Following what seemed like an unbeatable Missouri Tiger basketball team in non-conference regular season play, the dominant success did not carry over into road success.
During non-conference play Missouri went 14-1 with the only loss in overtime against Georgetown, and closed it out with a 40 point win over North Alabama. One unfortunate thing with the first part of their season however: the Tigers only play a handful of road games.
Since Mike Anderson took over as the Head Coach of the Tigers, Missouri had just 2 road games against non-conference opponents in the 06-07 and 07-08 seasons. In the 08-09 season, aside from the tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which the Tigers went 2-1 in, Mizzou played only one game on the road at Georgia. And, last season the Tigers played just two road games at Vanderbilt and at Oral Roberts, both of which resulted in losses. This season also included just two road games (both victories), at La Salle and at Oregon, which they won by just three points over the Ducks. They also went 1-1 in neutral site games in Kansas City against Georgetown and then in St. Louis against Illinois. Perhaps the neutral site tournament games will benefit the Tigers as opposed to strictly road games.
With little road experience heading into conference play, the Tigers had a difficult problem executing the “Fastest 40 Minutes in basketball” while not at Mizzou Arena. This season, Missouri lost their first two conference road games, each of which they were the favorite in. Last season, Missouri won their first road test at Texas Tech, although it took overtime, and then went onto lose 3 of their next 4. The season before, 2008-2009, little road experience once again haunted the Tigers losing their first road test at Nebraska and then their third at Kansas State.
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