The Missouri Tigers would be waking up this morning feeling pretty good about themselves if they had just hit a few free throws late in Tuesday night's game against the No. 16 ranked Georgetown Hoyas at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo. The Tigers missed three of four free throws in the final 19 seconds which is what ultimately killed them in their 111-102 overtime loss to the Hoyas.
The first two came at the 19-second mark. Missouri was at the free throw line with a four-point lead trying to extend it. The Tigers couldn't have asked for a better situation than that -- at the free throw line, up four points, with 19 seconds remaining.
Unfortunately, Laurence Bowers misses both free throws, Georgetown snags the rebound, goes up court and is fouled by Mizzou's Michael Dixon. Georgetown drills both free throws (of course!) and Mizzou gets the ball back and, again, they're fouled sending Michael Dixon to the free throw line with 14.1 seconds left.
Clank.
Clank.
"There's no excuse," Dixon said after the game,"I just missed the free throw. I kind of pride myself on shooting free throws, and I take responsibility for that, I kind of let my team down. There are about 50 different things that you could say if it went the other way in this game we could have won, but I'm a point guard and point guards make free throws." Talk about bad timing. Dixon was 8 of 11 at the free throw line all night. Just 12 seconds earlier he had hit two in a row to keep Mizzou ahead. The guy shot over 80 percent from the line. Those misses...just happen. I'm impressed with his attitude -- "I'm a point guard and point guards make free throws" -- and his ability to understand the mistake. The Tigers just got caught up in some bad timing. For example, not many opposing teams will go 18 of 18 at the free throw line against Mizzou. Not many will hit 15 3-pointers. And Dixon won't miss those free throws very often. (H/T MUTigers.com)