3 Takeaways from Mizzou's Blowout Loss to No. 23 Alabama

Three things that stood out from the Tigers' loss to the Crimson Tide.

Missouri Tigers forward Mark Mitchell (25) goes up for a shot against a Alabama defender during the first half at Coleman Coliseum | Sarah Munzenmaier/Alabama Crimson Tide on SI

Nearly halfway through SEC play, Missouri has settled into an unsustainable brand of basketball.

That was fully exposed Tuesday night in a 64-90 loss to Alabama. After three straight games that were decided in the final minutes, including a buzzer-beater win over Oklahoma, the cracks in the Tigers' foundation were fully broke by the Crimson Tide.

The loss puts Missouri back at .500 in SEC play nearly halfway through the conference schedule. The red flags for the Tigers are growing stronger after losing three of their last four.

Here's three takeaways from the loss.

A Season-Low Free Point Rate

Missouri Tigers forward Mark Mitchell (25) attempts a free-throw shot against the Alabama Crimson Tide during the first half at Coleman Coliseum. Mitchell went 1-for-8 from the line on the night. | Sarah Munzenmaier/Alabama Crimson Tide on SI

Time is running out for Missouri to improve upon issues that it has struggled with all season. At some point, those become weaknesses you have to learn how to live with.

One of those top issues for Missouri is a lack of execution from the free-throw line. The Tigers went 8-for-23 from the line Tuesday night. The 34.8% mark is the Tigers' worst on the season, nearly 13% lower than their previous season low. It was their fourth game on the year under 60%.

Missouri started the game shooting 3-for-10 from the free-throw line, preventing the Tigers from building offensive consistency.

"You can't, on the road, go 8-for-23 from the free-throw line," coach Dennis Gates said. "...You got to be able to execute, especially early, from that free-throw line."

Missouri averaged 73% from the line per game last season, but have crossed that mark just five times this season.

The free-throw shooting certainly wasn't the biggest difference maker in this loss, but it exasperated the issues of an offense that has been prone to scoring slumps.

Striking 3-Point Disparity

Missouri Tigers guard Anthony Robinson Il (0) leaps for a 3-point attempt during a game against the Alabama Crimson Tide during the first half at Coleman Coliseum. | Sarah Munzenmaier/Alabama Crimson Tide on SI

Alabama had its best day shooting 3s of SEC play while Missouri had its worst of the season.

The Crimson Tide's offensive dominance in the second half was largely due to what Gates called a "scorching hot" shooting effort. Meanwhile, Missouri's offense sputtered throughout the game, in need of a spark that it failed to find.

The Tigers shot 4-for-21 on 3s, while Alabama shot 15-for-39. Alabama guard Latrell Wrightsell safely put the Tigers away early in the second half by going 5-for-6 from 3 in the half.

Defending 3-point attempts was an issue that popped up for Missouri early in non-conference season, but that was mostly due to undersized mid-major opponents having no way to get past Missouri's length inside the paint. Opponents had no choice but to focus on the perimeter.

Missouri's defense giving up open looks to Alabama from behind the line was more concerning. As the second half put on full display, the Tigers aren't able to keep up with a hot offense.

Can this offense be consistent enough?

Missouri Tigers forward Jacob Crews (35) shoots the ball during a game against the Alabama Crimson Tide at Coleman Coliseum. | Sarah Munzenmaier/Alabama Crimson Tide on SI

On top of free-throw and 3-point shooting, Missouri's offense has been a very uninspiring product over the last six games of SEC play. A scoring drought ranging anywhere from four-eight minutes is virtually a gurantee for the Tigers in every game.

Tuesday night, that drought without a made field goal came in the middle of the first half, going from the 13:02 mark to 7:53 without a bucket. Missouri missed seven field goal attempts in that span.

Gates specifically highlighted two areas where Missouri struggled through that stretch, and the final minutes of the first half, with Alabama outscoring Missouri 21-8 in the final 7:37 of the half.

One thing that stood out to Gates was that Missouri gave up five turnovers in the final 6:18 of the half.

"When you look at the run, we can't turn the ball over how we did," Gates said. "I think we had a couple turnovers in that segment that they capitalized on. They ended up scoring 15 points off our turnovers, and we only scored four based off their minimal turnovers, they only had seven."

Additionally, Gates was pleased with Missouri grabbing 15 offensive rebounds, but was dissapointed that those resulted in only 19 second-chance points.

"You look at 15 offensive rebounds, it should have been between or close to 30," Gates said. "So that's a 10-point margin that we didn't win that they were able to exploit."

The return of both Jayden Stone and Trent Pierce from injury at the start of SEC play has continued to make a big impact. T.O. Barrett taking huge steps in his development has added some more grit and quick scoring ability to the unit.

But the steep and sudden regression of Anthony Robinson II paired with the decline in shot attempts for Jacob Crews still leaves this offense with very few scoring options.

Robinson returning to form would be a significant improvement for the offense. But without that, this offense doesn't look like one that can go very far.

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Missouri will return home Saturday to host Mississippi State at 2:30 p.m.