Missouri Tigers Look For 2nd Straight Win AT Georgia Bulldgogs

In a season like this one, it’s the little wins that mean the most.

For the Missouri Tigers, tonight’s match up with Georgia in Athens might as well be their national championship. This could be the most important game of the dismal 2015 season.

Missouri Tigers head coach Kim Anderson has a golden opportunity to instill in his young players that this team can be a winner. Mandatory Credit: Beth Hall-USA TODAY Sports

Mizzou finally has a chance to put together something we haven’t seen yet this year in conference play: a winning streak.

It’s funny how meaningful getting two straight wins can be for a basketball team. But for the Tigers, that’s what we’ve come to. This is the most important game of the year for MU.

And it won’t come easy.

Georgia (18-9, 9-6 SEC) comes into the game on fire, winners of 4 or the last 6 and having put together a two-game winning streak of its own already.

The Bulldogs are an impressive 11-3 at home inside Stegeman Coliseum this year. While youthful, the team has recruited well in the last few years. Under head coach Mark Fox, whose helmed things in Athens since the ’09 campaign, has put together a strong shooting bunch that plays solid defense. UGA could very well sneak into the tournament this season.

However, Georgia has dropped two consecutive home SEC contests, first to Auburn on a Valentines day heartbreaker 68-66 and followed by South Carolina, 64-58, February 17. This is as about the most positive thing the Missouri Tigers can look at when looking ahead at possible vulnerabilities in Geogia that they could expose.

Mizzou enters the game on its longest winning streak in 47 days—1—and the Tigers do so knowing that they will in all likelihood finish in very last place of the Southeastern Conference. No one can say with any confidence that the Tigers will be able to make a contest out of an SEC Tournament game, much less win one.

Missouri Tigers /

Missouri Tigers

The team has struggled all season long to score points or prove that these players can make up for how undersized and inexperienced they are with shear basketball talent.

First year head coach Kim Anderson has faced challenges and heavy criticism. It’s been the pinnacle of futility for the Missouri Tigers this season, which saw a 13-game losing streak finally end on Tuesday. So why is this game so important?

It’s about the future.

This is one of those games where players can come away with the sense of pride of being on a team. On a mental level, they get something positive to hang their hat on. On a deeper level, they can paint themselves as winners on a blank canvas.

These guys are going to be here a while. It’s important for them to know what winning feels like. Not just once. But multiple times—and against good teams with winning records, in their own house. This is an extremely valuable opportunity.

It’s important to the young players and the first year coach to be able to establish a culture of winning. Becoming a team that wins long-term starts with little moments like this. And the rise of a program, which often takes years, not just a single season, can begin with one little two-game winning streak in a hopeless season, in a game that otherwise doesn’t really matter.

If Missouri loses, it won’t be all that bad. It will just be a continuation of what has been over the course of the season. It won’t hurt them in the grand scheme of things. And it won’t be all that unexpected.

But a win—a two-game winning streak—that could be huge. So while you’re laughing in your chair at how ridiculously deep and over done this idea is, Mizzou desperately needs this win. So let’s go win a National Championship, Tigers. This is a big one.

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