Entering Wednesday night, Mizzou had been competitive in most of their conference games. Even though the scores might not indicate that the team was playing hard, and neither would the record, the Tigers had battled despite not being able to pick up a conference victory. That all changed when an Arkansas team going through some turmoil came into town.
Eric Musselman’s team lost Devo Davis last week after he left the program and didn’t have former Mizzou transfer Trevon Brazile due to injury. The Hogs still executed better, were better coached, and most notably, their effort level was way higher. Despite a late push by Mizzou, it wasn’t nearly enough as the Hogs handled the Tigers from start to finish at Mizzou Arena by a score of 91-84.
Given the opponent level and the location, it was easily the worst half Mizzou has had since Dennis Gates took the job. The Hogs finished the first half with 1.47 points per possession and led Mizzou 47-28.
Mizzou had all sorts of problems with the Arkansas front court, which typically isn’t the main worry facing the Hogs. Makhi Mitchell and Jalen Graham looked like they were men playing against boys and they finished with 19 and 13 points respectively. Additionally, Tramon Mark had a really nice game on both ends of the floor, finishing with 22 points to lead the Hogs as well as 3 steals.
“We came out flat to start the game,” said Gates. “I take full responsibility as head coach.”
On the Mizzou side of things, the Tigers first half effort level was not good, but they did make adjustments in the second half. While the hill was too big to climb, the Tigers got great second half minutes out of Mabor Majak and Tamar Bates. Majak was the storyline on the positive side, and despite the box score not telling the whole story of his performance, Majak finished +3 in 8 minutes. Bates also really turned it on late, and finished the game with 29 points, including 23 in the second half. His performance was reminiscent of a lot of what D’Moi Hodge did for Mizzou last season as he was constantly getting great fast break chances.
Despite the final score, Mizzou never really had a chance to win it in the second half. The Tigers are now staring down the barrel that is the Wednesday round of the SEC Tournament, as Mizzou and Vanderbilt are the only two SEC teams that remain winless in the conference. Everyone else now has at least two conference wins. Mizzou will try to snap their losing streak on Saturday at Vanderbilt.