After a historic, winless conference season, can Missouri make amends in SEC Tournament?

Missouri basketball came out with life. Missouri star Sean East II dazzled. Missouri went toe-to-toe with a conference foe for a sustained period, even looking in control as the game hit the halftime break.

Missouri basketball faded, before going falling to a double-digit deficit, before briefly charging back.

When it was all said and done, Missouri lost.

If you’ve heard it before, it’s because you’ve seen it before. Eighteen straight times, to be exact.

Missouri basketball lost 84-80 against LSU on Saturday in Baton Rouge, giving up a six-point halftime lead to fall to a program-record 18th straight loss and to its first winless conference record in the regular season since 1908.

The game had little bearing on MU’s standing other than the century-old record it matched. Missouri's seed in the SEC Tournament — No. 14 — had long been decided.

On Thursday, Dennis Gates said Missouri wouldn’t overlook LSU (17-14, 9-9 SEC), because it hasn’t done that to any opponent all season, adding that he would reassess and reevaluate the team’s goals after the bout in Baton Rouge. LSU came and went like the 17 before it, and now Missouri will move on.

Gates’ team moves on to No. 11-seeded Georgia on Wednesday in Nashville, Tennessee, for a first-round game in the SEC Tournament.

In his postgame press conference Saturday, here’s what Gates said he’ll assess before then:

“I'm just gonna basically just go through the stat sheet, you know, the overall stat sheet of the season and look at rotations and keep guys in their strengths,” Gates said. “I thought seeing Trent Pierce out there, giving his very best, he ran out of gas in the second half, but he had a great first half. Things like that, that'll allow us some type of rhythm, you know, whether it's the lineup or even the second-half lineup or even the play calls. So, I’ve just got to look at it from top to bottom standpoint, inside and out.”

Something needs to change for the Tigers (8-23, 0-18) to avoid an early exit in Nashville.

That likely starts with finding a scorer not named Sean East II or Tamar Bates.

East finished with a game-high 26 points against LSU. Bates, despite a 1-of-5 night from 3 that cost him a 40-50-90 season as his 3-point percentage dipped to 39.8%, had 13 points.

For most of MU’s slump, those two have been the Tigers’ offensive spark.

On Saturday, Noah Carter stepped up to the plate with an 18-point night and a 4-of-6 performance from 3. That would be a good start in Nashville.

Outside of East, Bates and Carter, Missouri used seven players for a combined 98 minutes of floor time. Those seven combined for 23 points.

That might be a reason why Gates mentioned tinkering with the lineups.

The Tigers are very likely to be without Caleb Grill and John Tonje, neither of whom have played since at least Jan. 13. Connor Vanover has missed the past three games with a concussion, and it’s unknown whether or not he’ll return for the tournament.

Missouri recently dropped Carter from the starting lineup in favor of sophomore Aidan Shaw. Whether that sticks, or if there will be any more changes, remains to be seen, but the coach put that at the top of his list of priorities. Gates brought up Pierce as a positive contributor versus LSU in his postgame press conference, and freshman point guard Anthony Robinson II had MU’s highest plus-minus total in the loss at LSU at +15.

But for all the on-court issues Gates and his staff will attempt to tend to, the toughest task for the Tigers may be overcoming their recent history: Eighteen straight losses, and zero wins against SEC opposition.

Georgia presents a chance to momentarily right that wrong. Missouri had the lead against the Bulldogs heading into the final five minutes of the game Jan. 6 at Mizzou Arena, but like LSU on Saturday, that one went the way of MU’s opponent. Since then, the Bulldogs have lost two of their past 12 games heading into the postseason.

Wednesday is Missouri’s last chance in the 2023-24 campaign. The key might be viewing it as a fresh chance.

“We're going into a new season,” Carter said. “Everybody's 0-0, so we’ve got to look at it that way. Now we’ve gotta get prepared for going down to Nashville, so just prepare that way and be ready. You know, us seniors, we know this is our last go round, so be ready for it and go out there and push and make a run.”

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Can Missouri basketball amend historic season in SEC Tournament?