Going to keep this one relatively short. We know what the stories of this game are.
1. The word that comes to mind is frustrating. Things I'm frustrated about:
A. The outcome, obviously. It's a factor in the conference race. It's a lost opportunity in the NCAA situation, but for that, not really a huge deal either way at this point.
B. The fact that for much as I love college hoops, there's a handful of programs that I'd just as soon never see win a game. Any program with Bruce Pearl is one of those. If there's a picture of what the game could have less of, his face is top 10.
C. Mizzou has now played back to back conference games, picked up damned impressive wins in the front end, ran out of fuel on the backend. It's no one's fault really, but we've played 7 games in league, 4 of which were stacked on the road.
D. Mizzou had a real shot to nab another impressive road win, but a variety of factors prevented that from happening...
2. A significant factor was Mizzou's shooting. Yes, 3 point shooting was poor and probably took a few too many. We hoisted 25, but had 76! attempts overall, so a 33% 3pt/fga rate isn't out of line. Early on I thought we were taking worse looks than as the game progressed. Think we had 16 over the last 30 minutes. That's fine. But we were 16-33 at the rim. Love the number of attempts, don't love the number of conversions. We also had a chance at a comeback, but this team has to shoot better than 18-27 from the line (with several missed front ends). That chance evaporated when we went 3-8 down the stretch. Auburn is long and athletic. Mizzou has faced long and athletic teams before, but shot it better inside (and at the line). That proved to be a major issue. Mizzou missed at least 3 point blank, uncontested rim shots. Those loomed large.
3. There were 82 possessions so giving up 88 points isn't absurd. It wasn't great elite defense, but I think it was probably good enough. Auburn shot 42% from the floor and 29% from 3. That'll play. So too will the plus 10 on the offensive glass and +3 in turnovers.
4. And then the elephant in the room. There was no defense Mizzou could conceive that would've stopped Auburn the last 15 minutes. Why? They shot 36-44 from the free throw line. Forty fvcking four free throw attempts. Mizzou had 1 foul when Cooper returned at the ~15 minute mark. They had 9 four minutes later. Cooper is an exceptional player. When you do not allow a team to attempt to play defense on him, you cannot stop him. It's that simple. He was 18-21 from the free throw line. Mizzou was 18-27. Mizzou attacked the rim repeatedly. There's a subplot here, and it's that the refs fvcking sucked. It absolutely changed the outcome of the game. Could Mizzou win despite it? Maybe. Would Mizzou's chances of winning been exponentially higher without it? Absolutely. And that's damned frustrating. Credit to Auburn for making their free throws. It won them the game. But when you get outscored 64-52 from the floor and win by two possessions. That's tough to swallow. I do not believe Mizzou was credited with taking a charge after Cooper's push off in the first half. There were a half dozen that likely could've been called.
I thought the team fought hard. Unlike where they lost a bit of composure in the UT and MSU games, they were fighting until the end and they were a break or two away from taking it. They couldn't capitalize. That will happen. It's college basketball. Shit happens. The first two losses I was disappointed in the performance. Tonight, I was more disappointed in the outcome.
With that said, you take it, you learn, you move in. Nothing you can do about it now. Fvck those guys. Lot of things to play for.
1. The word that comes to mind is frustrating. Things I'm frustrated about:
A. The outcome, obviously. It's a factor in the conference race. It's a lost opportunity in the NCAA situation, but for that, not really a huge deal either way at this point.
B. The fact that for much as I love college hoops, there's a handful of programs that I'd just as soon never see win a game. Any program with Bruce Pearl is one of those. If there's a picture of what the game could have less of, his face is top 10.
C. Mizzou has now played back to back conference games, picked up damned impressive wins in the front end, ran out of fuel on the backend. It's no one's fault really, but we've played 7 games in league, 4 of which were stacked on the road.
D. Mizzou had a real shot to nab another impressive road win, but a variety of factors prevented that from happening...
2. A significant factor was Mizzou's shooting. Yes, 3 point shooting was poor and probably took a few too many. We hoisted 25, but had 76! attempts overall, so a 33% 3pt/fga rate isn't out of line. Early on I thought we were taking worse looks than as the game progressed. Think we had 16 over the last 30 minutes. That's fine. But we were 16-33 at the rim. Love the number of attempts, don't love the number of conversions. We also had a chance at a comeback, but this team has to shoot better than 18-27 from the line (with several missed front ends). That chance evaporated when we went 3-8 down the stretch. Auburn is long and athletic. Mizzou has faced long and athletic teams before, but shot it better inside (and at the line). That proved to be a major issue. Mizzou missed at least 3 point blank, uncontested rim shots. Those loomed large.
3. There were 82 possessions so giving up 88 points isn't absurd. It wasn't great elite defense, but I think it was probably good enough. Auburn shot 42% from the floor and 29% from 3. That'll play. So too will the plus 10 on the offensive glass and +3 in turnovers.
4. And then the elephant in the room. There was no defense Mizzou could conceive that would've stopped Auburn the last 15 minutes. Why? They shot 36-44 from the free throw line. Forty fvcking four free throw attempts. Mizzou had 1 foul when Cooper returned at the ~15 minute mark. They had 9 four minutes later. Cooper is an exceptional player. When you do not allow a team to attempt to play defense on him, you cannot stop him. It's that simple. He was 18-21 from the free throw line. Mizzou was 18-27. Mizzou attacked the rim repeatedly. There's a subplot here, and it's that the refs fvcking sucked. It absolutely changed the outcome of the game. Could Mizzou win despite it? Maybe. Would Mizzou's chances of winning been exponentially higher without it? Absolutely. And that's damned frustrating. Credit to Auburn for making their free throws. It won them the game. But when you get outscored 64-52 from the floor and win by two possessions. That's tough to swallow. I do not believe Mizzou was credited with taking a charge after Cooper's push off in the first half. There were a half dozen that likely could've been called.
I thought the team fought hard. Unlike where they lost a bit of composure in the UT and MSU games, they were fighting until the end and they were a break or two away from taking it. They couldn't capitalize. That will happen. It's college basketball. Shit happens. The first two losses I was disappointed in the performance. Tonight, I was more disappointed in the outcome.
With that said, you take it, you learn, you move in. Nothing you can do about it now. Fvck those guys. Lot of things to play for.
