Historic day for Missouri basketball ends with loss to Alabama

The Missouri basketball team shot 100 percent from the free-throw line and set a school record for consecutive freebies, but the Tigers couldn’t get a win in Tuscaloosa.

Missouri basketball seemed much improved since its last basketball game, and the team made history in Saturday’s game against Alabama. But the Tigers weren’t able to do enough to get the victory, falling to the Crimson Tide 88-74.

The Tigers were 31-for-31 from the free-throw line, which set a school record for most-consecutive free throws made in a game. The points from the charity stripe were not enough to knock off a high-scoring offense in Alabama, however.

Missouri Tigers Basketball

Missouri’s free-throw shooting was a pleasant surprise. Mizzou isn’t a bad free-throw shooting team, but anytime you can stay in the game because you don’t miss your opportunities is great, and the shots after fouls gave Mizzou a chance to steal one on the road.

The Tigers found themselves within one possession with the ball twice in the final eight minutes of Saturday’s game, but Mizzou couldn’t hit the basket to tie it or draw closer than three points. The closest the Tigers would get down the stretch was down 73-70 with just less than six minutes to play. From there, Alabama began to separate, closing out on a 15-4 run.

Dru Smith and Xavier Pinson led the way from the free-throw line. Smith knocked down 7 of 7 attempts while Pinson was 9-for-9. Reed Nikko and Mark Smith also went 4-for-4, while Tray Jackson, Mitchell Smith and Torrence Watson all hit two free throws each and Kobe Brown added another.

Mizzou didn’t have a bad game on Saturday, but the loss stings a bit. Mizzou now is 9-8 overall and 1-4 in the conference. Alabama is 10-7 and 3-2.

Moving forward, if the Tigers keep that hot shooting streak from the free-throw line up, they should be in every basketball game. Next up for Missouri is a return home to play Texas A&M on Tuesday.