Each of the past five times the Missouri Tigers and the Texas A&M Aggies have played, Wade Taylor IV has been a thorn in the side of the Tigers.
He posted 14 points, four assists and three rebounds in the teams’ first matchup in 2022-23, then 21 points, six assists and four rebounds the second time.
He added 19 points and six rebounds in the pair’s first game last season and 18 points, five rebounds and four steals in the second.
In the lone matchup between the Tigers and Aggies this year, it seemed like Missouri had finally figured him out.
He was shooting under 33 percent and was just 2-of-8 from deep without a rebound or an assist.
The Tigers finally had him.
Then the ball went to him in a tie game with the clock ticking down and Taylor heaved a 3-pointer from the right wing to end Missouri’s home winning streak at 15 games as the No. 10 Aggies handed the No. 15 Tigers a 67-64 loss at Mizzou Arena on Saturday.
“I talked to one of the players on my team, Jaelyn Lee, before, after we came out of the huddle,” Taylor said. “We was like, ‘Man, next one is going in.’ Because I missed the two previous ones.”
Texas A&M claimed its fifth consecutive win in the series as Missouri coach Dennis Gates has yet to beat the Aggies since taking over in Columbia.
“The preseason conference player of the year made a tough shot,” Gates said. “... He was able to make the play.”
But after a poor first half where the Tigers looked like they were being manhandled in each facet, it seemed like that streak might finally come to an end.
After the Aggies took a 38-29 lead into halftime, they extended to a 40-29 advantage with an easy layup as part of a 38-point day in the paint for Texas A&M.
But Mark Mitchell responded with a layup, then blocked a shot and grabbed the rebound himself, leading to two free throws for Tony Perkins.
Perkins then turned a steal into a transition dunk to cut the lead to 40-35 as the Mizzou Arena crowd was re-energized after a lackluster first 20 minutes.
Mitchell hit another layup to cut the lead to 44-41 with 15:56 left, but A&M quickly extended back to an eight-point lead after a Taylor 3.
Then the Tigers subbed in Marcus Allen.
Allen grabbed a defensive rebound and fired it down the court to Marques Warrick who fed Caleb Grill an alley-oop for a fastbreak dunk, cutting the lead to 49-45.
Then Tamar Bates hit two free throws to bring the Tigers within two before turning a steal into a layup to tie the game at 49, the first tie since a 20-20 stretch before an 8-0 Texas A&M run.
Allen then grabbed a defensive rebound and eventually used a Bates pass for a baseline drive and layup to give the Tigers their first lead of the day at 51-49 with 8:55 left to play.
“The ironic thing about this conference, you can play well and still lose a game,” Gates said. “That’s how good this conference is. We lost our last two games by a total of seven points to two top-10 teams. One on the last second 3. How much better do you want our guys to play? I want them to continue to build on and continue to get better and not focus on the past, but learn the lessons and move forward.”
Warrick added two free throws, then a Bates 3 gave the Tigers their biggest lead of the afternoon at 56-51 with 7:18 left.
The Tigers were dominating the glass in the second half, led by six rebounds in just 13 minutes played from Allen, as they came back from a 19-12 halftime deficit on overall rebounds and 7-5 on offensive boards to take the rebounding lead in both categories late.
“They just whipped us,” Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams said. “I know it’s probably not coach speak enough, but I think … that was the difference in the game, statistically speaking. We did not reach our defensive rebound percentage average in conference play, nor our offensive rebound percentage average.”
But Texas A&M came right back with a layup from Zhuric Phelps and a 3 from Taylor as he tied the game with 6:29 left.
Missouri went back in front on a Warrick layup, with 5:49 left, then held the lead for almost three minutes, until a Taylor jumper put Texas A&M in front with 3:06 left.
Bates briefly got the Tigers the advantage again when Warrick poked away a steal and fed him an alley-oop as Bates extended his arm as far as it would go, looking reminiscent of Michael Jordan in Space Jam.
But Texas A&M tied the game with 42 seconds left and played fantastic defense on the Tigers’ final possession, forcing a crowded jumper from Bates that clanged off the rim to set up the final Taylor heartbreaker.
“Our spacing got a little congested and we had to throw up a tough, tough shot,” Gates said. “That’s on me.”
After subbing in the group of Warrick, Allen, Bates, Josh Gray and Grill with 12:19 left to play, Gates did not make a substitution for nearly the next 11 minutes as the next substitution wasn’t until the 1:43 mark.
“It caused a lot of stress for us,” Williams said. “Coach Gates will be (SEC) Coach of the Year two of his first three years in the SEC … I think he may be the most underrated head coach in the country. … It forced us to do some different things, which is obviously, I think, what he was probably anticipating.”
Texas A&M led Missouri just 34-32 in total rebounds and the teams tied at 11 on offensive boards, but the Aggies scored 18 points off those second chances, while the Tigers had just nine.
“We were even on offensive rebounds to one of the best rebounding teams in the country,” Gates said. “Where we weren’t even was with the points we gave on their second chances and the points we got on our second chances. … When you look at and try to figure out where did we lose the game, it’s small things and conversion of the second-chance points is one that stands out to me.”
Both teams shot 53 total attempts from the field and both teams made five 3-pointers (the Aggies were 5-of-19, while Missouri was 5-of-21), but the Aggies got to the line three more times, though made fewer attempts.
“I thought the important thing was that we took the last shot,” Williams said. “Considering all that had transpired, particularly in the second half, we wanted to make sure that it was the last shot.”
Texas A&M jumped out to a 12-0 lead to start the game as the Tigers missed their first six shots.
But Crews posted one of his best games of the year, hitting three consecutive 3s to go on a 9-0 run on his own to help the Tigers fight back to tie the game at 20.
“I felt my touch today, just played free, made some plays,” Crews said. “Felt good, got a groove, kept it going.”
Bates led the Tigers with 16 points, while Crews was next at 14 on 5-of-7 shooting overall and 3-of-4 shooting from deep. Mitchell added 12 points and three rebounds from the Tigers.
After dropping two games against top-10 teams by a combined seven points, Missouri has lost two consecutive games for the first time this season.
The Tigers (17-6, 6-4) will try to break that streak when they host Oklahoma at 8 p.m. Wednesday.
Hear directly from Dennis Gates, Tamar Bates and Jacob Crews
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