Struggling Tigers face challenges down final stretch

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- It's been a long slide for Missouri, one game above .500 since a 9-0 start, and there's no shortage of challenges the rest of the way.

The Tigers' 72-70 loss to Texas on Sunday was the latest setback, and it had all the familiar elements. The team, ranked No. 2 in December, is too soft in the middle, too weak at the point and too scattershot with its attack.

"I'm aware that sometimes it looks like we're not on the same page," coach Quin Snyder said.

That's not the ideal recipe heading into the homestretch of the Big 12 season. The Tigers have four regular-season games remaining (18-8, 7-5) beginning at resurgent Texas Tech (18-6, 7-5) tonight, and also including home dates against No. 13 Oklahoma State and No. 1 Kansas.

The Tigers are in a three-way tie for fourth place in the conference, with the top four seeds getting first-round byes. They need to finish strong, against some of the strongest teams, if they want to be in the NCAA tournament.

"I believe we deserve to be in," guard Clarence Gilbert said. "Going to the NIT and stuff like that would just leave a bad taste in my mouth about my career."

Missouri waited too long to get serious against Texas, falling behind by 10 points at the half. A late rally fell short, resulting in the Tigers' second home loss of the season.

A lack of effort

"I don't doubt our effort in the second half, but what hurts is that we didn't have that effort in the first half," forward Rickey Paulding said. "That's kind of the story of our season, just playing one half.

"Our team's still growing."

Snyder has often made that point during the tumble. Gilbert is the lone senior, and he had to make the switch to point guard in the middle of the season.

But the young players don't seem to be learning quickly enough from their hard knocks. The Tigers are still waiting for forward Travon Bryant to play like a McDonald's All-American, center Arthur Johnson is spotty and appears out of shape, Gilbert's out of position and any time is a good time to shoot for Kareem Rush.

"Our decision making is really the thing that hurts us the most," Snyder said. "We are making bad decisions, whether it's passes or shots, and it puts a lot of pressure on us."

Missouri had a season-worst 22 turnovers against Texas, matching their season average of 14 in the first half.

"We don't have great ballhandlers out there and as a result we have to be even more determined in our execution," Snyder said. "Sometimes, the more we execute, the greater the probability we're going to turn it over."

Rush, the preseason Big 12 player of the year, has been picking up his play lately. Entering the Texas game, he had been averaging 28 points the last four games. But at the end, he hasn't exactly been a go-to guy, misfiring badly on a final shot at Baylor and then missing three shots in the final 1:08 against Texas.

Rush also was just 4-for-19 against the Longhorns, firing away as if he was playing in a pickup game and forcing the action against double-teaming. And he missed a wide-open Johnson under the basket on an inbounds pass in the closing seconds, missing Missouri's last chance for a victory.

"His decisions, he's got to keep working on," Snyder said. "You want him to carry you, but he's got to decide when."

Rush insists no doubt is creeping in.

"That's why they draw the plays up, for me to shoot it," he said. "There was just a lid on the basket toward the end."

Paulding, one of the team's more consistent players all season, also fell down at the end after leading Missouri's second-half surge. He's a 77-percent free throw shooter, but missed a pair with 10.2 seconds to go and Missouri down a point. Then he stepped out of bounds after taking Rush's inbounds pass.

"That's just part of the game," Paulding said. "You have to take tough breaks like that and learn from them."