Two months ago, the football edition of the Battle Line Rivalry was not even close to a fair contest. The Tigers “battled” the Razorbacks, and the weather, and were washed out in a 28-3 loss. The Razorbacks (9-7) played as close to a perfect basketball game as a team can play. It might as well have been raining inside Mizzou Arena on Tuesday night. They shot 62.7 percent overall, 8-for-15 from three-point range, made 12 of 15 free throws, dished out 20 assists and turned the ball over just six times on their way to 94-61 victory.
After a 15-point victory over Auburn on Saturday night, the Tigers (8-8) didn’t put up a fight at all as they found themselves down 15 points at the 8:42 mark of the first half. Mizzou had four players score in double figures on Saturday; only one reached 10 points on Tuesday. They had more turnovers (14) than they had assists (eight). They missed 12 of their 15 three-point attempts. It was another confusing performance from a team that seems to lack any direction.
Missouri basketball is a year and a half into the Kim Anderson era and are now a combined 17-31 in his tenure. Great improvement from year one to year two was not to be expected with this program but a few positive signs should be apparent to ensure some progress is being made. Whenever the Tigers seem to be putting their best foot forward, a game like last night will break out and make fans question whether or not a light will appear at the end of the tunnel. Thankfully, we are still early in conference play and the room for growth this season remains.