Through roughly the first 35 minutes of the team’s road game at Alabama, the Tigers were right where they needed to be.

The black and gold were shooting the ball with efficient percentages. They were on pace to hold the Crimson Tide to below their season average. Mizzou was within shouting distance of Alabama for the majority of the second half, only trailing 72-66 with five minutes remaining.

But Crimson Tide graduate senior big man Grant Nelson scored a layup on the next possession and sophomore guard Rylen Griffin followed with back-to-back contested 3-pointers to jump ahead by 13. Missouri never cut the deficit back to single digits again, falling 93-75.

“It was going back and forth. Obviously, it's a game of runs,” head coach Dennis Gates said. “In the second half we weren't able to get the lead. I thought we had multiple opportunities to do such but sometimes that's how the ball bounce. And obviously, you know, we kept them out of transition for the most part, but they made some tough half court shots with our guys right there in the (defensive) stance, in their face. And I credit our guys for playing so long. They did a great job in preparation, our staff did a great job in preparation, and ultimately, Alabama got the win.”

The Tigers made it clear from tip-off that they weren’t going to make it an easy night for the home team. MU hit all of its first five shots, all of them coming inside the arc, to take a 10-8 edge at the first under-16 media timeout. But the visitors then missed their next six shots, allowing Bama to go on an 8-0 run. Senior forward Jesus Carralero Martin drilled a 3-pointer to end the cold stretch, but Mizzou struggled to get its momentum back. With 4:15 remaining in the first half, the Crimson Tide (12-5, 4-0 SEC) had extended their lead to 33-22.

Missouri settled in on defense to close out the period, though. Alabama missed its last three shots of the half, only scoring off of three free throws, and committed a trio of turnovers that helped the Tigers close the gap. In the closing minute, junior guard Tamar Bates scored on a turnaround jumper from the left baseline, came up with a steal at midcourt, then pitched it ahead to graduate senior point guard to Nick Honor in the right corner. Honor drove in and connected on a mid-range pull-up before the buzzer sounded, keeping the black and gold in the game, 34-32.

Bates and Honor would go on to lead the team with 19 and 18 points, respectively.

“Tamar Bates has been shooting the ball at a high level throughout the season,” Gates said. “He's shooting 50% from 2, 50% from 3, 90% from the free throw line and his stats are showing. I think it's playing with poise. His teammates are finding him in the right spots. He's not forcing anything other than that last shot that he missed that I thought was an opportunity for him to get to that line … Nick Honor, obviously going 4-9 (from 3), I know he feels good to see that ball go in. Right, Nick?”

“Yes sir,” Honor said, sitting to Gates’ right in the postgame press conference.

“It feels good to see that ball in a little bit,” Gates continued. “I thought he had a level of focus to him. But you know, being a coach's son, I think Nick is more critical on himself. He's worried about those two free throws he missed and ultimately trying to come out with a win, which we did not. So Nick and Tamar played great, tremendous basketball.”

Despite staying within two scores for almost all of the second half, Mizzou never tied the game back up, unable to come up with enough stops that would’ve put them back in front. The hosts’ field goal percentage jumped from 44.7% in the first half to 60.7% in the second.

Honor thought the Crimson Tide’s efforts on the glass made a difference, too — Alabama scored 17 second-chance points off of 11 offensive boards.

“A couple of those rebounds bounced not in our direction, or we just weren't there,” Honor said. “They knocked down a multitude of 3s in the second half. I think with us, it's really just little stuff, just that little, small window. As you can see, we were right there with eight minutes left and they kind of busted the lead open. So I would say just second chance points and just the extra efforts (allowed the Tide to pull away).”

Mizzou is still without a win in SEC play. The program is now on its longest losing streak since Gates took over as head coach. The team is below .500 for the first time in nearly two years.

The Tigers haven’t given up on the season though. They know something has to change to turn things around. They’re not done trying to figure how they can come out on top.

“You know, it's a long season,” Honor said. I mean, the season doesn't end tomorrow, so we just gotta fix some things and keep out habits. We've got good habits but the results don't always show up right away. So we're just gonna keep chopping wood, carrying water and we'll be successful.”

Both teams came out with an edge Tuesday night, resulting in a chippier-than-usual contest.

Just before the under-8 media timeout in the first half, Mizzou freshman guard Anthony Robinson II and Alabama graduate senior guard Aaron Estrada got tangled up fighting for possession of the ball in front of the hosts’ bench. Freshman forward Aidan Shaw stepped up to Estrada to exchange words. Alabama head coach Nate Oats separated the two, pushing Shaw back and pointing for Missouri’s players to go back to their bench. Oats was not disciplined by officials.

In the second half, Nelson blocked a jump shot by Robinson, then taunted him after collecting the miss. Nelson was assessed a technical foul and graduate senior point guard Sean East II hit both of the resulting free throws, which put Missouri down just 48-47 less than 14 minutes left to play. Later in the second half, after East fouled Estrada driving to the basket, Estrada and graduate senior forward Noah Carter got into a heated exchange resulting in technicals on both players.

Gates didn’t think the added aggression played too big of a factor in the game, but did wish it had led to more free throws for his team. Mizzou ended the night going 15-20 at the line, but didn’t take a single foul shot in the first half.

“Both teams were just playing hard,” Gates said. “Ultimately, our guys played hard, they played hard. And that’s what the flow of the game presented. Ultimately during those situations you would want the ball to bounce in your favor, get more baskets or more free throws, but that wasn’t the case. We came away with zero free throws in the first half, but it was a chippy game. You said that right? Right? You said that, correct? But we shot zero free throws In the first half so I don’t know.”

Mizzou’s leading scorer was limited against Alabama. After an 11-game stretch in which East scored at least 16 points, the graduate senior only produced six against the Tide, shooting 2-8 from the field. SEC broadcaster Tom Hart said during the game that East was not at the Tigers’ shootaround the night before. Gates didn’t directly answer when asked if there was anything going on with East other than a bad shooting night.

“Sean went out there and played 30 minutes and competed to the best of his ability. Ultimately, he led us with four assists, two turnovers, two steals. He's a young man that's always gonna give his very best, no excuses. He was able to dress and put his shoes on and he tied them tight and his heart was involved in a game and that's the most important thing. So he played well. He would love to always play better but sometimes other guys do step up. Nick Honor stepped up, Jesus stepped up, Tamar Bates stepped up. And Sean was just as loud cheering for those guys as anyone would cheer for him.”

Before Tuesday’s game, Mizzou announced that graduate senior guard John Tonje would sit for the remainder of the year with an injury to his foot. The Colorado State transfer suffered the injury during the summer and struggled while recovering from it over the first few months of the season, appearing in just eight games while averaging 2.6 points, 0.9 rebounds and 0.4 assists.

Tonje will meet the criteria for a medical hardship waiver to return next season if he chooses to come back.

“John has been hampered by an offseason foot injury this entire year,” Gates said in a statement. “He was one of our best players during summer workouts before suffering the setback and, unfortunately, the injury has prevented him from being completely healthy and reaching the levels he is accustomed to. We look forward to him taking the proper amount of time to full recover and then showcasing his skills and complete potential again in the future.”

The Tigers (8-9, 0-4 SEC) return home to play Florida (11-6, 1-3) inside Mizzou Arena on Saturday at 7 p.m., the game airing on ESPNU.

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