It was an electric atmosphere at Mizzou Arena Tuesday night, but it wasn’t enough for the Tigers to pull off the upset. The No. 22 Georgia Bulldogs handed the Missouri Tigers their second straight loss. This loss proves harmful to Mizzou’s NCAA tournament hopes and drops the Tigers to 3-3 in SEC play. 

Jacob Crews looked like he hit the potential game winner with 9.7 seconds remaining, but Georgia’s Marcus Millender was able to hit the eventual game winner with 5.5 seconds left. Crews did get a shot off before the final buzzer, but it fell just short as time expired. Millender led Georgia with 18 points. The Tigers’ leading scorer was forward Mark Mitchell with 18.

The Tigers got off to a sluggish start offensively in the first half with only 27 points and shooting a putrid 35% from the field. Mizzou flipped the switch in the second half, shooting 45.9% from the field as they used that offensive firepower to get the Mizzou crowd into the game.

The crowd felt like it was the loudest it has been all season, regularly measuring decibel counts over 100 in the second half. The Mizzou faithful repeatedly showed their displeasure through frequent chorus of boos towards the officiating. 

There were a couple of bright spots in the loss tonight for Mizzou. The free throw shooting, which has been a problem all year, was good tonight as the Tigers went 11-12 (91.7%) from the charity stripe. Jacob Crews also reappeared after being mostly absent to start SEC play despite a strong nonconference showing. 

Mizzou will try to wash the taste of this loss away on Saturday when they welcome Oklahoma to Mizzou Arena with tipoff scheduled for 1:00 pm.