Game 6: Virginia Commonwealth

This was a very nice win for the Tigers.  They made it a little more interesting than they needed to, but fought hard and pulled out the win.  Pressey made some huge baskets and seems to have a lot of confidence in his shot as he is knocking down his outside shots at a pretty nice clip.  Despite some ugly performances, coming out of this tournament with two wins and a third place finish is a great thing.

Phil Pressey
I thought Phil played most of this game more out of control than he has in any other game.  However, he came up big with the game-winning baskets.  He finished the game 5-9 from the field (3-5 from 3), 8 assists and 5 turnovers.  For the second game in a row, he did not get to the line once.  For whatever reason, Missouri hasn't been getting too many breaks from the refs.  Grade: 6/10.

Laurence Bowers
Bowers is so inconsistent and it can be maddening at times at how he disappears for periods and then goes through a stretch where he plays at a much higher level.  14 and 11 is nice, but his defense really needs to get better.  Grade: 6/10.

Alex Oriakhi
Oriakhi had a fairly quiet game.  He never got to the free throw line and missed a couple of gimmies.  He really should dominate as big as he is, but just has no touch around the rim.  Grade: 4/10.

Negus Webster-Chan
Webster-Chan got his first start and played 36 minutes.  Haith really likes the steadiness that NWC brings to the lineup.  NWC might be the best defender on the team.  He's got some work to do, but he seems to get beat less often than most of the other guys.  Grade: 6/10.

Earnest Ross
Ross finally was able to knock down some shots, but is still a liability on defense as far as I am concerned.  He just doesn't seem committed to stopping the opponent from scoring.  His defense and rebounding were WAY overrated as this was the second game in a row where he only got one board.  He is spending way too much time floating around the 3-point line.  Grade: 4/10.

Keion Bell
Bell had his best as a Tiger I thought.  I really liked what he brought in this game and hope that he can build off of this performance.  Grade: 6/10.

Tony Criswell
Criswell is so active on the offensive boards and surely is racking up some impressive rebounding numbers per minutes played.  He's still very awkward around the rim though and looks the most comfortable shooting straight on from the key area.  Grade: 5/10.

Jankovic and Rosburg
Still have no idea why Haith chose to put these guys in during the first half.  VCU made a nice little run as both of these guys were just running around with little to no purpose.  Grade: 1/10.

Overall Thoughts
This team really struggles to play defense.  I thought VCU got a lot of open looks and Mizzou was fortunate that they didn't shoot all that well.  Bowers, Ross, Pressey and Criswell all struggle with staying with their man and NWC got caught sagging a couple of times as well.  If this team could improve on that side of the ball, then I think they have a chance to be really good.  I think their offense will come along as they start to get a better feel of playing together.

Next up:  Appalachian State next Saturday.