Two teams entered the court of play, both prepared for a tough and physical contest. Vanderbilt was coming off a big home win over LSU, Missouri was coming off a big road win over Texas A&M. The Commodores have had a tough season since entering conference play. At one point they lost 6 of 8 games, with their only wins in that stretch over Georgia.
As the game started, the physicality was fierce. The defense was forcing the ball out away from the basket. Points were hard to come by. Fouls... were not.
Sometimes wins and losses are complicated, but in this game the results were what they are for a few pretty simple and clear reasons.