Sunday Sit-down with St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Dave Matter

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

ABC 17 Sports Director Nathalie brought on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Dave Matter in this week's edition of Sunday Sit-down.

The two talked about an up and down week for the Mizzou men's basketball team. The group upset No. 25 Arkansas, but ended up falling to No. 4 Alabama in front of a sellout crowd on Saturday. Matter said beating the Crimson Tide this year is a tough thing to do, but especially when your star player isn't available to play.

"Nothing's impossible. I mean, they could have won and they hung with them for the first 15 minutes or so, but, man, you have to be almost perfect," he said. "Alabama really turned it up there late in the first half, early in the second half and then they just pulled away."

Head coach Dennis Gates and company will prepare for a road trip to Ole Miss on Tuesday and then a tall task against No. 12 Iowa State in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Saturday.

"Ole Miss is kind of a must-win because they're sitting at 1-6 in the conference, not very good. That is not, necessarily, a really tough place to play," Matter said. "Win one and then come home and gear up for, you know, what could be a top-10, top-12 Iowa State team. Really good defensive team."

Matter also talked about Mizzou football's newest quarterback, former Miami QB Jake Garcia.

"They want to add some competition to the room," he said. "Brady Cook, for all the good things he did last year, still this team was only good enough to win six games."

Watch the full conversation on ABC 17 News SportsZone at 10:30 on ABC 17.