The #4 Mizzou Tigers eeked out a 67-66 road victory over the Texas Longhorns Monday night. In a game begging for the Tigers to run away with a comfortable win, the Tigers seemed to lose focus on several occassions before narrowly escaping with the win.
The Tigers lead by 10 points with just over four minutes remaining on the clock. Despite success by it’s blistering guard duo of Phil Pressey and Michael Dixon slicing through the lane for layups throughout the game, Coach of the Year candidate Frank Haith elected to go into safe mode and began running a kill-the-clock offense.
Repeatedly the Tigers spread out the floor as the guards dribbled the shot clock away near half court. The strategy backfired as seemingly each possession ended with either a turnover or a horrendous, forced shot. The Longhorns took advantage of the Tigers’ mistakes and over the next four minutes mounted a 13-2 run to pull ahead 66-65.
In addition to the mistakes on the offensive end of the court, the outsized Tigers repeatedly found themselves allowing Texas players with second chances, by allowing offensive rebounds. The size difference wasn’t even the issue, as the Mizzou players often didn’t even attempt to box out.
These are recurring issues they can get away with versus a 13-8 team, but come tournament time, the talented Tigers will need to shore up the deficiencies to make a title run in the tourney.
In the end, victories are what counts. Tough road wins, especially, build confidence. Hopefully next time Haith’s Tigers have a slight lead in the final minutes of a game, we’ll see them do what they do best – attack.
