By now, it’s routine.
We watch Missouri grind its way through the gears on offense, and hope that it can amass just enough stops to give itself a chance. And even when that happens, the Tigers let winnable games elude their grasp in the final minutes.
Even the most jaded or calloused fan still feels pangs of frustration. Despite a seven-game stretch where coach Cuonzo Martin’s roster creaked toward competency, it was hard to shake a lingering feeling — whether anecdotally or in the underlying metrics — that it wasn’t sustainable.
Now, after Sunday night’s loss to Mississippi State, the Tigers bear a statistical resemblance to the group we saw over the first 15 games of the season.