Mizzou loses ninth straight, 29th in a row on the road in 68-56 loss at Alabama

The seemingly ceaseless struggle that has become Missouri basketball in road games added another losing chapter Wednesday at Alabama’s Coleman Coliseum.

The Crimson Tide forced the Tigers into a season-high 19 turnovers and rolled to a 68-56 win.

Mizzou (5-12, 0-5 SEC) never led and Alabama’s advantage never dipped below 10 points during the final 10:53 in front of a subdued crowd of 10,347.

“It was a fairly ugly basketball game, which is kind of the way we wanted it to be,” Anderson said. “You’ve got to give a lot of credit to Alabama. … They came out in the second half and made some key shots.”

Both teams struggled to make shots during a sad-sack opening half, but Alabama (11-6, 4-1 SEC) caught fire from long range in the second half — going 6 of 12 from three-point range — and rode the SEC’s stingiest defense to victory.

Missouri’s losing streak reached nine straight games, which is tied for the third-longest skid in program history.

Three of the Tigers’ five longest losing streak have occurred during the last three seasons under third-year coach Kim Anderson.

Alabama, which grabbed 14 offensive rebounds and outscored MU 14-3 in second-chance points, made its first four shots to open the second half, including back-to-back three-pointers by freshman guard Dazon Ingram and another by freshman forward Braxton Key.

“Killer, killer — we went to the zone and they overloaded it on us,” Anderson said. “We couldn’t get out of it fast enough. We were hoping they would continue shooting like they did the first half, but obviously they didn’t.”

During those opening minutes, Missouri got back within four points twice — on a three-pointer by sophomore guard Terrence Phillips, who started the second half, and again on two free throws by senior forward Russell Woods — but the barrage from distance reestablished breathing room.

The Tigers committed three quick turnovers, which helped the Tide stretch the lead to double digits for the first time.

Key’s second-chance dunk roughly six minutes into the second half capped a 15-5 run that proved insurmountable for coach Kim Anderson’s crew.

After trailing 41-29, Mizzou never again drew closer than seven points, but the game also never turned into a laugher.

“Give them credit,” second-year Bama coach Avery Johnson said. “They kept coming at us. They didn’t stop. There was no surrender.”

The Tigers have now lost 29 straight road games, including 26 in row in conference.

The first five losses in those streaks came under former coach Frank Haith, making the program 0-24 overall on the road and 0-21 in road conference games under Anderson.

“I don’t think we’re pounding our heads into the wall,” Anderson said. “Different guys make different mistakes in different times. Certainly, all I can do is keep encouraging them and keep working with them.”

Missouri, which dropped to 0-5 all-time at Alabama, have lost 10 straight SEC games dating back to last season.

“We’ve just got to stay together and keep being one unit,” said Woods, who finished with 13 points.

Phillips led the Tigers with 16 points and a game-high seven assists, while sophomore forward Kevin Puryear grabbed a team-high six rebounds.

Junior forward Riley Norris and sophomore guard Avery Johnson Jr. led four Tide players in double figures with 13 points apiece.

Missouri committed more turnovers in the first half (11) and more fouls (nine) than it made field goals (six).

“I was glad we were only down seven. I didn’t think we could play any worse, and we were still only down seven.”

The silver lining was that Alabama played almost as poorly in building a meager 26-19 lead.

The Tigers shot 30 percent from the field, going 6 of 20 overall, and missed more free throws than it made, going 4 of 9 at the stripe.

Eight of the nine Mizzou players who saw the floor in the first half committed at least one turnover.

Meanwhile, the Tide fell in love with the three-pointer, going 3 of 15, and also struggled at the free-throw line, connecting on only 3 of 7 charity tosses.

After opening the game 5 of 8 from the field, Alabama missed 12 of its next 13 attempts from the field in a sloppy offensive performance.

This story was originally published January 18, 2017 at 8:06 PM with the headline "Mizzou loses ninth straight, 29th in a row on the road in 68-56 loss at Alabama."