On Saturday afternoon at Rupp Arena, the Missouri Tigers showed the potential they may never reach.
In his first minute on the floor, Jeremiah Tilmon dunked for a 7-2 lead and followed with a block against Kentucky big man Nick Richards at the other end.
When Tilmon came off the bench for the first time in the second half, he grabbed an offensive rebound and Torrence Watson turned that into a 3-pointer to pull Missouri within 35-31.
The 6-foot-10 Tilmon was an instant boost for the Tigers against the 17th-ranked Wildcats on the road.
Kentucky got an instant boost when Tilmon had to take a seat because of his continuing foul issues.
The 6-11 Richards took control when the 6-10 Reed Nikko came in for Tilmon with about 9:30 left in the first half.
A 17-11 lead for the Tigers was a 19-17 lead for the Wildcats in a little more than a minute thanks to five straight points for Richards and a 3 for Immanuel Quickley.
"Anytime you have a player in foul trouble, it's hard," Nikko said. "I think we've done a good job of having a 'next man up' mentality."
But Saturday, the only man for the job was Tilmon.
Richards scored eight of his 17 first-half points after Tilmon sat with two fouls.
And it was Tilmon that made sure Richards couldn't finish the game on the floor by frustrating him with physical play.
Tilmon was in constant contact with Richards, keeping him from getting easy shots and blocking out for rebounds.
Winning the physical battle meant he was winning the mental one. The fourth foul for both came on a double technical.
"Why would you get in a back and forth with another player when you're playing that well?" Kentucky coach John Calipari asked.
Missouri needed to get Richards out of the game, and it accomplished that with about four minutes to go when he picked up foul No. 5.
The Tigers put pressure on one of the top teams in the Southeastern Conference, and would have won if they were at their best.
At their best, Richards doesn't have 21 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks.
At their best, Tilmon has more than seven points, three rebounds and one block in eight minutes.
"They got more from their bigs than we did from ours," Missouri coach Cuonzo Martin said.
When Tilmon is unavailable, either another big needs to match what he can do or someone else must take charge on offense to offset what is lost on defense and in the post on offense.
Dru Smith did at times. Kobe Brown did at times. It wasn't enough.
Quickley did it for Kentucky, which is why it won 71-59 and will continue to win in conference play and beyond.
Missouri can be that team, but is riding a fine line between being one of the elite in the SEC and scrounging for wins near the bottom.
How the season ends for the Tigers depends on how often the best version of themselves show up for games.