NASHVILLE, Tenn. _ Missouri's first NCAA Tournament appearance in five years lasted as long as its previous one.
Despite strong offensive play that cut a 22-point lead to six in the second half, the No. 8-seeded Tigers dropped their first-round game to Florida State, 67-54, Friday night. The Seminoles face Xavier on Sunday for a trip to the Sweet 16.
Missouri, which lost in the first round for the fourth straight time in the tournament, tried to take advantage of Florida State's poor 3-point defense by shooting its first three shots of the night from behind the arc. The first two, by graduate transfer Kassius Robertson and junior point guard Jordan Geist, went in. Not much else did after that the rest of the half, which ended with MU making just five of 23 field goals and trailing 42-20.
Freshman phenom Michael Porter Jr., who was playing in his second game since coming back from back surgery, forced shots all over the floor in the half and continued to look rusty. He finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds on 4-of-11 shooting for his first career double-double.
Missouri did itself no favors with fouls. The Tigers came into the game with eight available players after senior wing Jordan Barnett was suspended for an arrest for driving while intoxicated. The Tigers bench got even shorter after freshman Jeremiah Tilmon picked up his second foul with 14:35 left in the first half. Jontay Porter joined him with 7:55 left, which forced coach Cuonzo Martin to play both with two fouls towards the end of the half.
After missing seven consecutive shots, senior walk-on Brett Rau snapped Missouri's scoring drought with a three-point play off a layup to cut the Seminoles' lead to two with 13:07 left.
Florida State took advantage of poor defense and foul trouble to extend its lead to 10 points with 11 minutes left in the half. Missouri would cut the deficit to five after a Robertson 3 with 9:32 left but wouldn't get any closer.
The Seminoles scored 10 points in the first half off turnovers, one for each of Missouri's, and shot 63 percent from 3-point range as coach Leonard's Hamilton team took a 13-0 run and 22-point lead into halftime.
Porter Jr., whose return made many analysts consider Missouri to be a potential Sweet 16 pick, struggled to find his way in just his second game back since what had previously appeared to be season-ending back surgery.
He airballed two of his four shots in the first half and seemed to lack effort on defense, especially on the fast break, and at times appeared frustrated with his teammates.
Robertson gave Missouri energy right out of halftime, as he drilled three 3s to help cut the Seminoles' deficit to 13 in the opening minutes. He finished with a game-high 19 points.
The Tigers' defense buckled down and held Florida State scoreless for three minutes while Kevin Puryear and Porter Jr. added layups through traffic to whittle the deficit to 11.
Robertson drilled his fourth 3 of the half with 10:50 left to cut the deficit to single-digits.
But Florida State responded with a 13-0 run over a four-minute span to begin to put an end to Missouri's season.
Missouri ended the game with seven available players after Tilmon fouled out with 3:32 left.
