Tigers in tailspin

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Last season, Missouri collapsed under the scrutiny of an NCAA investigation. This season, there's no such excuse.

Heading into today's game against Nebraska, the Tigers (9-8, 1-3 Big 12) appear to be a fast-sinking ship. Coach Quin Snyder, who turns every postgame news conference into a psychology session, knows he's saddled with a dysfunctional team.

After Wednesday's 16-point home loss to Texas Tech, which followed a 20-point blowout at Kansas State, Snyder called Missouri's performance "disconcerting." He said players need to take "ownership" of their responsibilities, and that a "collective resolve" was essential to a turnaround, and that "slippage" had affected focus.

"Our team needs to feel the urgency," Snyder said. "I certainly feel it. We've been a team that's needed to feel that in order to play the way we need to play."

Judging from the team's recent play, he doesn't think players are getting that message. Snyder believes Missouri is playing now more like it did during an early-season three-game losing streak against Davidson, Creighton and Houston, than it did in pushing No. 1 Illinois and No. 6 Oklahoma State in recent tight losses.

At the beginning of the season, Missouri was overly dependent on the 3-pointer and played indifferent defense. Those traits are back. The Tigers are a pitiful 9-for-46 from long range the last two games. There's little inside presence aside from Linas Kleiza's occasional forays to the basket.

"We're going back to what we were doing when we first started having games," guard Jimmy McKinney said. "I wish we wouldn't, but we are.

"We've just got to make sure that we can turn it around right now."

The offense has a tendency to go ice-cold, as witnessed by the 12-minute stretch without a basket -- and without many good shots -- against Texas Tech. Missouri fell behind by 19 points against Davidson before losing by three, started the first half 0-for-10 and the second half 0-for-7 against Arkansas, shot 23 percent and scored only 16 points in the first half against Indiana, and somehow beat Gonzaga despite scoring only two points in the final 8 1/2 minutes.

Texas Tech turned 19 turnovers into 25 easy points on Wednesday.

"When there are mistakes, how do you react?" Snyder said. "Do you dig in and make adjustments, or do those mistakes pull you apart? They split us."

Plus, freshman point guard Jason Horton is looking a little overwhelmed lately. He had seven assists against Texas Tech but also had five turnovers.

Snyder always harps on defense first, and Wednesday he chided players for not communicating on switches, among other problems.

"I don't think we're that good that we can go out there and outscore teams," forward Linas Kleiza said. "I think we know what we need to do to get better; we need to focus on our defense and keep our energy up."

Already, the math looks a bit grim for a return to the NCAA tournament. There are 13 regular-season games left to turn it around, and Missouri has been beatable in the new Mizzou Arena with Texas Tech joining Arkansas and Davidson.

None of the first 12 games has been a sellout in the new building, where the Tigers heard boos as they headed off the court Wednesday.

Plus, Missouri is 0-5 on the road.

"It's hard to get a road win, it's something we've been struggling with, and we just dropped one at home," guard Jason Conley said. "The only thing we can do right now is prepare and practice, strategize, watch the tape, learn from it, find some things that can help us change, and help us have a better game on Saturday."

By now, Snyder knows better than to count on it with a nine-man rotation that includes four freshmen.

"This is a painful way to learn but that's what happened to us earlier in the year," he said. "That's the part that's challenging.

"We've already learned this lesson. Why are we revisiting this?"