Missouri men’s basketball bounced back Monday night with a () win against Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.
It was less a get-right game and more a try-stuff game for Tigers head coach Dennis Gates. That was especially clear on the defensive end, where he employed several different defenses. Mizzou’s offense also ran more sets than the random action it usually prefers.
While there were some missed assignments that led to open shots in the first half, SIUE failed to capitalize.
The Cougars went
an abysmal 3-for-18 from three-point range, but were actually efficient within the arc at 20-for-38. They couldn’t do anything to stop the Tigers’ offense led by Jason Crowe Jr., however.
Crowe needed to get back on track after a wake-up call against Saint Louis last Friday. He did so quickly by scoring 22 points in the first half. The 5-star freshman wasted no time picking things up in the second half with a fastbreak dunk to open the scoring and finished the game with 34 points and four assists on 11-for-16 shooting from the field, 4-for-8 from deep and 8-for-9 from the free-throw line. Crowe set the single-game freshman scoring record with the performance.
Mizzou shot 58.5% from the field, 52.2% from three and 81.5% from the charity stripe as a team.
The team was down maybe its most important member less than two minutes into the game when Mark Mitchell exited with an apparent injury to the face. The Tigers didn’t lose a step on offense, and his absence opened up room for Toni Bryant and Trent Burns.
Bryant’s athleticism has popped against mid-major opponents early in his collegiate career. He finished the game with 18 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Burns played nine minutes in the game and started in place of the absent Mitchell out of halftime. He showed some solid passing chops out of the post with three assists but went 0-for-2 from the field, both of which came at the rim.
The 7-foot-5 center didn’t see the court after getting called up out of the break. Aside from his struggles, Mizzou showed significant strides in the second half.
It outscored the Cougars 48-34 in the final 20 minutes of regulation and played much more connected, with 13 assists on 15 made field goals. The size advantage, however, was less of a factor for the Tigers than expected coming into the matchup.
SIUE’s tallest starter was 6-foot-8 Darrion Baker compared to a Mizzou starting lineup that had four players above that mark. The Tigers may have won the rebound battle 32-30, but they lost the offensive rebound battle 13-8.
No other Mizzou player reached double-digit scoring aside from the freshmen, but Trent Pierce had six rebounds, five assists and three steals as he struggles to find his stroke from deep. He’s shooting 2-for-11 from three so far this season.
The Mitchell injury will be actively monitored as Mizzou has a neutral-site matchup against Marquette in Chicago at 1:30 p.m. next Sunday. He raises both the floor and ceiling of the team, but if his injury does leave him sidelined, it will force the Tigers to learn how to operate without their most experienced leader.
