So far this season, Mizzou has been a very streaky team. They've been blown out by Kansas and Illinois, but also started conference play 2-0 against Kentucky and defending national champion Florida. At LSU, the the Tigers went scoreless for over five minutes to start the game, then proceeded to drop 43 points in the second half alone.
The game was a reflection of how the entire season has gone for Dennis Gates and company, revealing a team that can play up to anyone in the country, and just as easily play down to anyone as well.
Tigers are running out of time to put it all together
Missouri does a lot of things well. They're a top ten shooting team in the nation at 51.1%, and have scored at least 80 points eleven different times this season. On the flip side, however, the Tigers are one of the worst free throw shooting teams at just 67.4%, and have lost each of the four games they failed to eclipse 70 points.
Against LSU, Missouri was actually lights out at the charity stripe, shooting 80% on 30 attempts, but the shooting on offense disappeared instead. Despite the wins against Kentucky and Florida, the Tigers combined to shoot just 64.5% from the free throw line. The bottom line is the game against LSU, who was missing their leading scorer, should've and could've been won. Gates applauded his team's second half effort, but after 18 games, Mizzou still has yet to put together a complete game.
"We won the second half. I'm proud of our guys for doing that," Gates said. "We were able to minimize them in some spurts. We were able to get to the foul line, we were able to do some things. But ultimately...we left some possessions there and we didn't win certain margins."
The Tigers will face No. 21 Georgia next, and will maybe show that they can finally put it all together after a Jekyll and Hyde performance at LSU.