COLUMBIA — It was a sequence every bit as frustrating as it was troubling. Missouri’s chance to win its first road game of the season came and went in a matter of 40 seconds.

Worse yet, it was junior point guard Phil Pressey — the Southeastern Conference’s preseason player of the year — who helped MU’s 70-68 loss at Texas A&M come to fruition. First, he threw the ball away with 24 seconds left and Missouri leading 68-67. Then, on the defensive end, he switched on a ball screen when he wasn’t supposed to and left Texas A&M guard Fabyon Harris wide open for the game-winning three-pointer.

“Obviously, he’s beating himself up,” Missouri coach Frank Haith said of Pressey, who finished with 13 points, four assists and seven turnovers Thursday night.

Pressey has had his moments of brilliance this season. He entered the game with a SEC-leading 7.2 assists per game, several of them of the highlight-reel variety. But Thursday’s game marked the third time this season that Pressey struggled down the stretch on the road.

At UCLA on Dec. 28, Pressey racked up 19 points and 19 assists but shot zero for five from the field with four turnovers during the final 11 minutes of a 97-94 overtime loss. He also drew criticism in Missouri’s 73-70 loss at LSU on Jan. 30, when he scored 25 points but missed several quick shots late.

Throw in a pair of clunkers in road losses to Mississippi (10 points, five assists, five turnovers) and Florida (two points, six assists, 10 turnovers), and you understand why Haith has been stressing the importance of playing under control to Pressey, his gifted, 5-foot-11 point guard.

“Right now, I just want him to relax and play the game the way he knows how to play it,” Haith said.

Particularly on defense. Haith, who candidly said after Thursday’s game that the Tigers aren’t a very good defensive team right now, said some of their struggles on the road begin with their perimeter defense.

“Other teams’ point guards are just having their way with us,” Haith continued. “Teams are shooting it (well), particularly on the road, and we’re trying not to foul and we’re not as aggressive and therefore we get in foul trouble. At home, we’re decent but on the road we’re just bad at defending.”

Texas A&M’s Harris scored 17 points. The Tigers also let LSU’s diminutive guard duo of Anthony Hickey and Andre Stringer combine for 38 points in that loss. There’s also this: Missouri has allowed the opposing starting point guard to score in double-digits in all five of its SEC road losses.

“It’s been a combination of a lot of things,” Haith said when asked if teams are doing most of their damage on ball screens or pick-and-rolls. “I do know this. People … they’re attacking us pretty hard at that position.”

So while Pressey’s turnovers are a concern — he already has 83 in 22 games this season, just two fewer than he had in 35 games last year — Haith would also like to see him make his defense a focus.

“Defensively, he’s got to lock in,” Haith said. “He is a good defender when he wants to be. We just have to challenge him.”

That goes for the rest of the team, as well.

“We’re all at fault,” Haith said of the Texas A&M loss. “It’s not just Phil and that last play … I don’t think we got any 50-50 balls in that game. Every 50-50 ball, they got and they ended up turning into baskets on the other end. We didn’t finish the game.”

Haith will get a chance to see if his message has sunk in at noon Saturday, when the Tigers play host to Mississippi at Mizzou Arena. Once again, their chances of winning will likely ride on the play of Pressey, an undeniably gifted player still seeking his groove.

But rest assured, Haith will have his back while he does.

“He’s our guy,” Haith said.