Missouri was already losing 1-0 prior to tipoff of Saturday’s college basketball game against Georgia. Yes, you read that correctly.
The Tigers were down by one before the game even began due to a bizarre technical foul from an administrative error.
Missouri released its starting lineup for the road college basketball game in Athens. It featured an unexpected change at the center position.
- Guard — Anthony Robinson II
- Guard — Tamar Bates
- Guard — Tony Pekins
- Forward — Trent Pierce
- Center – Peyton Marshall
Mark Mitchell typically occupies the five spot, with Marshall coming off of the bench, so the switch was a surprise to everybody involved… including the coaching staff. Perhaps it was related to an injury or some kind of strategic move. Perhaps it was an embarrassing administrative error. Likely Definitely the latter.
Either way, the Tigers still started Mitchell even though he was not listed in the lineup. As a result, they were penalized with one technical free throw. Just one shot.
Georgia went to the charity stripe with a full 20 minutes remaining in the first half. Not even one millisecond came off of the clock. Tipoff had yet to take place.
The Bulldogs made their technical free throw to take a 1-0 lead without ever taking possession. The game officially got underway with the tipoff just moments later.
Here is how the whole thing went down in real time:
I’ve never seen this happen before in a college basketball game. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/255fEd9Xxi
— College Sports Only (@CollegeSportsO) February 15, 2025
As the announcer said, this kind of thing is not super uncommon on the high school level. People who do not know how to work the book often make an error and it results in a one-shot pregame technical foul. Never before have I seen this happen in college basketball. It would be a real shame if that one point proved to be the difference between a crucial conference win and an incredibly awkward loss!