Mizzou must move past ‘frustrating’ loss to Alabama in search of rare road win

Missouri’s had some frustrating games this season, but perhaps none was more frustrating than Wednesday’s three-point home loss against Alabama.

The Tigers out-rebounded a Crimson Tide team that leads the SEC with a plus-7.6 margin on the boards during the first half.

Third-year coach Kim Anderson’s zone helped limit Alabama to 20.8 percent shooting — 5 of 24 overall and 2 of 12 from three-point range — during a low-scoring first half.

Missouri led for nearly 30 minutes.

Yet the Tide flew back to Tuscaloosa, Ala., victorious after surging past the Tigers during the final 4:35 behind redshirt freshman Dazon Ingram.

“It’s a disappointing loss, very frustrating …,” Anderson said. “We can’t afford to give away possessions. We had opportunities at the end. Even when we were behind, we had opportunities, but we couldn’t make the play.”

Alabama won 57-54 for its fifth straight time in the series.

“That was definitely a winnable game and we just have to close games like that,” sophomore forward Kevin Puryear said. “Winning by close margins like that comes down to the little things, and that’s what we messed up on down the stretch.”

As well as Missouri played defensively at times, allowing a 16-2 run after pulling in front 45-37 proved fatal for the chances to snag a third straight home win.

The Tigers managed only two free throws, one each by junior forward Jordan Barnett and freshman guard Frankie Hughes, during a 4  1/2 -minute stretch in the closing minutes.

During the game-changing run, Missouri missed four free throws and a layup, while Alabama dominated the live-ball board 5-1 as it rallied into the lead.

“You’ve heard me say this and I just said it earlier, but we just don’t have that big a margin for error,” Anderson said. “We can’t make a bunch of mistakes, whether they be physical or mental, and expect to beat a good team.”

That is especially true for the Tigers away from Mizzou Arena, where the program has only won twice during Anderson’s three-year tenure.

Missouri packs a 32-game losing streak for its trip to Knoxville, Tenn., on Saturday and a noon tipoff against Tennessee at Thompson-Boling Arena.

The Tigers haven’t won on the Volunteers home floor since 1972, going winless in the last three trips.

“If you’d had told me we’d had come into Missouri — the way they were playing here at home recently — and they would score 54 points, I would take it …,” Alabama coach Avery Johnson said. “People will say, ‘Coach, why are you so excited about this win?’ It’s not just the win tonight. It’s the way we won.

“This was a game we could have easily laid down and quit, because coach Anderson is doing a great job with his team under the circumstances. They lost double-digit games in a row and now they’ve come back … and under the circumstances has his club really playing at a high level.”

The Tigers didn’t lie down and quit either, but the loss against the Tide is the latest evidence of how difficult it is for Anderson’s squad to prevail against even NIT-caliber competition.

“I’m disappointed for these guys because they fought (Alabama) for 40 minutes,” Anderson said. “We just weren’t big enough and strong enough to make plays on the boards. Obviously, both teams turned it over towards the end, but you’ve just got to be able to make plays. I don’t know. The biggest thing I take from it? We’ve just got to keep getting better.”

This story was originally published February 17, 2017 at 12:05 PM with the headline "Mizzou must move past ‘frustrating’ loss to Alabama in search of rare road win."