Missouri comeback falls just short, eliminated by Drake in NCAA Tournament 1st round
Missouri’s high-octane offense had few issues tearing through the SEC, but its season came to an end Thursday when it was bogged down by Drake.
The Tigers closed the gap late, but ultimately couldn’t overcome cold shooting and too many turnovers in a 67-57 loss to No. 11 seed Drake in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament at Intrust Bank Arena.
It was a short stay in Wichita for Mizzou, as a sizable crowd in attendance saw the conclusion of a 22-12 season that earned the Tigers their highest NCAA seed (6) in 13 years.
Missouri had scored at least 80 points in its past 10 games, the third such streak in program history, but sputtered to 33% shooting and 17 turnovers that Drake turned into 23 points at the other end.
Wichita native Caleb Grill, back in his hometown, led Mizzou with a team-high 14 points, while Tamar Bates added 10 points.
Staring down the end of their season, trailing by 11 points with eight minutes left, the Tigers showed their resiliency to make one final push.
Grill sparked a 10-0 run with a 3-pointer like he’s done so many times this season, while the last seven points of the run came at the foul line, where a Mark Mitchell make trimmed the deficit to 52-51 with 4:28 remaining in the second half.
But that’s as close as Mizzou would come.
Drake star Bennett Stirtz was a thorn in Missouri’s side all game and his jumper with 4:02 left halted the wave of momentum for the Tigers. In fact. Drake rattled off six straight points to restore its cushion, 58-51, on a pair of free throws by Kael Combs with 2:47 remaining.
The long arms of Mitchell at the front of Missouri’s press forced a turnover and Marques Warrick had a 3-pointer in the air that would have trimmed the deficit to one, but the shot missed and the Tigers would never come within a single possession in the final 90 seconds.
It was an uphill battle from early in the game, as Drake eventually used a 10-2 run to open up a 28-18 lead late in the first half. The Tigers closed to within 30-23 by halftime, but the tone was set: Drake’s defense was grinding the Tigers down and forcing them to settle for jump shots.
In fact, the largest cheer from Mizzou’s crowd in the first eight minutes of the second half came when the video board in the arena showed the final moments of Kansas’ first-round exit in a 79-72 loss to Arkansas. The whole arena, Mizzou and Drake fans alike, joined in on a standing ovation for that.
This story was originally published March 20, 2025 at 9:24 PM.
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