A win, as they say, is a win.

But Missouri basketball’s 89-84 win over Southeast Missouri State on Friday night at Mizzou Arena, where the Tigers played for the first time in the 2025-26 season, was closer than some fans may have liked.

Mizzou (2-0) needed to erase a five-point deficit at the break to come back back and beat the mid-major Redhawks (0-2) and avoid an upset loss. The Tigers managed to course-correct for the most part in the second half, but there were significant issues up until that point.

Here are our main takeaways from Missouri’s narrow win over SEMO:

What went wrong with Mizzou basketball defense in first half?

After holding the Redhawks empty for the opening five minutes, trials and tribulations on defense followed. The Tigers ended up trailing at the break, 51-

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