The Closing Five: Tennessee Falls At Missouri
COLUMBIA – Tennessee Basketball’s flaws reared their ugly head tonight at Missouri as the Vols lose its first game in two and a half weeks to the Tigers 73-69.
The Vols played all the hits off their album that no one wanted released. Long scoring droughts, a turnover pandemic, inefficiency inside, and late-game confusion all showed up for head coach Rick Barnes’ squad. It was a classic trap game situation with Tennessee coming off a huge win, on short rest, late at night, with Alabama on the horizon this weekend.
came up short pic.twitter.com/qKOWpEbOJv
— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) February 25, 2026
1: Not Capitalizing On Offensive Boards
Tennessee is one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country and has been on a historic pace all year. Against Mizzou, that trend continued. The Vols outrebounded the Tigers 42-30 with 18 offensive rebounds. That’s the kind of stat you look at, say, “how do you lose a game when you get 18 offensive boards?”
You don’t put back on second chances, that’s how. Tennessee only got 20 second-chance points, which is just barely over one point per offensive board. Junior forward Jalen Carey went 0-3 and 0-2 from the free throw line, even with 6 offensive rebounds. Redshirt sophomore J.P Estrella went 0-3. Freshman Dwayne Brown II only played 15 minutes and had five points. The only bright spot inside was senior Felix Okpara, who had 15 points on a perfect 7-7 from the field.
It’s looking like the group of big men in Tennessee isn’t going to turn it around offensively at this point. Carey has continued to be inefficient inside, JP Estrella’s foot injury seems to be lingering, and Brown’s promising trend the past few games was halted last night. Okpara has started to really put it together, but the depth of bigs Barnes built this team around seems to be cracking.
2: The Turnover Bug Returns
Rick Barnes’ worst nightmare returned… turnovers. They came back like a virus that the team thought they had shaken but never fully killed. Tennessee committed 15 turnovers to Missouri’s 8. The team allowed 23 Tiger points off those giveaways.
“It’s been a problem all year,” Barnes said. “It’s probably kept us from really being a contender for the (SEC) championship, regular season. There was a time there, I think we averaged, what, 12? I mean, 14, 15? It was ridiculous, and that’s what it looked like tonight. This is what we looked like a couple of months ago, a month and a half ago, or whatever. It’s frustrating because some of them force, and then I can say this too with the turnovers, some of our shot selection wasn’t good either, and, obviously, I’m frustrated with our guys because I know we’re better than we played.”
Turnovers have been this team’s Achilles heel. It’s cost Tennessee multiple games, including the comebacks by Kentucky and Kansas. It had been looking good recently, as they hadn’t committed double-digit turnovers in the three games prior, including the win at Vanderbilt. At this point, it feels like any hope of Tennessee making a run in March will revolve around ball security over anything else.
3: A Tiger Dynamic Duo
Credit where credit is due, Tennessee got crushed by two players for Missouri tonight. Senior Mark Mitchell, the Tigers’ star, had 23 points on 8-13 shooting in 35 minutes to give them a solid foundation in the game.
However, it was sophomore guard T.O Barrett that showed out with a career high 28 points. All of his points came at the rim as Barrett didn’t attempt a three-point shot all game. He drove to the basket time after time and found success almost every time. He came into this game averaging just 8.8 points per game, but sometimes, it’s just one player’s night.
“We were going to go double and try to get Felix over there or someone to go double at [Barrett],” Barnes said. “He just manhandled us down there, and he was probably the difference in the game for them, because he had a big night. Two players had probably over half their points.”
It was a game that Missouri felt like it wanted more. The Tigers were a last four in team according to Joe Lunardi, and the Tennessee matchup was their last chance at a real resumé-defining win. They played like their tournament lives depended on it, and Tennessee just didn’t have the same urgency.
4: Not Striking Early
Tennessee started the game strong with a 12-2 run to open the game. In the first few minutes, it felt like the Vols might be ready to roll through Columbia, but as fans have seen at times, Tennessee won’t fully put a team away in the first half.
Missouri had a horrible first-half shooting. They went 0-10 from three-point range and shot 34.5% from the field in the first 20 minutes. When an opponent shoots that badly, Tennessee has to make them pay, but they settled for hard shots and couldn’t extend their lead past 10 points.
“We started the game with three straight threes, and, you know, it’s fool’s gold, and we missed two of them,” Barnes said. “I didn’t think we were locked in. I just didn’t. Anything we want to do, we always talk about how we’re going to dictate the game with our offense. We didn’t do that.”
5: Vols Stars Slowed Down
The Vol’s own dynamic duo in freshman Nate Ament and senior Ja’Kobi Gillespie weren’t able to match what Mitchell and Barrett were bringing to the table.
Ament struggled with the physicality of the game, similar to what happened in Nashville. He was played very tough, and the game wore him down, partly due to a turned ankle midway through the first half that might have hindered him. Gillespie had 19 points but took too many long, inefficient shots that led to a 3-12 shooting night from beyond the arc. The two combined for 5 turnovers.
“[Ament’s] going to have to get himself going,” Barnes said. “He’s got to be the one to fight to get open. He knows how he’s been playing. It’s March. They’re not doing anything different that he hasn’t seen. It’s going to be on him. He’s going to have to work hard enough that if he’s going to have to fight through contact and hope that he’ll get some calls with freedom of movement.”