Flickers of what could be: Mizzou continues on the war path against No. 20 Arkansas

We have to be able, now, to put 40 straight minutes together of consistent basketball with no panic.

Missouri coach Dennis Gates has iterated versions of the sentence over and over throughout the season, most recently before the Vanderbilt game, but the Tigers have yet to string together a complete performance.

They nearly had 30 quality minutes, as they led No. 19 Vanderbilt by 21 points with 8:41 left in the game.

The world saw flickers of the Tigers’ best basketball.

The Commodores then went on a 13-2 run over the course of two minutes, shrinking Missouri’s lead to 10. Gone were the final minutes that would’ve completed one of Mizzou’s most well-rounded outings of the season. Vanderbilt, despite hiccups, wore down the Tigers’ lead until the last second, with senior Mark Mitchell inbounding the ball under the hoop they’d been defending. He needed to get the ball down the court and away from the Commodores’ hoop to hold the Tigers’ one-point lead.

So, he fired the ball down the floor toward junior Anthony Robinson II waiting on the other half. Vandy’s star player Tyler Tanner intercepted the pass and fired the ball right back, shooting a hail mary from half court that sailed straight on toward the basket. The shot felt like the end of Mizzou’s tournament dreams as it drew closer to the basket.

Thankfully for the Tigers, the shot did not fall. They walked away with the 81-80 win by the skin of their teeth, improving their tournament chances and taking down another top-Southeastern Conference team.

Mizzou will need some more of that magic when it hits the road, taking on No. 20 Arkansas on its own court in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

The Razorbacks are heading into the matchup after a heartbreaking 117-115 loss to No. 25 Alabama in double overtime, despite freshman Darius Acuff Jr.’s career-high 49 points. Despite the loss to the Crimson Tide, Acuff was just two points short of making program history for points scored in one game. Handling Tanner proved to be difficult for the Tigers, and Acuff will be just as difficult.

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Acuff is one of the top contenders for SEC Player of the Year — receiving SEC Freshman of the Week recognition seven times — and is averaging 22.3 points per game, shooting 44.3% from 3. Senior forward and Springfield product Trevon Brazile is leading the Razorbacks with 7.2 rebounds per game.

Arkansas is projected to be a No. 5 seed after the loss to Alabama, with its highest-projected seed being No. 4. Missouri is currently slotted to be the first team out, just barely missing the cutoff for the tournament.

But, if Mizzou continues its war path and defeats the Razorbacks, things would be looking up.

“Every team’s been going out there and playing their hardest,” junior Trent Pierce said. “We know that they know (they’re) going to get our best, as well. So, we just got to be the hardest fighting team at the end of the day.

“And, every team wants to make it to the tournament, so we just got to win games at this point.”

Graduate Jayden Stone echoed Pierce’s statement, adding how strenuous playing high-major basketball in the SEC has been.

“This is all new to me,” Stone said. “Competing to this kind of stature of representation and championship and getting to the tournament. So, I’m just learning how hard and difficult it is playing in this league.”

Missouri will have to continue to up the ante if it wants to take down No. 20 Arkansas in its own building and move up in tournament projections. The Tigers will face the Razorbacks at 3 p.m. Saturday in Fayetteville, Arkansas.