Missouri sports teams are going through a sullen teenager phase. Pleasant surprises aren’t their thing. I’ve stopped even hoping they’ll pick up their damp towels and put them in the hamper or move off the couch to let out the dog that is scratching at the door and clearly about to evacuate its bowels on the living room carpet.

You might have noticed this Mizzou malaise. What am I saying? Of course you noticed. It’s all you talk about.

Alternately clobbered and ignored by NCAA committees, flailing in football and nationally irrelevant in everything else, the Tigers have shrugged their way through a gloomy 2019. The autumn night of Missouri’s greatest joy came when it was announced that Kansas was willing to play future basketball games against the Tigers. When the tweeting of a press release is the highlight of a season, it’s been a rough one.

So it was with modest expectations that I tuned in on Tuesday night to the men’s basketball team’s game at 21st-ranked Xavier. I hadn’t considered the possibility the Tigers would score an upset over their nonconference-opponent-for-life. I don’t want to make too much of an overtime loss — they led by three with 30 seconds left in regulation and missed an opportunity at a résumé-building road win — but it was at least a spirited effort when all early signs pointed to disaster.

Jeremiah Tilmon took a seat after a few minutes and spent the rest of the first half on the bench coughing into a towel. Everyone else turned the ball over too much and shot dreadfully.

Still, Missouri trailed by just seven points at halftime. And after the break, the Tigers continued their slow-speed pursuit and eventually overtook the Musketeers.

I’m not saying it was fun to watch, but Jim Sterk didn’t sign up for beautiful basketball when he hired Cuonzo Martin. There doesn’t seem to be a dependable scorer, Tilmon remains an enigma and too often the Tigers squander so much shot clock they have to force desperation heaves to beat the buzzer. But this team defends with a notch more intensity than we saw in Martin’s first two seasons. I noticed that the first possession of the opener against Incarnate Word, and it has persisted. Defense is how it can stay in games against good teams, and, theoretically at least, win some of them.

In a gloomy 2019, even a loss can offer a glimmer of hope.