The Missouri Tigers are down to their final chance.
Missouri (8-22, 0-17 Southeastern Conference) takes its final shot at a conference win when it plays at the LSU Tigers (16-14, 8-9 SEC) at 7:30 p.m. today (SEC Network).
Missouri has not won a game since Dec. 30 against Central Arkansas and has not beat a team from a Power Five conference since winning 71-64 against Pittsburgh on Nov. 28.
The black-and-gold Tigers enter the matchup off a 101-74 loss to Auburn on Tuesday.
Missouri was within three points late in the first half, and within single digits as late as the 15:30 mark of the second half, but Auburn pulled away through the final 15 minutes.
Graduate guard Sean East led the Tigers with 21 points, marking his sixth consecutive game scoring at least 20, tied with Jabari Brown (2013-14) for the longest streak by a Tiger in the past 33 years. The last Missouri player with a longer streak was Doug Smith at nine games in the 1990-91 season.
East had reached 20 points only twice in 90 career games before this season and now has done it 13 times this season.
East leads the Tigers with 17.6 points and 4.0 assists per game. His scoring average is the highest for a Missouri player since Brown averaged 19.9 in 2013-14.
East needs six points and 11 assists to become the first Tiger since Melvin Booker in the 1993-94 season to reach 500 points and 125 assists in a single season.
Junior guard Tamar Bates was next for Missouri with 12 points and four rebounds against Auburn, bringing his season average to 13.6 points per game for second on the team.
Bates has scored at least 10 points in 19 of the past 20 games.
Graduate guard Nick Honor added 11 points against Auburn, bringing his season average to 11.1 points per game. Honor is the first Tiger with 50 made 3-pointers since Brown in both 2012-13 and 2013-14.
Graduate forward Noah Carter adds 10.7 points and 4.8 rebounds per contest, now mostly off the bench.
Sophomore forward Aidan Shaw has come on strong the past two games, averaging 10.0 points and 9.0 rebounds per contest.
LSU enters off a 94-83 loss to Arkansas.
Graduate guard Jordan Wright (6-foot-6) led the Bayou Bengals with 24 points, while sophomore forward Tyrell Ward (6-6) scored 19 and fifth-year guard Trae Hannibal (6-2) and senior forward Derek Fountain (6-10) both added 10. Hannibal added 10 rebounds for a double-double.
Senior guard Jalen Cook (6-0) leads LSU with 15.6 points per game, but has played in less than half of LSU’s games this season. Cook missed the first 10 games of the season because of transfer eligibility rules and was suspended from the team Monday for “failure to meet standards that (LSU coach Matt McMahon) have in place for the program.”
Wright is next on the team with 14.9 points per game, while bringing down a team high 5.1 rebounds per contest and dishing out 2.5 assists per game.
Graduate forward Will Baker (7-0) adds 11.8 points and 4.9 rebounds per contest. Hannibal leads the team with 3.0 assists per game, mostly coming off the bench.
Missouri scores 72.3 points per game, ranking 12th in the SEC and 221st in the NCAA, while allowing 76.3 points per contest, 10th in the SEC and 290th in the NCAA.
LSU scores 76.6 points per game and allows an average of 74.7.
LSU leads the all-time series 11-4 and holds a 6-1 record in Baton Rouge, La. Missouri claimed its first road victory in the series last year, 81-76.