No. 4 Tide roll, win big at Missouri

The Alabama Crimson Tide dominated the final moments of the first half and the opening minutes of the second half – just like Missouri coach Dennis Gates knew they would.

The dominant stretch carried the No. 4 Tide to a resounding 85-64 win over the Missouri Tigers at Mizzou Arena on Saturday, Jan. 21 to improve to 17-2, while the Tigers fell to 14-5.

“They go on a run at the end of the first and the beginning of the second. Consistently,” Gates said. “That is consistently how they have played. We didn't mitigate it at all.”

Missouri opened the game in a 9-2 hole at the under-16 media timeout. Following that timeout, however, the Tigers rallied all the way back to take a 16-13 lead before eventually slipping and falling further into a slump against a consistent Alabama team.

The game marked the second time in as many games that the Tigers took to the court to challenge a top-25 team in the country following their win against No. 25 Arkansas on Wednesday, Jan. 18.

The loss goes down as one of high quality, with Gates claiming that the Tide should be the top-ranked team in the country. With a Houston loss and a pair of Kansas losses over the past week, Alabama is poised to vault into an Associated Press top-two ranking, and the Tigers look to build on the loss to a talented Tide squad.

“No. 1 team in the country. Alabama. I've said it all along,” Gates said. “They have the length. They have the athleticism. They have the shooting ability, which I thought we stifled in the first half because they rely on it, but also they do a great job getting to the free-throw line.

“To be able to defeat that team, you can't give them these energy buckets.”

Missouri’s problem summarized by Gates: the Tigers gave up too many buckets that allowed Alabama to continue its momentum.

Only one Tiger that logged over 10 minutes finished with a positive plus/minus rating: Aidan Shaw’s plus-12 in just 17 minutes of play. The true freshman made his first career start on Saturday in lieu of an injured Kobe Brown.

“For me, I feel like I've just been preparing for it,” Shaw said. “My name was called, I was ready to play. Give my 110% on the court for my team.”

The Tigers continue Southeastern Conference play on the road, traveling to Ole Miss (9-10). The Rebels lost at Arkansas by a 69-57 margin on Saturday, but remain a one-point favorite over Missouri at Ole Miss’ Pavilion.