Mizzou loses Border War, 80-60
Mizzou looked pretty good for the first 16 minutes, and the Tigers played tight for the final 13.
But those middle minutes, the ones Tiger coach Dennis Gates has harped on in the past, came back to bite Mizzou as the Tigers lost to Kansas, 80-60, in the Border War at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.
“I think we just need to adjust to the other team’s adjustments,” Mizzou forward Mark Mitchell said. “I think coming out of halftime, teams make adjustments. Teams find things that are working for them. And I think also we got to close out halves better.”
Through the first 16 minutes, Mizzou was fighting. For rebounds, for loose balls, for points in the paint. And that led to a 23-21 Mizzou lead with 4:29 left before halftime.
Then the switch flipped and it was all Kansas.
A 7-0 run put Kansas in front for good, then a jumper and a buzzer-beating 3 made the Mizzou deficit 33-25 at halftime.
And for the second consecutive game, Mizzou failed to make the necessary adjustments coming out of halftime. Kansas scored 11 of the first 12 points out the break to lead 44-26. At that point, the game became more of a way to kill time than an actual competition.
The Tigers had the chance to cut the lead within 10 after a Jacob Crews 3 made it 55-43 with 11:03 left, but a missed 3, a missed layup and another missed 3 as the Tigers failed to convert on a possession with two offensive rebounds kept the deficit in double figures.
Mizzou ended with 16 offensive rebounds, but was able to amass only 11 points off the extra opportunities.
Kansas extended the lead back to 15 within a couple of minutes and Mizzou never got closer than 14 the rest of the way.
Issues on offense
The Tigers came into the week with the top shooting percentage in the country. But after a poor performance at Notre Dame on Tuesday, Mizzou shot just 21-of-61 (34.4 percent) from the field, 7-of-27 (25.9 percent) from 3 and 11-of-21 (52.4 percent) from the free-throw line.
The performance marked a new low for the Tigers.
It was by far the worst percent the Tigers had shot from the field, exactly 10 points worse than the 44.4 Mizzou shot against Notre Dame. And it was the worst the Tigers have shot from 3, behind a 28-percent day against South Carolina State.
The Tigers had two games shooting worse from the field last year, losses to Drake (33.3 percent) and Texas (31.3 percent). Mizzou did not shoot worse than 60.7 percent from the free-throw line last season, but now has twice in just 10 games.
“We just got to knock down the shots at the end of the day,” Gates said. “Our guys do a good job. Javon Porter had three open looks, I thought, … We can’t go 1-for-4 in those situations. Again, it was great to see those guys knock down shots toward the end.”
Issues with the whistle
It was impossible to walk away from Gates’ press conference without an understanding that he was unhappy with the officiating once again. Though he didn’t come right out with the exact words.
“It was great to see Mark Mitchell get to the foul line,” Gates said. “He’s one of the top players in the country at drawn fouls. I thought the opportunities to see him get to the free-throw line in the first half was replaced by travels, I hadn’t seen travels, nor three seconds, in a long time. I hadn’t. But those were some great opportunities.”
“When you look at what we were able to do in that first half, being able, when that score was 26-23, I believe. And that, again, I’ll go back to Ant Robinson picking up a double-tech, which I’ve never seen before. A guy gets hit in the face, we call it a double tech,” Gates said.
It’s not the first time this season Gates has brought up whistles as a factor in his team’s struggles. He did the same Tuesday against Notre Dame, multiple times.
Individual stats
Mitchell was the only Tiger able to find any space on offense, totaling 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting, while adding a 6-of-11 day at the free-throw line. He also had a co-team high seven rebounds.
Crews added 11 points after hitting three 3s, he was the only Mizzou player with more than one make from deep.
No other Tiger had more than seven points.
Ant Robinson had five points, seven rebound and a team-high six assists. He started hot, but foul trouble led to limitations throughout the second half.
Up next
Mizzou (8-2) will return home to play Alabama State at 7 p.m. Thursday and Bethune-Cookman at 1 p.m. next Sunday.