The Missouri Tigers travelled to St. Louis to face off against the Miami Hurricanes for a March Madness matchup on Friday night.
The game marks only the second time the two programs have ever faced each other. The last time being in 2002 when the Tigers were the No. 12 seed and faced the Hurricanes, who were the No. 5 seed, in the first round where Mizzou emerged victorious, beating the Canes 93-80. The Tigers would continue their form for the remainder of the 2002 tournament, making it to the program’s fourth of five Elite Eight appearances.
Even though it’s just the second time these two programs will face each other, there is a lot of familiarity between the two sides. First-year Miami head coach Jai Lucas was a former Duke assistant coach, where he coached star Missouri forward Mark Mitchell. Along with Miami guard Tre Donaldson and Mizzou guard Anthony Robinson II being former high school teammates, former Mizzou assistant coach Charlton Young is also a member of the Miami staff. With so many connections and prior knowledge between the two programs, it looked to be a competitive matchup between the two squads.
Coming into the game, the Tigers had lost their last three games, losing to Oklahoma and Arkansas to end the regular season, then suffering a close loss to Kentucky in the SEC tournament. Even though the Tigers secured back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances for the first time since making five straight appearances to the big dance from 2009-13, it was a disappointing finish building up to the game. A good sign heading into a crucial game for Gates and his Tigers was Mitchell’s performances in those last few games were phenomenal, posting back-to-back career highs in the final two games.
The Hurricanes came into the matchup after falling to Virginia in the semi-finals of the ACC tournament. It was a historic season for the Canes, where Lucas became the second-fastest first-time head coach in ACC history to reach 20 wins and had three players earn All-ACC honors in Donaldson being named to the second team, Malik Reneau with first team and Ernest Udeh Jr. with the all-defensive team.
As the clock ticked down at Enterprise Center in St. Louis, one thing was clear: this was not a neutral-site game. A sea of black and gold poured into the stands as the game drew nearer and nearer, and it was a home environment for the Tigers, who looked to get their second NCAA tournament win under Gates. The energy was pouring out of the crowd as tipoff grew closer, with every mention of the Tigers the crowd was sent into a frenzy, along with contrasting boos for the Hurricanes. Enterprise Center came to play in a March Madness matchup that looked to be one for the history books.
The Tigers won the tipoff, much to the joy of the crowd, who immediately set the tone for the game and erupted in cheers. Both teams, however, didn’t have the start to the game they dreamed of, as they both struggled to get shots to fall. It was a tight game through the first 10 minutes, then Miami started to get some shots to fall, much to the dismay of the crowd. The Hurricanes went on a 7-0 run to give themselves a ten-point lead with just over three minutes to go. Mitchell, the star forward for the Tigers, failed to score a point until he sank two free throws for his first points of the evening and to end a five-minute scoring drought for the Tigers with 2:30 to go in the first half. Once he did, though, it was like a switch flipped for the entire Missouri offense. They went on a 9-0 run to end the half, capped off by Robinson hitting a heavily contested step-back three-pointer to make it 26-27.
The Tigers trailed heading into the break, but their run to end the half gave them serious momentum, with the rambunctious crowd fully behind them heading into the second half.
Following the low scoring and inefficient shooting from the first half from both teams, both squads started going blow for blow. It was back and forth through the first five minutes of the second half when Jayden Stone and Robinson started to take over. Stone made a massive and-1 three to make the crowd go berserk with 15 minutes to go. With just under 10 minutes to go, Trent Pierce hit two free throws to give the Tigers their first lead since the start of the game.
Miami wasn’t done fighting; they responded with an 11-0 run to give them a 63-54 lead with under five minutes to go. The run was capped off by a transition slam from Shelton Henderson, which sucked the life out of the arena. With two minutes to go, Miami led 71-62, while the Tigers weren’t giving up, the game was getting more and more out of reach.
Donaldson put the nail in the coffin for the Hurricanes with a step-back dagger three to give the Hurricanes a 74-62 lead with under two minutes to go. After that, it was over, the once packed out crowd started to fade as fans decided to beat the traffic after the Donaldson three. Miami would go on to win the game 80-66, advancing to the second round and crushing Mizzou’s March Madness dreams.
Following the game, Gates reflected on the season, “ Our guys didn’t write each other off during the difficult times. They held onto their commitments that they made when they first met each other. Those are the things and the life lessons of consistency, resilience, hard work and giving no excuses. That’s where you land when you fall short. It hurts, but you still land in a place of peace.”
The Missouri Tigers’ season is over, but the journey isn’t. For seniors like Mitchell, Stone, Shawn Phillips Jr., Jacob Crews and Javon Porter, their college careers come to a bittersweet end. For coach Gates and the rest of the team, progress has been made and there is plenty more to achieve next season. Back-to-back March Madness appearances are nothing to slouch about, but another first-round exit means there is more left to be had for the Tigers.