lost by eight, so it's hard to draw any real conclusions from this game. The only real takeaway is that with each passing loss to a team in the bottom half of the SEC standings, Martin and his team miss an opportunity to add to their win total and enhance his case to remain on the sideline next season.
Next up: Following two straight games on the road, Missouri will return home to face Mississippi on Saturday. The Tigers knocked off the Rebels in Oxford on Jan. 18. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
Quotable: “I just thought there was comfort in settling for shots that was easy. You’ve got to drive that ball and make plays. And the one thing I always say, they come to see Mizzou play. They come to see a team play. You gotta share the ball, you gotta move the ball, you gotta play as one. When we play as one, we’re pretty good. And I thought in the second half we were more of that.” -- Cuonzo Martin
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