COLUMBIA, Mo. — The Missouri basketball team’s first loss this season was one Cuonzo Martin would just as soon forget, but he didn’t borrow from the Barry Odom playbook and set fire to the game film or the box score. That’s not his style, nor are such antics necessary with his veteran team.
From the opening tip to the final buzzer, Tennessee throttled the Tigers in every dimension back on Dec. 30, and other than correcting mistakes his team made in the 73-53 loss, Martin won’t dwell on the debacle to inspire his team for Saturday’s rematch.
“If you have to find extra ways to motivate a guy who lost a basketball game, I don’t care if you lost by 20 or five, if you don’t hate losing then why are you doing this?