Aggies lose 62-58 at Mizzou

Y’all, this was ugly.

We submitted an absolute dud of a performance on the road, but Mizzou’s continued inability to close out games kept us hanging around far longer than we deserved. We dialed up some late full court pressure, stole an inbounds pass down two with :14 left, and had ourselves an honest chance to steal this game.

Robert Williams shot rimmed out, the Tigers hit their free throws, and they took home a deserved victory on an evening where we flat weren’t good enough.

Let’s break it down.

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The Paint is Hot Lava

For reasons beyond my comprehension, we decided to ignore Davis and Williams down low early. Were we at least hitting outside shots, you ask?

No. No we were not.

The Aggies shot 32% from the field in the first half, including 1-13 from 3PT range, with seven turnovers and one assist. Need further proof that the first half was an absolute wasteland? Check out the highlight video above, and note where it starts.

Mizzou, by comparison, played a much cleaner half... but they couldn’t hit much, either. The end result was a half where we were deservedly down, but had to be thankful that it wasn’t much, much, worse.

Halftime Score: Mizzou 29, Texas A&M 21

Better Late Than Never, I Guess

The majority of the second half played out exactly like the first, as Missouri was able to extend their lead to 57-46 with 5:40 remaining. At this point, we finally showed signs of life.

Some full court pressure and a couple of timely threes by TJ Starks cut the lead to three, and Mizzou’s crowd started to get real tight. The Tigers had been making a habit of allowing opponents to crawl back into games late, and it was happening again.

In the end, Robert Williams’ close range shot rimmed out at 60-58 with :09 remaining, and the Tigers held on. It would have been a theft of the highest order had we pulled this off, but five minutes of good basketball out of 40 will rarely get it done at this level.

Final Score: Mizzou 62, Texas A&M 58

Box Score

Individual Notes

• Tyler Davis (5 points, 2-2 FG) took two shots. Two. He had foul trouble, but he still logged 25 minutes. There’s no excuse for that level of involvement, and the guards have to do a better job of getting him involved.
• Our assist-to-turnover ratio on the evening? 16-to-4. In the wrong direction. Yes, we managed to play an entire D1 basketball game while only recording four assists. It’s almost too impressive to be mad.
• We had zero blocks, four steals, and 17 personal fouls. On a day where we couldn’t hit anything, the defense rarely gave us a chance for easy buckets.
• The bench gave us two points in 46 minutes of action.
• TJ Starks (14 points, 6-17 FG) was our late catalyst, but those 17 FG attempts were a little high. I’d like to see us spread the love a little more on the offensive end.
• We did great on the glass, outrebounding Missouri 46-30.

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Everyone who watched all 40 minutes of this game deserves a gold medal of Aggie Basketball fandom. It was a long, slow, two hour march through a pile of bleh basketball.

Yes, we had a chance to steal it late. But most of the time, efforts like that on the road will get you run out of town by 30.

The new winning streak can begin at Arkansas this Saturday.

BTHO Arkansas