*Let me just say this first: I know you guys are blaming the officials. That's fine. I'm going to leave that to you and I'm going to talk about the rest of it.
*The end of the first half really felt costly at the time. Arkansas was so bad (probably worse than Mizzou was in the second half) that only being up seven really felt worse than it should. If you had told me at the start Mizzou would be up seven at halftime and Kobe Brown would basically not have played, I'd have taken it in a heartbeat. But when it was 15 with 2:56 to go and then turned into seven, it just felt like you gave Arkansas a chance when you could have knocked them out.
*The first 10-15 minutes of the second half revealed something that I've mentioned being worried about a few times. I do think Missouri's defense has improved since the first part of the year. But I also think a pretty big contributing factor to the Illinois and Kentucky games was those teams just missing wide open jump shots. Arkansas did that in the first half. And then they didn't. There really wasn't a single shot in that run that Arkansas hit that I thought "I don't know what you can do about that." They were getting WIDE open looks. They didn't make them in the first half. They did in the second. In other words, I think Missouri's defense has improved. I do not think it has improved as much as we probably wanted to hope it had after the last two games.
*The rebounding was, well, a problem. Mizzou got beat 40-23 on the glass. It was 15-9 on the offensive end and honestly, I don't think they counted all of Arkansas' offensive rebounds. At one point, the Razorbacks had 15 offensive boards and the Tigers had 17 total boards. You have to understand that is this team's biggest weakness. And then when you play a zone and you put Kobe Brown on the bench, well, you're going to get beat up pretty bad on the glass. It just needed to be a little less bad than it was. I love what Aidan Shaw brings on the boards. But it's like playing 4-on-5 offensively with him out there right now so you've got to be selective when you do it and for how long.
*What ultimately lost this game was Missouri's last three possessions. Because even though it felt multiple times like the game was over, Missouri was in a four-point game with two minutes to go. Here were the next three possessions:
Tre Gomillion one on one with one of the worst shots I've ever seen. That's not an exaggeration. I mean, it had no chance. You have to either get fouled or back that ball back out.
Sean East passing up an open three at the top of the key to make an extra pass and throwing it away.
Nick Honor going 1/2 from the free throw line.
That was it. Two and a half wasted possessions in the final 100 seconds. You're not going to win a tight game on the road that way. We can point to a million things, but the bottom line is Missouri just didn't make plays down the stretch in this game.
*All told, I thought Nick Honor and Sean East were good in this game. I didn't really think anyone else was very good. When you can have two guys play well and take a top 15 team to the wire on their home court, it ain't all bad. By the way, home teams are now 9-3 in SEC play. It's really, really tough to win on the road. And this is one of the toughest road games Missouri has.
*I understand being a little frustrated. If I had told you before the game Mizzou would take this one to the final 90 seconds and lose by six, most of you probably would have been satisfied. But once you're up 25-8, expectations change. And that's fair. You really shouldn't lose a 17 point lead. But when your shots stop going in and the other team stops missing (ever), it can happen. What I take out of tonight is that Missouri can play with anybody. They had their chances in this one, they just didn't cash in. It happens.
*I thought Mizzou played about a C game tonight. Maybe a C-. But here's the thing: Arkansas played about a C game too. I'd give the Razorbacks an F in the first 15 minutes and an A in the last 25. I know we just focus on the team we follow and their mistakes and the calls that go against them. But the same things happen to the other team. While Missouri was saying at halftime "Geez, we should have been up 20," Arkansas was saying "if we just make 40% of our open shots, we're tied." My point is that analysis goes both ways. I did feel there was a stretch in the second half where Arkansas just had far more energy than Mizzou. But Mizzou didn't quit. It came back from that and gave itself a chance. It just came up a little short. There is absolutely no reason to be angry or panic about this game. This program is so far ahead of schedule. Tonight made me even more confident this is an NCAA Tournament team.
*The end of the first half really felt costly at the time. Arkansas was so bad (probably worse than Mizzou was in the second half) that only being up seven really felt worse than it should. If you had told me at the start Mizzou would be up seven at halftime and Kobe Brown would basically not have played, I'd have taken it in a heartbeat. But when it was 15 with 2:56 to go and then turned into seven, it just felt like you gave Arkansas a chance when you could have knocked them out.
*The first 10-15 minutes of the second half revealed something that I've mentioned being worried about a few times. I do think Missouri's defense has improved since the first part of the year. But I also think a pretty big contributing factor to the Illinois and Kentucky games was those teams just missing wide open jump shots. Arkansas did that in the first half. And then they didn't. There really wasn't a single shot in that run that Arkansas hit that I thought "I don't know what you can do about that." They were getting WIDE open looks. They didn't make them in the first half. They did in the second. In other words, I think Missouri's defense has improved. I do not think it has improved as much as we probably wanted to hope it had after the last two games.
*The rebounding was, well, a problem. Mizzou got beat 40-23 on the glass. It was 15-9 on the offensive end and honestly, I don't think they counted all of Arkansas' offensive rebounds. At one point, the Razorbacks had 15 offensive boards and the Tigers had 17 total boards. You have to understand that is this team's biggest weakness. And then when you play a zone and you put Kobe Brown on the bench, well, you're going to get beat up pretty bad on the glass. It just needed to be a little less bad than it was. I love what Aidan Shaw brings on the boards. But it's like playing 4-on-5 offensively with him out there right now so you've got to be selective when you do it and for how long.
*What ultimately lost this game was Missouri's last three possessions. Because even though it felt multiple times like the game was over, Missouri was in a four-point game with two minutes to go. Here were the next three possessions:
Tre Gomillion one on one with one of the worst shots I've ever seen. That's not an exaggeration. I mean, it had no chance. You have to either get fouled or back that ball back out.
Sean East passing up an open three at the top of the key to make an extra pass and throwing it away.
Nick Honor going 1/2 from the free throw line.
That was it. Two and a half wasted possessions in the final 100 seconds. You're not going to win a tight game on the road that way. We can point to a million things, but the bottom line is Missouri just didn't make plays down the stretch in this game.
*All told, I thought Nick Honor and Sean East were good in this game. I didn't really think anyone else was very good. When you can have two guys play well and take a top 15 team to the wire on their home court, it ain't all bad. By the way, home teams are now 9-3 in SEC play. It's really, really tough to win on the road. And this is one of the toughest road games Missouri has.
*I understand being a little frustrated. If I had told you before the game Mizzou would take this one to the final 90 seconds and lose by six, most of you probably would have been satisfied. But once you're up 25-8, expectations change. And that's fair. You really shouldn't lose a 17 point lead. But when your shots stop going in and the other team stops missing (ever), it can happen. What I take out of tonight is that Missouri can play with anybody. They had their chances in this one, they just didn't cash in. It happens.
*I thought Mizzou played about a C game tonight. Maybe a C-. But here's the thing: Arkansas played about a C game too. I'd give the Razorbacks an F in the first 15 minutes and an A in the last 25. I know we just focus on the team we follow and their mistakes and the calls that go against them. But the same things happen to the other team. While Missouri was saying at halftime "Geez, we should have been up 20," Arkansas was saying "if we just make 40% of our open shots, we're tied." My point is that analysis goes both ways. I did feel there was a stretch in the second half where Arkansas just had far more energy than Mizzou. But Mizzou didn't quit. It came back from that and gave itself a chance. It just came up a little short. There is absolutely no reason to be angry or panic about this game. This program is so far ahead of schedule. Tonight made me even more confident this is an NCAA Tournament team.
