AUBURN, Ala.— College basketball’s law of gravity haunted the Missouri Tigers on Tuesday.
What goes up must come down.
Tigers coach Dennis Gates won’t allow it to fester as an excuse, but three days after Mizzou’s finest performance of the season, a letdown Tuesday at Auburn might have been inevitable. Calling the 89-56 clunker the Valentine’s Day Massacre might be overly dramatic, but the Tigers played dead from the opening tip at Neville Arena.
“Ultimately that first half wasn't characteristic of us,” Gates said after the Tigers’ most lopsided loss on his watch this season, “and it did not give us an opportunity to win the game.