Beating any team twice in a season is one of the hardest things to do in sports, especially within the same conference. This becomes even more challenging in the SEC this season, where the strength of the conference makes teams unpredictable the second time around, even if the first contest wasn't close.
That's exactly what happened on Saturday night. This was easily a trap game: the Tigers were coming off a huge win against No. 4 Alabama, they haven't been great on the road this season, and they had already played the Razorbacks once.
They weren't able to overcome this and played an all-around bad game. They allowed over 90 points for the second straight contest, turned the ball over repeatedly, and, above all, their stars didn't shoot with confidence.
Arkansas holds off No. 14 Mizzou 🐗 @RazorbackMBB pic.twitter.com/ySO2ky7r3C
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) February 23, 2025
Mizzou actually converted double the number of three-pointers throughout the game, but they were nowhere near efficient enough to generate any real volume or impact on the game.
After shooting a decent 8-for-19 in the first twenty minutes, they finished 4-for-17 in the second half. In a close game this late in the season, they simply cannot afford to shoot this way.
Highlighting their best sharpshooter, and potentially the best in the entire NCAA this season in that regard, Caleb Grill had one of his worst games efficiency-wise.
He played the most minutes of the entire squad but finished with a -4 for the game. Despite accumulating 13 points by the end, he shot just 4-for-14 from the field.
Looking specifically from deep, he went a disappointing 2-for-12. Many of these attempts came late in the matchup, and while it's good to see his confidence remain as he continued to shoot, it's still not the performance you want from your best shooter.
On the other side of that, it was nice to see Marques Warrick play the way he did. He finished with 17 points, including a solid 4-for-6 from deep. His shooting was easily one of the few highlights from the game.
Looking at the overall field goal percentages, the Tigers dipped in that aspect as well. The first half went alright, as they shot over 50% from the field. Not great, but good enough to win a game with.
Then, it suddenly dipped to just 36% in the second half. They simply cannot lose track of their shot selection and playmaking in a game like this one.
After starting the game shooting 1-for-10 from deep, Arkansas really stepped it up in the second half, going 5-for-8. While there still wasn’t a significant number of threes falling, their efficiency became the difference in the ballgame.
The Razorbacks seized the momentum early on, thanks to their home crowd. They never lost it as the game progressed, even with the nine lead changes and constant ties.
That, along with their efficiency late in the game, helped them string together multiple possessions of smart basketball, leading to consistent buckets and ultimately allowing them to steal the win by the end.
Hopefully, this loss serves as nothing more than a wake-up call—to play two complete halves of basketball in every game and never underestimate their competition.
As long as the shooting gets back on track, Mizzou will too. They get their first chance to do that Tuesday night at 8 p.m., when they face the South Carolina Gamecocks, who are coming off their first conference win of the season.