Porter Moser's time at Oklahoma appears to be rapidly descending downward as the struggling Sooners suffered a third consecutive blowout loss to a ranked SEC opponent, this time an 82-58 road loss to No. 21 Missouri.
The Sooners are now 0-6 against SEC teams currently ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 and have lost their last three games by an average margin of 23.3 points. Hardly the measure of a team, ESPN Bracketology guru Joe Lunardi this week still projected the Sooners as an NCAA Tournament team.
For long stretches against a stingy Missouri defense, the Sooners struggled to put the ball in the bucket, shooting just 22% in the first half and a season-low 31% for the game. The contest was close in the early minutes before the Tigers, who failed to win a single conference game a year ago, unleashed a 10-0 run to put Mizzou up by double digits.
Missouri led this game wire to wire, building a 20-point advantage by halftime, 44-24, and continued to pour it on in the second half. The Sooners got no closer than 15 points in the second half, and midway through the agonizing second 20 minutes, the Tigers built their advantage to 25 at 67-42.
Four Missouri Tigers scored in double figures, led by Mark Mitchell's 25 points.
Oklahoma's two leading scorers on the season, Jalon Moore and Jeremiah Fears, combined for just 18 points, Moore's season average by himself entering the game with Missouri. Duke Miles led the Sooners with 18 points. Moore was the only other OU player to reach double figures with 10.
Turnovers, a Sooner problem all season, were a factor again on Wednesday night in Columbia, Missouri. The Mizzou defense forced eight Sooner turnovers in the first 13 minutes of the game and OU ended up with 17 for the game, third most this season.
The loss to Missouri gave the Sooners a 1-4 record in the five-game gauntlet against ranked teams and dropped OU's conference record to 3-8. Oklahoma is 16-8 after beginning the season 13-0.
OU gets a brief -- I mean no more than a blink -- respite with LSU coming to Lloyd Noble Center on Saturday. The Tigers are one of just two teams behind the Sooners in the SEC standings with a 1-11 record in league play and 12-12 overall.
With just six games remaining in the regular season after Saturday -- five of which again are against currently ranked SEC teams (at No. 3 Florida, No. 22 Mississippi State, No. 15 Kentucky, at No. 19 Ole Miss, No. 21 Missouri and at Texas) the game with LSU becomes a must win for the spiraling Sooners.
3 takeaways
1. Sooners shoot 33% or worse in past three games
Not that long ago, Oklahoma led the SEC in field-goal percentage. For a third consecutive game, however, the Sooners have failed to shoot better than 33% from the field, and their 31% performance against Missouri represented a season low, symbolic of how things have been going lately for Porter Moser's team.
Missouri (26 of 48) scored eight more field goals than OU (18 of 58) on 10 fewer shot attempts. It was also an off night for the Sooners at the free-throw line. OU leads the SEC in free-throw percentage (.800), but was just 17 of 24 (.708) at the charity stripe on Wednesday night.
2. OU has no answer for 6-foot-9 Missouri big man
Missouri 6-foot-9 big man Mark Mitchell had a career night against the Sooners. Mitchell, who averages just 11 points for his career, which began as a freshman and sophomore at Duke, was unstoppable in the paint, where he scored 12 of his game-high 25 points. And he added 13 more (13 of 18) at the free-throw line.
3. Mizzou scores nearly half of its points in the paint
The Sooners' lack of a rim protector and a long, physical presence down low cost them dearly against Missouri. The Tigers scored 40 of their 82 points in the paint and another 25 at the free-throw line.