While
@drewking0222 works long into the night in Knoxvillle, you get my thoughts to tide you over.
*I'm probably not supposed to swear here. But holy shit. I mean, Ho. Lee. Shit. For that to happen once in a season is nuts. For that to happen twice in a season is something beyond that. For that to happen twice in a season and have it be THE SAME GUY is unfathomable.
*On the flip side, for that to happen twice in one week to one team, my God man. I say all the time, every fanbase has nutkick moments. We just tend to focus on our own. Every time you ever think "this could only happen to Mizzou" understand that Tennessee was at the free throw line with a two point lead with 4 seconds left twice this week. And they lost both games. In regulation.
*I do not want to get too far into this without addressing the officiating. It was DREADFUL. In the first half, there were 13 fouls called. In the first nine minutes of the second half, there were 15 fouls called. Ten of those were on Missouri. In the second half total, there were 28 fouls called. It was awful. I cannot be clear enough. In the first half, I thought they let both teams get away with a lot. It was incredibly physical. Then they just totally flipped it. Pick a lane. If you call it one way, call it that way all night. If you call it the other way, call it the other way all night. I don't know how anyone is supposed to know what to do when you just change it at halftime. And after calling absolutely everything all second half,
Kobe Brown gets mugged on a drive with 7 seconds left. No call. So, yes, the officiating was awful.
*Now, fortunately, Missouri won the game. Because had Missouri not won the game, you all would not have kept reading after the officiating comment. There were some other things besides the officiating that contributed to Tennessee coming back from a 17 point deficit. That is not saying that the officiating was good. That is not saying that the officiating was not a factor in Tennessee coming back from that deficit. It is simply acknowledging that while the officiating was dreadful, there were also other things that happened. First of all, Tennessee hit everything. Second, Missouri quit hitting anything for a while. They also tried a lot of passes that were far too aggressive. When you need to stop a run, maybe just slow down and don't try to run an alley oop. In addition, the hideous rebounding showed up for a while. In short, I thought Missouri panicked some during that run.
*So it sucks to blow a 17 point second half lead. Once Tennessee went up six, that game is over approximately 99% of the time. A lot of times you'll see teams come back from a huge deficit and get close, but never quite get the lead. That happened to Missouri at Texas A&M. You use up so much to get close that you just run out of gas. Tennessee didn't. They came back and then went in front. And once that happens, you figure Missouri is cooked. And they probably should have been. But just like this team doesn't know it's not supposed to be this good, nobody told the Tigers they should quit and just move on to Auburn.
*DON'T YOU EVER BRING ME YOUR
DEANDRE GHOLSTON SMOKE. EVER. He won them two games this year. Period. You can make the argument he has gotten them in the NCAA Tournament. You do not get to complain about him, even though I know sometimes it is incredibly tempting.
*
Sean East: Take a bow. Unbelievably well done.
*
Kobe Brown: Full. Grown. Man.
*Unsung hero:
Mabor Majak went to the free throw line with 3 minutes left on the road and made 1/2. That's not nothing.
*You cannot overstate how big this win is. When I thought Missouri was losing (most of the last seven minutes) I was prepared to come on here and tell you guys that it was a net positive for Mizzou. I didn't think they had much of a chance to keep it within ten at the tip. And they did it without three contributors. Just to take the Vols to the wire (and to play well enough to at one point be up 17) really impressed me. But then they finished it off. This is clearly the best win of this season. It might be Missouri's best win since joining the SEC.
*Here's what it means for the season: You have margin for error. You can afford to lose a game you couldn't afford to lose before. Whether that's A&M or Mississippi State at home or Georgia or LSU on the road, 2-2 is good enough to get you in the tournament I think. I'd probably like to go ahead and try to go 3-1, but I think 2-2 would do it because you just added a Quad 1 win and your best win of the season.
But here's the other thing: You're now chasing a lot more than you were before this game. Is there a reason you can't go to Auburn and win? I wouldn't think so. If you won here, why not there? Missouri is also now tied for fourth in the SEC.
As of today, I think Mizzou would get the 4 seed, but there's a lot to change between now and the end of the year. But if you can beat Auburn, you've got the tiebreaker over both of those teams. You've also got it over Tennessee and are only a game behind the Vols. Basically, if you can go 5-1 down the stretch, you've got a hell of a chance to a double bye in the conference tournament. Maybe even at 4-2. But even if you come up short of that, tonight almost assured you're playing meaningful basketball games in mid-March.
Just a fantastic win.
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