Missouri men's basketball blown out at Alabama: 3 takeaways

Eli Hoff, St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Jan 27, 2026

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Missouri men's basketball struggled to corral Alabama's perimeter shooting while the Tigers continued to flounder at the free-throw line on Tuesday, losing soundly to the No. 23 Crimson Tide.

Alabama's 90-64 victory was a fairly comfortable one for the home team, which went on a key 10-0 run late in the first half to take control of the game. Mizzou, meanwhile, never settled in on the offensive or defensive ends of the floor. Familiar issues defending 3-pointers and knocking down free throws were the lowlights of a generally off night for the Tigers.

Guard Latrell Wrightsell Jr. scored 21 points for Alabama (14-6 overall, 4-3 Southeastern Conference), making a career-high seven triples.

Making his second consecutive start, point guard T.O. Barrett scored 13 points to lead Mizzou (14-7, 4-4).

Here are three takeaways from Tuesday's SEC matchup in Tuscaloosa, Ala.:

New low for free-throw woes

Quickly, some credit where it was due for Missouri: In their last three games, the Tigers actually looked like a competent free-throw shooting team. They made 24 of 30 (80%) at Louisiana State, 11 of 12 (91.7%) against Georgia, then 24 of 33 (72.7%) against Oklahoma.

But Mizzou regressed right on past the mean and into the basement Tuesday.

The Tigers finished the game eight for 23 at the stripe, a season-worst 34.8%.

At one point, midway through one of Mark Mitchell's trips to the charity stripe, MU was three for 13 on free throws, as a team. When Mitchell finally made his first free throw of the game — on his seventh attempt — Missouri had a better percentage from beyond the 3-point line (30.8%) than at the free-throw line (28.6%).

No answer for Alabama's 3-point shooting

The most devastating part of Alabama's attack, at least to MU, was its 3-point shooting.

When the Tigers clawed back within single digits early in the second half, Wrightsell promptly knocked down a 3. Then, over a span of less than three minutes, Wrightsell knocked down three consecutive triples for a personal 9-0 run that allowed the Tide's lead to swell from 11 points to 20.

As a team, Alabama finished the night 15 for 39 from 3, a 38.5% clip.

Tuesday was the 11th time in this season's 21 games that an MU opponent shot 38% or better from deep in a game.

For its part, Mizzou shot just four of 21 (19%) from beyond the arc — a season low.

G-League product becomes talk of T-Town

College basketball's current front-of-mind controversy involves Alabama center Charles Bediako, who started Tuesday's matchup against Missouri. Bediako played for the Tide from 2021 to 2023, then spent three seasons in the NBA G-League.

Earlier this month, a Tuscaloosa judge — who has been subsequently outed as a donor to the Crimson Tide — granted an order clearing the way for Bediako to return to the college game.

Though many observers of college hoops — and some coaches — have lamented the ability of Bediako and other players who've turned pro coming back to school, Tigers coach Dennis Gates was clear on Monday in how he felt about the matter: "I support Bediako," he said.

Gates' argument in support of "non-traditional" student-athletes, as he framed it, likened Bediako's time in the G-League to a player temporarily leaving the college game to serve in the military or play national-team basketball in the Olympics or other FIBA events.

"What has changed is not the behavior of these student-athletes, but how we judge the motivation behind it," Gates said. "Now, representing a country is celebrated and patriotic, but they're now pursuing economic opportunity, and that's being framed as student-athletes being greedy."

The Bediako situation dominated several minutes of Tuesday's television broadcast.

He finished the night as a solid contributor to the Crimson Tide's win, scoring 14 points and securing five rebounds in 18 minutes of action.

Up next

Missouri returns home for a favorable matchup on Saturday against Mississippi State. The Bulldogs are 10-10 overall and 2-5 in SEC play heading into their Wednesday road game against Louisiana State.

Mississippi State guard Josh Hubbard makes his team a tricky out, but getting the Bulldogs at home is a matchup MU needs to leverage.

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