COLUMBIA, Mo. — With their best player scratched shortly before tip-off, the Missouri Tigers hung with No. 4 Alabama for about a half but couldn’t match the Crimson Tide’s firepower with leading scorer Kobe Brown on the bench.
Less than 30 minutes before the start of Saturday’s sold-out game, Mizzou announced that Brown would miss the game while nursing the ankle injury he suffered late against Arkansas on Wednesday, thrusting freshman Aidan Shaw into the starting lineup for the first time this season.
“Our student-athlete’s health is our top priority,” Tigers coach Dennis Gates said in a statement released 26 minutes before the start game. “For Kobe’s long-term future and success, I have elected to rest him tonight and not risk any further injury by allowing his ankle to properly heal.”
