Mizzou Tigers basketball falls apart late in road loss to Alabama

The Missouri Tigers had the game in their grasp, but they let it completely slip from their fingers.

Mizzou led by as many as 14 points on Saturday, but fell apart late in an 86-76 SEC men’s basketball defeat to the Alabama Crimson Tide at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa.

“I’m proud of the toughness, we were fighting, playing as hard as we played,” Mizzou coach Cuonzo Martin said. “We were improved offensively, but we gotta find a way to buckle down defensively and get those stops.”

The Tigers (8-10, 2-4 SEC) only scored three points in the final six minutes of the game, allowing their opponent to go on an 18-3 run.

Similar to the last time these two teams faced, Missouri got off to a hot start and set the tone early.

Freshman forward Trevon Brazile opened the game with a steal and tomahawk slam dunk. Though Alabama scored a three-pointer after that, the Tigers went on a 12-0 run in a little over two minutes and took a 14-3 lead that forced Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats to call a timeout at the 16:30 mark.

Mizzou played well in transition early, scoring seven of those early points off of turnovers.

The Tigers held off the Crimson Tide for a while, but eventually the home team found its groove. Missouri only led 40-36 at halftime.

Missouri built its advantage back up to 14 points in the second half, but once again Alabama worked its way back into the contest. It did so using a five-guard lineup.

“You have to fight and get stops,” Martin said. “... On the offensive side of the ball, their pressure switched everything. ... They had us outside of the three-point line. We weren’t as aggressive. We became passive as opposed to driving the ball.”

With under six minutes left, Crimson Tide guard JD Davison drilled a three-pointer. On the ensuing Missouri possession, fellow guard Jahvon Quinerly stole the ball and took it to the other end for an easy layup, tying the score at 73-73.

Alabama kept its run going and took the lead on a second-chance layup from James Rojas with under five minutes left. Missouri was never able to take back its advantage from there.

“They were getting stops and they just kept getting the boards,” guard Jarron ‘Boogie’ Coleman said. “It’s hard to win games if you keep allowing the other team to get two, three chances each possession.”

Here are some key takeaways from the game.

A tale of two halves

For the most part, everything worked in Missouri’s favor in the first half.

The Tigers made 17 of 34 shots from the floor — good for a 50% clip — while the Crimson Tide made 11 of 34 attempts (32.4%).

Come the second half, though, Mizzou went 14 of 31 (45.2%) on field-goal attempts and had several stretches where it went cold, especially down the stretch. It was the opposite for Alabama, which found its rhythm and made 17 of 30 shots (56.7%).

Five of those 17 made field goals came from Quinerly, who went 0 for 6 in the first half. He scored all 13 of his points in the second, finishing with the third most points on his team. Guard Jaden Shackelford had 21 points and seven rebounds, while Davison scored 17 points.

The Tigers also struggled more taking care of the ball in the second half. They only committed three turnovers in the first half, resulting in five points off turnovers for the Crimson Tide. But those numbers ballooned to eight turnovers and 16 Alabama points from those mistakes in the final frame.

Contributions all around, but no closer

In the first contest between these two teams, forward Kobe Brown willed the Tigers to victory with a career-high 30-point, 13-rebound, four-assist performance.

For much of Saturday’s game, it seemed like Mizzou would be able to come away with a win behind contributions from a host of other players as Brown struggled on offense. But when it came to crunch time, no one stepped up in his place.

Missouri made just 1 of its 8 shot attempts in the final five and a half minutes of the game — a three-pointer from Brazile, whom Martin only played for 13 total minutes. The freshman finished with seven points (on 3-of-4 shooting), three rebounds and two blocks, despite the lack of playing time. He had a plus/minus of +2, which was the best for any Mizzou player who saw more than two minutes on the floor.

“It’s nothing to do with him,” Martin said of Brazile. “I thought he did a good job on bigger guys. They just went with five perimeter guys, and we felt like that would give us the best chance.”

Coleman led Mizzou with 17 points and made five three-pointers on 55.6% shooting from beyond the arc. Javon Pickett, DaJuan Gordon and Amari Davis scored 12 points a piece. Ronnie DeGray III had eight points off the bench as well.

Though he led the team with 10 rebounds and four assists, Brown finished with just six points on 3-of-14 shooting.

“I thought Kobe needed to be more aggressive in and around the rim and take the double, find the open man,” Martin said. “I think that was more than anything lost in that late four or five minutes on the game on the offensive side.”

If Missouri wants to win these tight games, it’s going to need a closer.

Getting to the line

Missouri’s ability to get to the free-throw line was a huge factor when these squads faced back on Jan. 8.

In that game, the Tigers had 11 more chances at the charity stripe, making 21 shots there compared to 11 for the Crimson Tide.

Mizzou didn’t have nearly as many free opportunities away from its home court in Saturday’s game, and it made all the difference.

Through the first half, Missouri had just two shots from the free-throw line, whereas Alabama got there 14 times — making nine shots.

“They were playing very aggressive and the refs were letting them play on their end and they weren’t letting us play on ours,” Coleman said. “So it was kind of frustrating trying to play through it. But I mean, that’s how the game went, so we gotta continue to play through it and just find a way to come out on top.”

It was more of the same in the second half. The Crimson Tide ended the contest with 29 shots at the charity stripe, of which they made 21. The Tigers only had five such shots through the entire game, making three of those.

“I’ve never been one to complain about how the game flowed or how it was officiated,” Martin said to open his postgame remarks. “... I’m trying to be as respectful as I say this, but man, five free throws in a physical game where both teams played man-to-man in the SEC.”

Allowing easy buckets

The last time these two teams played, another one of the biggest keys for Mizzou to get the win was its ability to create extra opportunities on offense. In that first matchup, the Tigers had 17 second-chance points compared to 11 for Alabama.

Saturday’s contest was a different story.

The Crimson Tide was the beneficiary this time around. Alabama finished with a 23-14 advantage on the offensive boards and used those extra possessions wisely.

Though the Tigers scored 22 second-chance points of their own, they allowed 24 such points to Alabama — many of which came at critical junctures in the game.

“We lost strictly on fundamentals,” Coleman said. “Some breakdowns knowing we supposed to go over and screen on shooters, we were going under. And like I said, the offensive rebounds were big.

“... It was like they were just sweeping in and getting them, we was all watching the glass. So that was big on us, and we just gotta do a better job blocking out for sure.”