Missouri 87, Notre Dame 58

[recap] [box score]

It could be that Missouri is just a bad matchup for Notre Dame. The Tigers, who start four guards, had a big speed and quickness advantage over the Irish on the perimeter. Of course, that means that Notre Dame had a corresponding size advantage on the interior. Unfortunately for ND, their biggest starter, Jack Cooley, isn't the kind of player you can throw the ball to in the post and have him be an offensive threat. And while Tim Abromaitis had his way shooting mid-range jumpers over the smaller guys trying to guard him, the Notre Dame guards proved to be completely incapable of getting the Irish good looks against the quick Missouri ball pressure. In order to take advantage of size mismatches, you have to have guards capable of initiating the offense. Eric Atkins has battled some health problems in the early going, and so I won't come down too hard on him, but despite the fact that Mizzou is under-sized, you're going to need solid guard play to beat them.

It could also be that Notre Dame just isn't very good.