We’ve established this as a transition year, right? Good, then nobody was surprised that the Tigers didn’t beat the SEC’s — and perhaps the nation’s — premier basketball program, the No. 4 Kentucky Wildcats. After all, Missouri got 57.5 percent of its minutes from players (mostly freshmen and sophomores) who had never played UK before.
Despite a first half in which Missouri was outscored by 18, the team hung around and covered the spread in a 66-58 home loss to Kentucky on Tuesday night. No, it wasn’t a pretty game. But what’s a rebuilding season if you can’t take a step back to see how the young Tigers’ future core performed against John Calipari’s squad of future NBA stars?