COLUMBIA, Mo. — At the moment, Missouri men’s basketball contains multitudes. Or maybe just extremes.
At the most critical point in the regular season, the No. 15 Tigers (21-9 overall, 10-7 Southeastern Conference) are playing their most confusing basketball yet. Their offense is humming in a way that very few, if any, others are. And their defense is bafflingly regressing into something that at times provides as much resistance as an automatic revolving door.
The result: The ultimate mixed bag of late-season trends has added uncertainty to the program’s most-anticipated postseason in a decade.
The contrast could not be starker between some of Mizzou’s offensive and defensive stats over the last five games — a span that includes a Feb.