COLUMBIA, Mo. — As encouraging as multiple new additions to first-year Missouri men’s basketball coach Dennis Gates’ roster have become during a debut season that has revived Mizzou Arena and stirred hopes of March relevance, the most crucial piece to these Tigers is the lone returning regular, Kobe Brown.

The fact was driven home Saturday evening, as Brown’s injured ankle forced him to sit and watch his Tigers’ admirable first half without him against No. 4 Alabama give way to a Crimson Tide flood that started before intermission and ended in an 85-64 pummeling.

The play that sidelined Brown looked harmless enough in the moment. It came late during Mizzou’s thrilling win against Arkansas the Tigers’ last time out, but he walked it off and sounded optimistic.

“It’s good,” Brown said this week. “I’ll be fine.”

But shortly after Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes became the owner of the Show-Me-State’s most fretted-over lower-body injury, Brown claimed second on the list. Moments before Mizzou Arena’s player introductions, he was announced out. Hopes of a thriller against one of the top teams in the nation took a hit, deflating like the balloons a bored student section would be popping in rapid-fire fashion by the end of the night.

Brown had led the Tigers in scoring in six of the last seven games, averaging 20 points per game during that stretch. Without him, the Tigers lost by 21. Last time Brown played his home-state Tide, for the record, he scored 30 points in a Tigers win here. So, yes, it would have probably been a much more competitive game had Brown played. And Gates’ Tigers are not going to beat teams as good as Alabama without Brown, or with a substantially limited version of him. A season could hinge on his ankle. No concrete answers will be available immediately.

Until then, how about discussing a less obvious takeaway from this game?

Isiaih Mosley took another step in the right direction.

Forced toward the lead role due to Brown’s absence, the much-discussed Missouri State transfer has gone from the talk of the offseason, to hardly involved and then benched, to building some meaningful momentum as the season rapidly nears that a point where a team that hopes to be going places has to know who’s in and who’s out.

After returning from a five-game absence from the court, Mosley has now played in three consecutive games. He was the biggest reason Saturday why the Brown-less Tigers traded some first-half punches with Alabama before the game got away. He played his Mizzou-high 33 minutes. His team-high 19 points were the most he’s scored since November. He distributed four of Mizzou’s 10 assists, one on a beautiful lob for a dunk, blocked two shots and grabbed four rebounds.

Perfect?

Hardly.

Mosley made just one of eight 3-pointers on a night Mizzou shot a wretched 3-for-28 from deep. He was a little carless with the ball too often, turning it over four times. He didn’t attempt a single free throw, something volume shooters simply have to create.

More good signs than bad, though. Definitely.

The Tigers are not looking for moral victories and silver linings. They have beaten three ranked teams and wanted to take down a top-five school for the first time in a decade even without Brown. Admirable, but on this day impossible. The loss won’t hurt the Tigers in the eyes of the NCAA Tournament selection committee. If this game becomes something of a breakthrough for Mosley, it could even become a long-term win. For a game that was over early, Mosely stirred the imagination. Just ask the opposing coach.

“So, once we heard Kobe wasn’t going to play, we, as a staff, said Mosley was going to try to really be super aggressive tonight,” Alabama’s Nate Oats said. “Our coaches had a pretty good feel on what he could do. He’s an aggressive scorer, and with the way they play, this system is perfect for him. The floor is spaced. He can shoot it. He can go off the dribble. He didn’t shoot it well from three, but with the floor spaced the way they spaced it, he went eight-of-nine from two. I mean, that’s pretty impressive shooting, to be honest with you. We didn’t do a very good job. We forced him into some tough threes, and he’s a guy who’s going to be aggressive and take tough shots, but he can make tough shots, too. I think he can give them another scoring option outside of Kobe. He’s definitely another weapon.”

It would be great to hear what Mosley thought about his performance, his growing role with his team, and the adversity he’s overcome during a trying season impacted by what Gates will only refer to as personal reasons. The Missouri State transfer many assumed would be the team’s leading scorer this season has not talked to media since before games began. It’s unclear if that is his wish, Gates’ wish, or both. So much is unclear with Mosley, still.

Brown is this team’s most important player. If he can get healthy, and Mosley can build on what he did here Saturday, well, wondering about those what-ifs will be a lot more compelling (and fun) than this loss.