It’s not always easy to know the outcome of a game before you watch it, and still be expected to create a nuanced commentary on it. For one, part of the commentary comes from being exposed to the ups and downs
of the game flow. Watching the Tigers expand their lead to 18 points, on multiple occasions, only to let it bleed away with poor defensive execution and some pretty resounding Alabama State shot making.
There are a lot of reasons to be upset about the state of the roster, and how Mizzou is currently playing. Our coverage at RockMNation and RockM.plus has been fairly vocal about the issues, with a flurry of posts and podcasts coming out of the Kansas game which should accurately reflect where we are.
Missouri, at times, looked great. And yes, Alabama State hit a lot of tough shots. They also hit 50% of their threes versus New Mexico, and had a similar result. A better than expected margin but still a loss. Still there’s a level of defensive stiffness the Tigers have never really shown. Much of their defensive success has been of the ‘we have really tall and long players and it’s just difficult to make shots over guys like that” versus the “we’re a lock down defensive club.
In particular, this wasn’t the result you were hoping for coming off two losses, one being a blow out by your hated rival.
TEAM STATS
You have to feel like any game where you shoot 71% from two and 50% from three is a game where you should win by a lot more than 8. For me this game amounted to two runs. Allowing a 7-2 run in the last 95 seconds of the first half to allow an 18 point lead to be trimmed to 13. Then a two and a half minute window where you had another 18 point lead and didn’t score a basket. Allowing another 10 point run, and letting ASU back into the game. They never got the lead inside 7… so you were never really threatened. It’s still a frustrating endeavor.
- You won the rebounding battle, but only 7 ORBs because you only attempted 51 shots. It was the second lowest output on the season in terms of FGA.
- And it’s not like they were going to the line. It was just a slow paced game. Which I’m not sure is what you wanted.
- They also lost BCI, and the theme of really being unable to turn teams over continues. On the season, Missouri is solidly 140th in defensive TOR, which is the lowest of Gates tenure… by a lot.
INDIVIDUAL STATS
Trifecta: Anthony Robinson, Jacob Crews, Mark Mitchell
On the season: Mark Mitchell 23, Jacob Crews 16, Anthony Robinson 9, Jayden Stone 7, Jevon Porter 5, Shawn Phillips Jr. 4, T.O. Barrett, Annor Boateng 1
Anthony Robinson has struggled offensively this year, and I think part of those struggles have been him having a hard time really finding a way to be a top option after two years of deferring. But he finally got a few shots to fall. Some of it is finding his way in the mid range, some of it was simply being bigger than the guys guarding him. But this season goes well if Anthony Robinson is the second best player on the floor for the Tigers.
Turns out starting the game with your best shooter on the floor is helpful to the offense! Jacob Crews hit his first two threes and was off and running. Gates challenged Crews before the season to hit 100 threes, and he’s on a close enough pace. He’s hit 34, or 3.09 a game, and there are 21 games (at least) remaining (including the SEC Tournament opener). That’s a pace to hit 65 threes in the last 21 games. Yes your math would say 99 is the total. Do it, Crews.
The problem wasn’t the offense! Everyone who played more than a minute had a floor rate north of 40%, four ahead of 50%, and even two at more than 60%. Plus everyone over 100 Ortg. Mizzou just didn’t get enough possessions and had a few too many turnovers.
As I’ve said many times, most of these numbers don’t really tell you the story defensively. So on a game where the other team lit you up as much as you lit them up, it’s hard to really discern value on the floor. Gates also didn’t expand his bench like he usually does. We saw both Trent Burns and Nicholas Randall in the game against KU, but didn’t see them against Alabama State. To me that says he’s looking for something from his top guys that he’s not getting.
At this point I’d rather see the younger guys. This is up late since I didn’t get to watch the game until Friday. Bethune-Cookman is up next before a bit of a break. Hope they make the most of it.
I’ve moved the glossary to a static page at RockM+ to reduce the size of the bottom of this post.
So if you’re looking for what any of these stats mean, Check out the Glossary!
In attempting to update Study Hall, I’ve moved away from Touches/Possession and moving into the Rates a little more. This is a little experimental so if there’s something you’d like to see let me know and I’ll see if there’s an easy visual way to present it.
If there’s something you’d like to see more of an explanation on, drop a note and let me know!
