COLUMBIA, MO. • Jordan Barnett couldn’t bear to look up, and I couldn’t bear to look at him.

The sullen senior just gazed, his face glazed by anguish.

But I was genuinely curious — what had he learned about his team Saturday?

What are the lessons of heartbreak?

“One of the biggest things is — this is a group that’s never going to stop fighting, no matter what’s going on,” the Mizzou forward from St. Louis said, his heavy head now perched up a half-hour after his 28-point performance in a 77-75 loss. “We really believe we can win every game. But we still haven’t figured out how to finish games. There have been a lot of situations this season where we have leads late, and we just lose them. Almost, collapse.”

We’ve now gotten to the point of our journey where it’s understood that this Mizzou team is, indeed, competitive. The storyline of longtime losers is over. Amazing turnaround acknowledged. So let’s get this out of the way — Wow, Mizzou lost by only two points to the famed Florida Gators. OK, now that it’s out of our systems. ... Goodness, what a deplorable final two possessions by the Tigers, who played the final minute the worst way a team can play — not to lose.

After the loss in the Braggin’ Rights game, I screamed on these pages that Mizzou had a point guard problem, a poised guard problem. Well, since then Blake Harris went running home and Mizzou was left with Jordan Geist and Terrence Phillips. Geist played valiantly for most of Saturday’s game, while Phillips played with volatility. But they combined for one assist. And on the final two possessions, Mizzou had a shot clock violation followed by “the most Mizzou thing ever.”

With the game tied, Geist’s soft pass was stolen, incredibly, by Florida’s Chris Chiozza, whose breakaway, buzzer-beating layup won the game. Incidentally, to this point, the “most Mizzou thing ever” was the best recruit in team history leaving with an injury two minutes into the first game. Prior to that, it was probably the football team losing a game on a fifth down, which isn’t a thing.

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For the current basketball Tigers, ball-handling has been an issue for much of the season — the talented but inconsistent Harris was part of it — and it surely was an issue Saturday, sadly when it mattered most. Coach Cuonzo Martin has done a brilliant job coaching this team. He’s clearly put his stamp on the program with his old-school toughness. His Tigers are 11-4. But the issue now? Finding the best balance for Kassius Robertson, between him dribbling and controlling the basketball — and getting open away from the basketball.

Roberston is arguably the team’s best shooter, but conspicuously in the past two games Martin’s had the senior making plays off the dribble. But he’s more reliable than Phillips.

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“I had three turnovers,” Kassius said. “It wasn’t good at all. I’ve got to take care of the ball more. I had some ball-handling responsibilities. I’ve just got to take care of the ball.”

Martin was in no mood to answer questions about Harris, who couldn’t handle it at Mizzou but could’ve helped the Tigers in the future. Asked about Saturday’s point guard play, following Harris’ transfer, Martin gave a one-word answer: “Good.”

Asked what made it good, Martin said: “Same stuff they’ve been doing. We had 11 turnovers, we average 15. They played well. Terrence has got to play a little tougher defensively, but I thought they did a good job.”

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The loss — and how Mizzou lost — makes the ball-handling a more glaring issue. But it wouldn’t have been as blatant if the Tigers had won, and you’d have to think they might’ve if Jeremiah Tilmon gets to even double-digit minutes Saturday. Yes, yes, Tilmon has a fouling issue. But two of the five fouls called on him were preposterous. The center scored eight points in just eight minutes, and his premature dismissal changed the dynamic of the game. I’ve seen a lot of basketball — seldom have I seen calls this bad. And as for someone who knows a little about governing: “These refs in college hoops are really ruining a tough, great American game,” tweeted former Missouri governor Jay Nixon, followed by the hashtag #letemplay.

“We’ve got to figure out a way to let Jeremiah Tilmon play basketball,” Martin said. “... I hope he doesn’t get a reputation because he’s doing the right things and he’s playing hard.”

This will be a game that looms over this team all winter.

“What if they’d just won the Florida game?” we’ll say.

But they lost it. They lost a game even with a 28-point, nine-rebound effort from Barnett, who is playing inspired basketball.

“This game hurts,” said Barnett, who leads Mizzou with 15.9 points per game. “It angers us. A lot. The best thing we can do is take that anger, channel it and use it on Wednesday. It’s all we can do. I know I’ve said it a lot, but it’s still a learning process.”