53.8% from the floor. 41.9% from three. Offensively, Alabama basketball played at a high level - save for 14 turnovers, though a disproportionate amount of those happened in the first half - and did plenty to earn a road win in Columbia, continuing its trend of playing well on the road.
Alabama still lost by 12. They gave up 110 points in a complete defensive meltdown at Missouri that handed the Crimson Tide a second consecutive loss and likely ended any hope it had of winning the SEC regular season crown.
Poor on-ball defense, missed rotations and assignments, and an inability to be disciplined enough to not leave their feet plagued the Tide all night, especially in the first half. Missouri raced out to a 12-0 lead just 2:30 into the game. Alabama surrendered a 59-point first half as Missouri looked like they were playing offense against air.
Alabama provided little resistance. The effort was better in the second half, but Alabama still allowed 51 points en route to giving up 100+ points for the first time this season. Alabama came into the game ranked 40th in KenPom's defensive efficiency rankings. It fell to 46th based off of one performance. Falling six spots this late in the season is hard to do, but that's how bad the Crimson Tide was on that end of the floor.
In the KenPom era, which dates back to 1997, it was the eighth worst defensive efficiency rating for the Tide. Alabama surrendered a defensive rating of 139.9, effectively meaning the Tigers scored 140 points per 100 possessions on Wednesday night. It was the third worst of the Nate Oats era, with only losses to Kentucky in 2024 and 2022 being worse.
Missouri's effective field goal percentage of 68.1% is the 10th worst allowed by Alabama in the KenPom era. That is also the third worst of the Oats era.
The Tigers dominated the Crimson Tide in the paint. Missouri scored 40 points in the paint. Alabama had no answer for Duke transfer Mark Mitchell, who led all scorers with 31 points. Neither Grant Nelson nor Cliff Omoruyi could do much with him. Mo Dioubate was competitive but was working at a significant physical disadvantage.
All-in-all, Missouri shot 74.3% from two. That's the third-highest mark against Alabama in the KenPom era. It's the highest two-point percentage surrendered in the Oats era.
Alabama's defensive issues aren't going away
Much like the aftermath of the Auburn game, there's no time for the Crimson Tide to lick its wounds following the loss in CoMo. Things can slip away from Alabama quickly if they don't reset their focus and play better, especially on the defensive end.
It was a poor offensive showing that doomed Alabama against Auburn on Saturday. It was a total defensive meltdown that led to Alabama's loss in Columbia.
Three of Alabama's final five regular season opponents are elite offensively. Alabama plays Kentucky on Saturday and the Wildcats rank 5th in KenPom's offensive efficiency. They also still face Auburn (No. 1) and Florida (No. 4.). Those teams will be licking their chops to go against a defense that is taking on water and looked completely lost on Wednesday night.
It was always going to be difficult for this team to be elite defensively. With smaller guards like Mark Sears and Aden Holloway playing so many minutes, Alabama is going to give up some points. Those are the two best offensive players on the roster, though, so you have to live with it.
What was most disheartening against Missouri was the lack of physicality and effort from Omoruyi and Nelson on the interior. Oats took notice and both played under 20 minutes. Alabama played better going small with a front line of Dioubate and Jarin Stevenson, both of whom played much harder despite the physical disadvantage.
In just 18 minutes, Nelson was a team-worst -20. It's the second consecutive game that Nelson finished with the worst plus-minus on the team.
The sky isn't falling due to two straight losses. But Alabama's defensive limitations are beginning to allow reality to set in that this team might have a lower ceiling than we all hoped.