Talent is cheaper than chewing gum. Mizzou found that out in a 90-84 loss to Saint Louis Friday night at the Enterprise Center.
Coming into the season, it was clear that getting two 5-star freshmen, six incoming transfers and a late returner in Mark Mitchell to mesh would be challenging. The talent’s apparent across the roster, but it can’t make up for a lack of experience or a lack of experience playing together, especially against a team with the continuity that the Billikens have.
That’s not to
say that SLU doesn’t have talented players. It’s coming off a second round exit in the NCAA Tournament, and many of head coach Josh Schertz’s players could be playing at high major programs. But his players chose to come back.
Four of the Billikens five starters were returners, while the Tigers only had three returners play rotational minutes. Then you see the actual gap in experience.
The average age of SLU’s starting five is 21.8 years of age compared to 20.4 in Mizzou’s.
“Our team, this togetherness we have gives us great resilience,” Schertz said after the game. “I tell my guys that this is a team sport and we went out there and played with unbelievable effort.”
It became apparent early in the game that the Tigers were inexperienced based on their defensive rotations. The Billikens were shooting 4-for-6 from three-point range at the under-16 timeout, constantly blowing by the first defender and finding open kickouts. That trend from beyond the arc continued deep into the night.
SLU finished the game shooting 14-for-25 from three, making Mizzou’s lack of adjustments and discipline obvious.
In their first true test as college athletes in a hostile environment – Enterprise was decked out in more blue than black and gold – the Tigers’ 5-star freshmen tandem of Jason Crowe Jr. and Toni Bryant showed their youth.
Bryant was nearly unplayable, only logging 13 minutes after an early pair of fouls and some missed defensive assignments. Crowe was allowed to play through his struggles. He finished the game with eight points on 3-for-18 shooting from the field and 0-for-7 shooting from deep in 34 minutes. Crowe also missed a layup and a three-pointer in the clutch as the Tigers got the score margin within five with under three minutes to go in regulation.
The California native was also exposed on the defensive end with his gaudy matchup against preseason Atlantic 10 First Team selection Trey Green. The senior ended the win with 16 points and six assists, shooting 6-for-11 from the field and 4-for-8 from beyond the arc.
“I thought (Crowe and Bryant) focused and executed to the best of their ability. What I look at is the potential of those two guys. This is their second college game, and if we sat here and didn’t expect any mistakes to be made, we would be lying to each other,” Mizzou head coach Dennis Gates said.
The Tigers will have to learn how to play unselfishly to be successful once they get into conference play. They finished the night with 16 assists on 29 made field goals compared to the Billikens’ 24 assists on 33 made field goals.
Passes were flying around for the Mizzou offense early on, but once SLU’s lead began to climb, hero-ball began. To Mark Mitchell and Bryson Tiller’s credit – two of the most experienced Tigers at this level – they’re key reasons why the offense still put 84 points on the scoreboard and only lost by six.
Mitchell and Tiller putting on capes shows where this team is currently at from a connectivity standpoint. There’s a lack of trust in the selfless system when the chips are down.
“I think our energy overall and our camaraderie as a team were in spurts instead of the whole game,” Tiller said.
Turning those spurts into consistency will be the key to unlocking the high ceiling that the Tigers have. They boast the individual talents necessary to contend with the best in the nation, but coming together and building a culture like SLU has is what turns good rosters into good teams.
