NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Missouri’s opportunity to compete in March Madness may be set, but its chances for a top-four seed in the SEC remain in doubt after Saturday’s 97-93 overtime loss to unranked Vanderbilt. On a night where head coach Dennis Gates believed his team did enough to claim victory, the Commodores proved they had more in the tank, outworking the Tigers down the stretch to claim their second-straight victory over a top 15-ranked opponent.

“I should’ve used a timeout to organize my team a lot better than I did, and that’s on me,” Gates said. “At the end of the day, strategy is strategy, but I need to use a timeout to get our team set.”

Recapping the last sequence of the second half, Gates assumed responsibility for allowing Vanderbilt to tie the score and send it to overtime. However, when looking back on the game itself, one can find key moments responsible for why Missouri’s squad failed to execute in its second consecutive loss on the road.

For starters, the Tigers couldn’t stop the size of Chris Mañon and Jaylen Carey. The 6’5” guard and 6’8” forward contributed 11 and 10 boards towards the Commodore’s 39. Feeding off that, Vanderbilt was able to put the pressure down low when its outside shot wasn’t falling, outscoring the Tigers 48 to 34 from the paint. Alongside that, the home team was able to beat Missouri at its own game, catching the Tigers with steals ten times amidst a high pace of play.

Even with their faults, Missouri still managed to keep the game in balance until overtime. With multiple runs in the first, The Tigers entered the second half up nine, but then Vanderbilt’s shots began to fall. Missouri found the charity stripe as its lifeline, staying just out of range of the Commodores by drawing fouls and going 18-22 from the free-throw line. Then, seemingly with the game put away, the aforementioned choice by Gates to not call time or foul proved to be costly, allowing junior guard Tyler Nickel to hit the open look three with just four seconds left to tie the game.

From then on, the energy just seemed to go away from Missouri. Its usual stars offered up some fight in the extra five minutes, but Vanderbilt’s overwhelming force on the night proved to be too much. The Commodores outscored the Tigers 16 to 12 and earned their second upset victory in less than a week.

Despite his team’s failure to execute down the stretch, Gates still believes Missouri has time to improve before tournament play arrives.

“We’re going to continue to get better and I think our team hasn’t played its very best yet this season,” said Gates.

Missouri’s record on the road falls to 3-6, tied for the worst amongst the current ranked teams in the Southeastern Conference. In the month of March, no team truly has the advantage of playing in front of a home crowd. Missouri will have to find its legs away from Mizzou Arena if it wants to be the threatening presence many believe it to be heading into the tournament season.

Missouri continues its road trip on Wednesday, Mar. 5, when it takes on Oklahoma in Norman.