And then there were four.
As in, four teams left across the college basketball landscape that have yet to win a single conference game this season.
Forget the Final Four. This is the Frozen Four. Pacific, Cal Poly, DePaul and ... your Missouri Tigers.
How did this happen?
It’s a question I’ve been asked often this season as the second season of Dennis Gates turns as sour as the first one did sweet.
Mizzou fans have witnessed a lot of carnage, especially in modern times, but they have never witnessed a losing streak like this one.
Here’s what went wrong, with one reason for each loss in the program-worst 15-game losing streak the Tigers will once again try to snap Saturday ...
Fouls. So many fouls! The Tigers foul an average of 20 times per game. Of 362 Division I teams, Mizzou ranks among the 20 worst at opponent free throws allowed per field-goal attempt (.303).
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Free throws. Mizzou has been outscored by 93 points at the charity stripe. The Tigers make the second-fewest free throws in the SEC (14 per game) while gifting opponents the most (17.3). So it’s not just that the Tigers foul too much. They get fouled very little. Rotten combination.
Rebounding, or lack thereof. The Tigers are an SEC-worst minus-6 in rebounding differential. Mizzou gets mauled when it comes to offensive rebounds. The Tigers average a league-worst 9 offensive boards per game while allowing a third-to-worst 12, giving them a league-worst minus-3 in offensive rebounding differential. That’s a lot of second-chance points surrendered, and teams capitalize. The Tigers don’t have a healthy, active player who averages more than five boards per game. Look around the SEC. That’s rare.
3-point shooting slide. Mizzou has the fourth-worst 3-point percentage in the SEC. Of the teams in the bottom four, none have a winning conference record. In conference games, the Tigers have shot 30.1 percent from deep while allowing opponents to make 36.1 percent of their 3-point attempts. Not good, for a team that counts its deep shooting as a strength.
Key returner regression. Noah Carter’s field-goal and 3-point percentages have dropped significantly from a season ago. It’s a big problem because Carter takes a team-high 26 percent of the team’s shots when he’s on the floor. His role was miscast.
Injuries. Caleb Grill hasn’t played since a win against Wichita State on Dec. 3. John Tonje hasn’t played since an overtime loss against South Carolina on Jan. 13. It’s fair to say there could have been some wins in there if they had played. Sean East also missed some time, and he’s the team’s MVP.
Staff shakeup. Any curveball to a coaching staff is a serious in-season change, and Mizzou suffered a stressful one when assistant coach Dickey Nutt stepped away from the team to focus on his battle against cancer.
Transfer misses. Other than the impressive Tamar Bates, Mizzou doesn’t have a transfer-portal addition new to the team this offseason season who has managed to appear in 10-plus games while averaging at least five points or three rebounds. Meanwhile transfer targets who picked other programs, like Matthew Cleveland at Miami and Caleb Love at Arizona, are starring in premier roles.
Toothless defense. Mizzou lets opponents shoot 44.1 percent from the field. That’s second-to-last in the SEC, trailing only Vanderbilt (45.3 percent). An SEC team has poured in 45 percent or more of its field goals against the Tigers nine times during the conference losing streak. KenPom cites Mizzou’s defensive efficiency in conference play as second-worst in the league.
Stalled sophomore. Despite occasional sparks, former four-star freshman turned sophomore Aidan Shaw’s development and usage seemed to plateau. He’s scored double-digit points in each of the SEC games he’s played 20-plus minutes, but it’s happened only twice this season.
Freshmen growing pains. While Jordan Butler, who is averaging 14.4 minutes per game in SEC play, has carved out a meaningful role, fellow freshmen Anthony Robinson II and Trent Pierce have been scaled back compared to their non-conference usage.
Turnover trouble. After ripping and running its way to 20.5 points per game off turnovers last season, the Tigers are barely breaking even in their attempts to create havoc this time around. They’re steals have dropped from 10.2 per game last season to 7.6 this season, and they’re scoring 13.4 points per game off turnovers while surrendering 13.2 points per game off their own turnovers.
Broken clutch. Mizzou has twice blown double-digit leads this season in a conference loss (Vanderbilt, Ole Miss). The Tigers also lost their only overtime game, against South Carolina, at home.
Squandered second chances. Mizzou has had rematches against four of the SEC teams it has lost to, with a fifth one coming against Ole Miss on Saturday. So far it has lost every single chance to split a regular-season series against a familiar foe.
Bad luck. It can’t be blamed for everything, but this team has encountered more than its fair share of it during a season that can’t end soon enough.