Missouri Basketball: 3 takeaways from Tigers road loss at Kansas

3. Too many scoring droughts

It’s never a good thing when a team goes on long stretches without a made basket, but that is exactly what Missouri did in this game. In the first half alone Mizzou had two scoring droughts of three minutes or more. In the last six minutes of the first half Missouri only scored two points, in that same span Kansas scored 20 points, taking the lead and extending it to 12.

The first ten minutes of the second half saw more of the same. In that time Missouri saw two different scoring droughts of over three minutes. During that time Kansas was able to increase their lead to 18 points. Even though Missouri was able to cut the lead to eight points with a minute left, the damage was already done. More reliable and consistent scoring is something Missouri has been looking for all season. I know, what a novel concept – score more consistently. But in a close game, those scoreless stretches can really throw off any momentum a team might have.

As I mentioned earlier, it’s always easier to focus on the negatives after a loss, but this game wasn’t a total loss for Missouri. The Tigers went into one of the toughest places to play and were working towards an upset. They proved that they can compete with one of the best teams in the country. As long as Coach Gates and the Tigers learn from this game and continue to improve, this season might end up being another successful one for Missouri.