3 Takeaways from Mizzou's Messy Loss to Texas

In a sloppy game for both teams, the Texas Longhorns got the upper hand on the No. 22 Missouri Tigers.

Texas Longhorns guard Jordan Pope protects the ball from Missouri Tigers guard Tamar Bates as the Longhorns take on Mizzou at the Moody Center on Jan. 21, 2025. / Mikala Compton/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Fresh off a No. 22 ranking in the AP Top 25, the Missouri Tigers' trip to Austin, Texas, ended in disappointment Tuesday night.

Despite there being a noticeably poor offensive display for both Missouri and the Texas Longhorns in the 61-53 matchup, too many mistakes and missed opportunites prevented the Tigers to leaving with a win. Their leading scorer, Tamar Bates, only finished with 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field.

The loss brings Missouri to a 4-2 record in SEC play, while Texas improved to the reverse of 2-4.

Here are three takeaways from yesterday's game:

Offensive Nightmare

It's rare an offensive performance from both teams is equally as bad, but that was the case between the Tigers and the Longhorns.

Missouri shot 31.3% from the field and 4-of-22 as a team from 3-point range, and as inefficient as it seems, Texas' 34% from the field and 4-of-20 on 3-pointers was only slightly better. From the start and finish of the game, both teams struggled to get buckets or find much of an offensive ryhtym.

Though the 3-point shot has been part of the identity of the Tigers — ranking in the top three in the SEC before last night — it was completely non-existent against the Longhorns. Caleb Grill, one of the top shooters in the country, only finished 1-of-5 from behind the arc.

Mark Mitchell was the player that struggled the most of anyone for Missouri, recording just seven points on 1-of-7 shooting from the field. Of the three 3-pointers he took, none found the bottom of the net. For Texas, star freshman Tre Johnson scored 12 points on 3-of-15 shooting.

The Tigers have been sound offensively for the entire season at large, but all of the events amid the game created a recipe for disaster. The Longhorns served as a prime opportunity to get one on the road, but a lackluster offensive output more than sealed their fate.

Simple Mistakes

If one thing could've set Missouri apart in a poor offensive game, it could've been avoiding the simple mistakes. Well, that didn't quite happen.

Despite having an equivalent 10 turnovers with Texas, the Tigers lost the offensive rebounding battle 14-8. This turned into 20 second chance points for the Longhorns — a huge seperator in their eventual win. Rebounding is an issue Missouri has found more success during this season than in others under coach Dennis Gates, but it was mightily prevelant yesterday.

The Tigers also got to the free-throw line, but only were able to knock down 19-of-27 attempts. The eight points left on the board could've narrowed the gap a significant amount, but they failed to knock down easy makes amidst their struggles from behind the arc.

In its own right, Missouri also fouled Texas an excessive amount of times. Calls can be debated, but most were within reason and more than avoidable. As a team it committed a whopping 26 fouls, which gave the Longhorns 30 attempts on free throws.

Rebounding, free throws and fouls are all areas that the Tigers easily could've found more success in, but it lost the battle in all of them. Even if the offense faltered, it could've capitalized in simpler ways.

SEC Unpredictability

No matter the opponent, when two SEC teams are competing each other, the outcome can't be quite predicted.

That's been telling from the heaping amount of upsets across the conference, including Missouri's win over the No. 5 Florida Gators at the time. It doesn't matter if the opposing team is at the top or bottom of conference, every team is capable of causing an upset.

The Longhorns' previous record of 12-6 was a little misleading considering its few losses in the SEC came against the likes of the No. 1 Tennessee Volunteers, No. 2 Auburn Tigers and No. 13 Texas A&M Aggies, but it was a game the Tigers were expected to win given its recent ranking a win streak in conference play. Instead, a game that on the surface level was "easier," became impossible to win.

There's not a single game left on the calendar that Missouri can look at and expect to be a cakewalk for the rest of the schedule, so each game will need the same mindset going into them. The gap to making the NCAA Tournament will only get more narrow with time, so every game is going to matter even more down the stretch.

After being on the other side of the SEC's unpredictability, yesterday's loss might be a lesson moving forward.