Why Mizzou's loss to Georgia means Sunday's match-up with Kentucky is a must-win

It's almost time to sound the panic button.

After a 3-0 start to SEC play, Missouri has fallen on the wrong side of the NCAA Tournament bubble after hearty comeback still ended in a 62-51 loss to Georgia.

The Tigers struggled on offense and fell into bad turnover habits. That outshined the rebounding effort that saw MU outrebound Georgia 37-34.

It all adds up to what's now a five-game skid for Missouri as UGA snapped its three-game skid. The Tigers came into Thursday projected as a No. 11 seed in a play-in game against St. Johns. Now, at 3-5 in the SEC, MU's next game is a must-win.

"Give Georgia credit, they have a stingy defense," Pingeton said. "It's going to be hard to win when you have a quarter where you shoot so low like we did this second quarter."

That's a Sunday matinee against Kentucky to close the month of January, a team Missouri has already beaten this season right before the new year. That game is now a must-win in January.

February is around the corner. The opportunities to earn resume-building wins will begin to dwindle with every passing game. That resume is all that matters this season for a team that has set the goal of making the NCAA tournament after last year's snub.

After beating Auburn and Alabama on the road, MU is now in need of a win to right its ship. That seems easier said than done for a team that's struggling to open games and has struggled to close would-be wins.

Missouri started slow yet again. This time, the Tigers weren't as short-handed as they were Sunday. Sara-Rose Smith saw a good chunk of playing time in the first half after missing Sunday's game against Tennessee.

Smith helped MU win the rebounding battle, which is an area that the Tigers needed to improve in going into the second half of the season.

Mama Dembele saw just two minutes of playing time. However, she might need a few more practices before she's completely back to the same level of conditioning she was at before her illness. Both suffered from the same upper-respiratory illness.

Dembele's understanding of the offense would have helped in the first half, especially in the second quarter where MU turned the ball over six times, scored just five points, didn't connect on a field goal in the final 7:13 of the second quarter and went into the half trailing 29-29.

Even for a second-half team like Missouri, that's a difficult hole to crawl out of. Kick-starting the offense meant finding confidence right away to rejuvenate a team that shot 26 percent from the field in the first half.

Troup had 11 points at halftime of 4 of 6 shooting. She has the capability to be a scoring player when the team needs some firepower, but when Troup and Hansen combine to shoot 1 for 12 in the first half it adds to another funk that MU needed to finagle out of mid-game.

Frank started 0-5 but sank her first two shots of the second half. After that, she missed her next five shots.

Even when MU cut the lead to five with 50 seconds left, there wasn't enough to push MU over its stagnant offense. Pingeton credited Georgia's defense, but also noted how Missouri simply needed to make shots.

"We had some good looks and we didn't convert on it," Pingeton said.

Dembele, unconditioned and all, dished four assists. She was the best catalyst for MU's offense. She'll most likely be closer to being fully ready for the game in Lexington Sunday, and MU will need her.

Kentucky represents a game where MU has to take care of business. The Tigers' loss to Georgia came at the hands of a team that's still above .500 and played a similar SEC schedule to this point.

Unlike UGA, however, Missouri was 1:06 from beating Tennessee, which would have changed the perplexion of the coming weeks.

Now, Missouri needs to earn a resume-worthy SEC win while taking care of business against teams it needs to beat. Those teams are the likes of Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Texas A&M and Auburn, four teams that have a combined three SEC wins.

MU won't play Auburn again but gets Vandy, UK and A&M soon. Then, it comes down to earning wins over the likes of Arkansas and Ole Miss on the road, and Mississippi State, Alabama and Florida at home.

It's possible. MU has shown when it gets into a rhythm, it's potent on offense. The team flows and gets everyone involved. That's been a challenge with an illness going around the team and the rigors of SEC play happening at the same time.

"We're just a little more lethargic than we usually are," Pingeton said. "I was proud of the way they continued to battle."

That didn't happen Thursday. It needs to happen Sunday against a team MU has beaten and needs to beat again to right the ship.

That comes Sunday. It's a must-win.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Why Mizzou's loss to Georgia means Sunday's is a must-win