On Saturday, an ominous sense of déjà vu arrived when the clock ticked under a minute to play and Missouri led Texas A&M by five.
The Tigers’ fortitude had withstood 39 minutes of stress, whether it was grinding out offensive possessions, winning the rebounding battle, and responding to an Aggies surge midway through the second half. But after Amari Davis banked in a jumper, the bolts started rattling. Again.
The Tigers lost track of Hayden Hefner, who buried a 3-pointer after drifting to the right corner. Then, after breaking the huddle from a timeout, the play diagrammed by Coach Cuonzo Martin stalled out — twice.