Nobody came right out and said it, but Missouri made it clear the Tigers’ controversy-filled season may be just about finished.

Their 65-56 loss to Kansas University Monday night at Allen Fieldhouse was by no means the cause of Missouri’s problems. It simply might be the final straw.

The Tigers opened the season ranked as high as No. 3 nationally, but Monday’s loss knocked their record to 9-9 overall and 4-4 in the Big 12 Conference and inspired chants of “NIT, NIT” from the KU student section.

After the game, Missouri’s players said little to convince their hecklers the taunt was off-target.

Asked if he felt like the season was slipping away, MU senior center Arthur Johnson’s answer seemed to confirm it.

“We’ve only got a month left,” Johnson said, “so it’ll be over before you know it.”

Senior guard Travon Bryant looked equally downtrodden as he answered questions in almost a whisper.

Only one Tiger, sophomore point guard Jimmy McKinney, expressed much optimism.

“Just grind it out and keep the faith, and hopefully everything will turn our way,” McKinney said. “We’ve just gotta keep it in God’s hands, and hopefully it works out for us. I still have faith in this team. We still have faith in each other. If we play like we played tonight and we lose, hey, I guess it wasn’t our year.”

KU's Wayne Simien (23) and David Padgett converge on Missouri's Arthur Johnson, who finished with a team-leading 15 points.

It hasn’t been the Tigers’ year so far. They’ve dealt with allegations of NCAA violations, fans calling for fifth-year coach Quin Snyder’s job, bitter losses to non-ranked opponents and five close losses to ranked teams.

The loss to Kansas was Missouri’s fifth straight in Lawrence, adding additional coals to an already blazing grill. Snyder lightly joked with media he would like to change his team’s record if he could, but there was no question this loss was as damaging as any the Tigers have had this year.

Missouri has been in desperate need of a win against a quality opponent to get its season back on track. It failed in close losses to ranked opponents Gonzaga, Illinois, Syracuse and Texas.

Monday was no different: The Tigers wilted in the final minutes against the Jayhawks (14-4, 6-1).

“We continue to grind games like these out,” senior Rickey Paulding said. “It was a disappointing loss, though we were in a pretty good position to win. We needed to capitalize to win the game. We were not able to do that at times, and when we didn’t Kansas would go on a run.”

Miles drives KU to victory Woodling: Jayhawk defense saves day Tigers pessimistic after loss Graves late to practice, starts on bench Hear Bill: KU-MU postgame comments See the photos: KU-Missouri Get the stats: KU-MU box score 6Sports video: KU defeats Missouri, 65-56

There’s not a game the Tigers haven’t been in position to win this season, but something always seems to happen down the stretch to hold them back. This time it was a defensive lapse, poor three-point shooting (3-for-18), a 13-minute scoring drought by Johnson and two turnovers in the final minute.

Snyder praised his team’s effort against the Jayhawks and said its performance would be good enough to win most games. Still, it was clear he felt the same pressure as his players to start winning games immediately — if it wasn’t too late.

“If it’s not nothing, it’s maybe a hair below,” Snyder said of MU’s margin of error the rest of the season. “We’ve felt that for a while.”