When the University of Missouri’s bowl date with Army was announced in early December, it made for a bummer of a scheduling conflict for any ardent Mizzou fan: The Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas was set for Wednesday night at a game time coinciding with the men’s basketball team’s Braggin’ Rights game against Illinois at the Enterprise Center.
Two marquee, theoretically compelling, MU events at the same time no doubt made plenty wish they could be both places at once.
By the end of the night, though, plenty wanted no part of either episode on what will be remembered as a day of sweeping exasperation that came in a variety of bitter flavors.
In Column A, we have the agony of a 24-22 loss on a last-second field goal by Army and the attached sense of something taken away that hurts all the more for any player or fan.
In Column B, we have the jarring reality of an 88-63 loss to Illinois for MU’s second-most lopsided defeat in the 41-game series. And, alas, that was a misleadingly close final score. Illinois led by as many as 37 points in the second half on the way to a grimace-inducing bookend to accompany the 102-65 clobbering by Kansas in MU’s other rivalry game.
If you had to choose which of Missouri’s miseries was more telling, though, you’d take the one that was most anticipated even after MU had won the Braggin’ Rights games the last three seasons.
It might be less painful to absorb when so little is expected, sure. But such pessimism and apathy is the real trouble for MU hoops now, reflected in meager attendance in Columbia and a tepid crowd in an ordinarily raucous setting on Wednesday.
When MU made a fleeting comeback bid late in the first half, Mizzou fans were momentarily engaged. But they were largely drowned out by Illinois fans all night, and who could blame them for the silent treatment?
In the second half, Mizzou’s Kobe Brown suffered an arm injury. When he was asked about it after the game, he said, “I lost feeling. It scared me a little bit.”
His words coincidentally spoke to what Mizzou has to understand and overcome about its men’s basketball fans at this point: They’ve lost feeling, and it should scare Missouri.
Entering what figures to be a thorny season in the Southeastern Conference next week at Kentucky, the Tigers are 6-6 with an essentially shapeless team that nearly always struggles to shoot and seldom defends well enough to make up for that.
Much as it might be understandable that there still would be flux with so many newcomers this season, well, that’s also a lot of flux for Cuonzo Martin to have in his fifth season while still seeking his first NCAA Tournament win at MU.
After a loss marked by Mizzou’s ongoing inability to stop the opposing three-pointer (Illinois shot 12 for 25) or make any of its own (6 of 23) while also being largely unable to hinder 7-footer Kofi Cockburn inside (25 points, 14 rebounds), Martin was asked what his message would be to fans.
“Stay the course; stay the course,” he said. “We’ll continue to get better. We’ll continue to grow. I like who we are as a team. I like where we’re going.”
Trouble is, he’s seeing a direction beyond what’s visible to others.
Much as we want to see it, too, especially when it comes to an awe-inspiring man and leader, the Show-Me State needs to have his vision of this team come into focus from the horizon.
It needs to at least get back to a place where losses like this would be greeted with outrage instead of resignation or a shrug.
Some surely have given up on the season, while others no longer think Martin can revive the program at any point.
We’re not there, but we’re also prone both to wishful thinking and seeing how seasons play out.
“We’ve still got a long season left,” Brown said when asked what he’d tell his teammates. “Don’t let this define who we are as a team … Let’s keep moving forward (and) keep getting better.”
Here’s hoping. Because on a rotten night for Mizzou athletics, the numbness of a foregone conclusion has stronger implications than the anguish of a last-second defeat.