Shorthanded Mizzou falls to No. 4 Alabama. Takeaways from the Tigers’ 85-64 defeat...

The chant rang out through Mizzou Arena as Brandon Miller set up to take his free throws. As the Alabama freshman and men’s basketball star set up at the line, the Missouri faithful tried their best to get in his head.

“Overrated, overrated, overrated,” the crowd howled, as the only player in the SEC that has scored 360 points and collected 150 rebounds this season took his shots.

Miller, who finished below his season average with 15 points, missed one of his two shots at that moment, but was not, as it turned out, overrated. Neither was Alabama, the No. 4-ranked team in the nation entering Saturday’s contest, which topped Missouri 85-64.

“No. 1 team in the country, Alabama,” Missouri coach Dennis Gates said after the game. “I said it all along. They have the length, they have the athleticism, they have the shooting ability.”

Missouri was without arguably its best player in Kobe Brown, who missed the game with an ankle injury. His brother, Kaleb Brown, was also out due to what the program called a non-COVID illness.

“I was just being cautious with Kobe Brown,” Gates said.

In the end, it probably wouldn’t have mattered. Alabama’s offense came on strong in the second half, showing why Gates called the Tide the best team in the nation even before repeating it after Saturday’s game.

It was Alabama head coach Nate Oats’ first win in Mizzou Arena. His team was led by Mark Sears, who finished with 17 points, and Noah Clowney, who had 14 rebounds.

Isiaih Mosley had 19 points to lead the Tigers. Missouri fell to 14-5 overall, 3-4 in the SEC.

Mosley’s night

Things went bad for the Tigers when the game started. Missouri was trying too hard to make something happen with the ball, and the forced moves led to turnovers.

After the under-16 timeout in the first half, the team seemed to settle down. Even without Brown in the lineup, MU started to make moves.

Mosley played a key role in the first half. In only his second game back returning from an unexplained absence that dated back to Dec. 17, when he played against Central Florida, Mosley showed how he earned a reputation as a playmaker early in his college career at Missouri State.

“Isiaih can help us score the ball,” Nick Honor said after the game. “He knows how to get a bucket whenever he wants to.”

The Rock Bridge product gave the Alabama defense fits, demonstrating his ball-handling ability and finishing some tricky layups on the way to a team-leading eight first-half points. Mosley also led the Tigers in rebounds, with three, and assists, with two.

One of the assists went to Aidan Shaw, who earned his first college start in place of Brown. Mosley tossed the ball toward the basket and Shaw slammed in a reverse alley-oop that drew the Mizzou Arena crowd to its feet.

Even with the play of Mosley, the Tigers weren’t able to keep up with Alabama in the first half. The Crimson Tide went to the locker room with a 38-28 lead.

Struggles from distance

A large part of Missouri’s recent issues stem from the fact that it can’t get three-pointers to drop.

Alabama began to run away with the game in the second half, as the Tigers were down 61-40 at the under-12 timeout. At that juncture, MU had made just 1 of 20 attempts from beyond the arc. It wasn’t as if the Tigers were getting bad looks from distance either — the shots simply were not falling.

“We didn’t do enough consistent things that we have normally done,” Gates said. “We didn’t shoot the ball well, missed open shot after open shot.”

The Tigers kept trying, getting a few to drop from D’Moi Hodge and Mosley. Still, the shooting effort was not where it needed to be for Gates’ squad to pull off the upset.

Missouri finished having made 33% of its shots. That number dropped to 11% from three.

The Tigers were even missing layups.

“It was just one of those days,” Honor said of the short-range woes. “Had a couple go in and out that we usually make in practice because we work on that a lot. Every dog has his day, so we’re just gonna continue to put that work in.”

The team finished 3-for-28 from three to end the game; Hodge went 1-for-5 and Nick Honor went 0-for-4. Even Mosley, who played well in nearly every other facet of the game, hit only 1 of 8 three-point attempts.

The Tigers will hope to correct their recent shooting issues before their next game Tuesday at Ole Miss. That game is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. and will air on the SEC Network.

The Star has partnered with the Columbia Daily Tribune for coverage of Missouri Tigers athletics.

This story was originally published January 21, 2023 at 7:53 PM with the headline "Shorthanded Mizzou falls to No. 4 Alabama. Takeaways from the Tigers’ 85-64 defeat...."