I understand why a lot of Mizzou fans don’t want to play this game. But I think it’s good that these two teams scheduled a series. No matter the reasons behind it.
It definitely sucks to lose the game! And in basketball, losses are more random. Especially when you’re willing to travel into less friendly confines to test your own team’s mettle.
Mizzou fans have a right to be irked, also. It’s another regional rivalry game on a neutral court where the Tigers racked up a loss. Not just Saint Louis, but
going back to last year against Illinois and Kansas. Then back to back neutral court bombs in the NCAA Tournament the last two years. I get that, and don’t disagree. It stinks. Those performances are also why I think Dennis Gates scheduled more neutral court games this season.
In a way, I wonder how much fools gold was found against Cleveland State. It was fun to watch, sure. But how much of the success was sustainable throughout the season? We knew coming into the season the Tigers were going to rely heavily on Jason Crowe, Jr. to generate offense. We knew a major question is whether Gates would be able to field a high quality defense. We also knew there was a chance the early returns would be bumpy, because they were going to need some time to figure out how to play with Mark Mitchell.
None of that looked like a problem against the overwhelmed Cleveland State Vikings. But all those questions came right back last night.
It’s disheartening to watch your opponent bang in threes, and seemingly hit one every time they need one. Missouri made several runs only to be rebutted by a SLU three at nearly every turn. It’s also frustrating when you also don’t shoot well enough to keep up.
In all, it was a frustrating game for the Tigers. And I’m not sure that wasn’t the best thing for them.
TEAM STATS
This isn’t a did you make your threes game, though. It’s hard to ignore. I checked their last box score, and SLU made 8 of 23 three point attempts in their opener against Lehigh. What a difference that result would have made, right?
However, I also don’t think Mizzou defended well enough overall. In their switching man to man defense, they ended up getting lost, or getting into poor mismatches way too often. The defensive game plan wasn’t good enough. One of my issues with the jumbo lineups is its requiring too many bigs to navigate screens they aren’t used to. Against Cleveland State? No problem. Against an experienced team like SLU? Yeah it could get messy.
- They did dominate the glass, but SLU only really played 6 guys (they played 9, but after the starters, it fell off quick). Missouri had a size advantage they couldn’t quite exploit.
- The turnover battle was a tie, so each team got the same number of possessions. But with the rebounding win the Tigers outshot by 8 from the floor, and 12 at the free throw line. Most game that’ll play well enough. But when they make so many more…
It’s interesting to me how much the assist rate can come down to making jumpers. Most jump shots tend to be of the catch and shoot variety. And Missouri didn’t make their catch and shoots, other than Bryson Tiller. SLU made theirs. It’s why they were +8 in the assist column. Steals were roughly even, then even in turnovers, that’s what gave the Billikens the BCI win.
Mizzou basically won two of the four factors, tied on another, and got smacked on the fourth.
INDIVIDUAL STATS
Trifecta: Bryson Tiller, Mark Mitchell, Jamier Jones
On the season: Mark Mitchell 5, Bryson Tiller 3, Toni Bryant 2, Jamier Jones, Kennard Davis Jr. 1
The good and the bad of Bryson Tiller. The good is 5-8 from three, 9 rebounds, 4 blocks. The bad? Just 4-10 inside the arc, a couple turnovers. Tiller can be so imposing, and then he’ll take a fade away middle in the lane with no one challenging the shot. It’s hard to fault a guy who was quite possibly the best overall player on the floor at times, and the games leading scorer, but he could be more.
If you’d see the line from Jason Crowe, Jr. of 3-for-18 from the floor, you’d probably guess that’s a game the Tigers would lose. And yet they were within striking distance. There are likely to be more games like this for Crowe, and the same for Toni Bryant. But how much better does he (or they) get game by game is what matters the most with these types of 5-star players. Both guys are really going to be important this season, but there’s a learning curve in games like this. You hope this experience makes them better next time.
Before the season I named Trent Pierce as a wildcard for the season and here he is, disappearing in another game. Pierce was on the floor for more than half the time, and he did rebound, but one made shot? Just 5% usage? That’s not going to be the way forward for him. He needs to impact the game more.
Mark Mitchell is there in a sort of “in case of emergency – break glass” kind of way. But you don’t want to break the glass. You want Crowe and Tiller and Jones to be able to drive the bus, with Mark facilitating their success. He’s just a good offensive player. I do wish he rebounded better (really, no defensive rebounds?), and defended better, Mark wasn’t the problem for Missouri last night.
We also saw why Jamier Jones is a bit of a tease. He’s still a bit out of control, he’s as athletic as anyone. But it’s not quite all put together yet.
Jason Crowe’s 26% floor rate as your starting point guard playing 85% of the minutes with 26.6% usage.
Gates clearly went into this game knowing he was going to keep a tight rotation. I think he knows he’s got 7 guys who are as sure of a bet as anything, and two of them are freshmen, two are sophomores, and none of them have played together before.
I don’t know, watching it kind of sucked. But I’m hoping it’s a quick learning curve for the youngsters, as they progress through this non-conference season.
SLU should feel good about themselves, they nabbed a quality quad 1 win that should age well.
Mizzou should look at a game where they didn’t play all that well against a certain NCAA Tournament team, and only lost by a few possessions. You’d always rather win the game, but if you’re going to lose it’s best for it to be close against a good team, where you can learn something.
