Saint Louis walked out with the 90-86 win, and Missouri walked out with a mess of questions that looked awfully familiar.
That’s the part of these neutral-court games that drives fans nuts. The Tigers took another regional rivalry loss away from home, and it lands in a line of them: Saint Louis now, Illinois and Kansas last year, and then those back-to-back neutral-site NCAA Tournament losses over the last two seasons.
The frustration is real. So is the reason Dennis Gates keeps putting his team in these spots.
Because games like this expose things.
Against Cleveland State, Missouri looked sharp enough that it was fair to wonder how much of that performance was real and how much was fool’s gold. Last night brought the doubts right back.
The Tigers knew coming in that Jason Crowe, Jr. would have to carry a heavy offensive load. They knew the defense was still a major question.
They knew Mark Mitchell would need time to fit into the mix. All of that was manageable against an overwhelmed opponent.
It was a lot less manageable when SLU started hitting shots.
And that was the story for long stretches: Missouri would make a push, and Saint Louis would answer with a three. Over and over. The Tigers could never quite turn momentum into control, and when they didn’t shoot well enough to keep pace, every response from the Billikens felt heavier.
The numbers tell a pretty clear story. Missouri actually won the glass and tied the turnover battle, which should usually give you a chance.
The Tigers also had more shots from the floor and more free throw attempts. But Saint Louis made the cleaner jumpers, moved the ball better for those looks, and finished with the edge in assists.
Missouri won two of the four factors, tied another, and got beat on the fourth.
That’s where the defensive issues showed up. In switching man-to-man, the Tigers got crossed up too often, wound up in bad matchups, and never really settled in.
The jumbo lineups can work when the bigs don’t have to chase and navigate screens all night. Against Cleveland State, no problem.
Against an experienced team like SLU, it got messy.
Bryson Tiller was the brightest spot and the strangest one at the same time. He finished 5-for-8 from three, grabbed 9 rebounds, and blocked 4 shots.
He also went just 4-for-10 inside the arc and had a couple turnovers. At times, he looked like the best player on the floor.
At other times, he was settling for a fadeaway in the middle of the lane with nobody really forcing it. He was the game’s leading scorer, and there’s still more there.
Crowe’s night was rough in the box score - 3-for-18 from the field - but Missouri was still in the game. That says something about the margin for error this team can live with, and something else about how much Crowe still has to grow.
The same goes for Toni Bryant. These are the kinds of games where young players learn the hard way, and the hope is that the lesson sticks.
Trent Pierce, meanwhile, faded again. He was on the floor for more than half the game, he did help on the boards, but one made shot and a 5% usage rate is not going to move the needle. Missouri needs more from him than that.
Mitchell was steady, even if he was more of a safety valve than the engine. He’s the guy you can call on in an emergency, but the Tigers need Crowe, Tiller and Jamier Jones to be the ones driving.
Mitchell can help make that work. He just wasn’t the problem here, even if the rebounding and defense could have been better.
Jones had his usual mix of burst and chaos. He’s explosive, but he’s still not all the way put together. That showed again.
Gates made it clear he trusts a small core right now, and the rotation reflected that. Seven players look like the sure bets, and the group is still young - two freshmen, two sophomores, and none of them have played together before. That matters.
It was a rough watch. No way around that. But it may also be the kind of loss that teaches something before the season gets deeper.
Saint Louis gets a quad 1 win it can feel good about. Missouri gets a close loss against a team that should age well, plus a reminder of how much work still sits in front of this group.
In Other News...
Missouri Fans Have Every Right To Be Furious With The SEC
Missouris latest frustration with the SEC came in the kind of moment that lingers long after the final whistle. During a recent football game, a replay review upheld a ruling that a Missouri forward fumble was recovered by the offense, a decision that kept a Texas drive alive and eventually led to a touchdown. Eli Drinkwitz addressed the officiating afterward, but he stopped short of directly blaming the officials, knowing how quickly that can turn into a fine.
The SEC later issued its own explanation, saying the replay crew did not have clear and obvious video evidence to overturn the call. Even with that clarification, the sequence only added to the sense of grievance around Missouri, where fans were left watching a pivotal possession swing on a review that the league says met the standard but many in Columbia will never view the same way. [Read more 🡒]
Missouri Just Got A Ranking Snub At The Worst Time
Missouris stumble against Texas came with an extra sting on Sunday, when the Tigers fell out of the US LBM Coaches Poll altogether. A week after sitting at No. 19, they are now the second team outside the top 25, a reminder of how quickly one loss can change the national view of a team trying to stay in the SEC race.
The timing makes the drop feel even sharper with Georgia next on the schedule, a matchup that will give Missouri an immediate chance to change the conversation. For a team that had been climbing the rankings, the margin for error is suddenly much thinner, and the path back into the poll now runs straight through one of the toughest tests on the calendar. [Read more 🡒]
Missouri Let A Huge Opportunity Slip Away Against Texas
Missouri had a chance to turn a marquee matchup into a statement win, but Texas kept finding answers when the game tightened. Arch Manning threw for 297 yards and three touchdowns, including the go-ahead strike to Raleek Brown, and No. 10 Texas pulled away for a 34-20 victory over No. 19 Missouri in a game that featured multiple video reviews and the first meeting between the programs since 2017.
Austin Simmons did his part for Missouri with 252 passing yards and two touchdowns, but the Tigers could not match Texas late. The Longhorns made key defensive plays in the fourth quarter to close it out, leaving Missouri to wonder how much different the night might have looked if a few pivotal moments had gone the other way. [Read more 🡒]