Mizzou shot 33% from the field, shot 25% from 3, and had more turnovers than made baskets on Thursday night in its first-round NCAA Tournament game against Drake.
As a result, the sixth-seeded Tigers crashed out of the field in their opening game with a 67-57 loss to the 11th-seeded Bulldogs. Behind 21 points from guard Bennett Stirtz, Drake trailed for all of 2 minutes and 33 seconds in the game.
A year ago, Stirtz, a Liberty native, was playing for Northwest Missouri State. Along with several others, he followed coach Ben McCollum to Drake in the offseason and immediately elevated the Bulldogs. Drake lost 3 games all year prior to the tournament. They swept the Missouri Valley Conference titles and rode a 7-game winning streak into their matchup with Mizzou.
Stirtz was the best player on the floor. He played all 40 minutes, made 8 of his 11 shot attempts from the field, made all 3 of his triples — including a one-legged runner from the top of the arc — and finished with 4 assists.
When Mizzou cut the deficit to 1 point with 4:28 remaining in the game, Stirtz hit a jumper in the paint seconds later to snatch the momentum back and ignite a 6-0 Drake run.
Mizzou got it back to 4 with 1:49 to play, but the offense in the closing minutes was unsightly. Mizzou made 2 shots from the field over the final 7:42 of the game — both of them dunks. The final basket was a gimme, with Drake giving Mark Mitchell a free look at the basket in the closing seconds.
The Tigers missed 8 straight shots to open the second half and they closed the half missing 7 of their final 9.
If not for the free throw line, where Mizzou shot 23-for-26, the game would have been over far sooner.
Anthony Robinson II fouled out with just 4 points, 2 assists, and 3 turnovers on 0-of-5 shooting. Caleb Grill scored 14 points but shot 1-for-7 from 3. Tamar Bates scored 10 points and was the only other Tiger to reach double figures on the night. Mitchell was limited to 8 points on 2-of-8 shooting.
Four different Tiger players were responsible for 3-plus turnovers. As a team, Mizzou finished with 17 giveaways and 15 made baskets. In a game where the possessions were extremely limited by Drake’s intentional pace of play, Mizzou did itself no favors.
And that brought an otherwise strong season from Dennis Gates to a disappointing close. The Tigers went 10-8 in league play and ended the year 22-12. While that marks an improvement on last season, a one-and-done showing in the NCAA Tournament will leave the Tigers with just 1 March Madness victory since 2010.
Mizzou crashes out of NCAA Tournament with first-round loss to Drake Saturday Down South.
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