This is largely an extension of my thoughts from the Illinois game after allowing the immediate euphoria to subside as I critique what each player needs to do to improve based upon what we have seen up to this point in the season.
Phil Pressey
For whatever reason, Pressey has not been able to make lay-ups like he has in the past. He had some easy looks against Illinois due to great penetration, but still came up empty in getting the point-blank shots to fall. If he could start making these close shots, it will make him that much tougher to defend and continue to open up shots for the big guys.
Laurence Bowers
Bowers shooting and scoring have been better than I could have hoped for. His defense has been okay, but he seems to get tired over the course of a game and his rebounding has been suspect. Even in the Illinois game where he ended up with 10 boards, there was a ten-minute stretch in the second half where he never jumped and allowed more aggressive Illinois players to get rebounds over him. (Illinois had 14 offensive rebounds of their own and I noticed that Bowers and Criswell were caught flat-flooted a number of times in the second half. The refs didn't help during that stretch since it appeared to me that Illinois got away with a couple of over-the-backs.) Bowers has the ability to dominate and I'd love to see him continue his torrid shooting while adding some meanness on the back boards.
Alex Oriakhi
I loved the way that Oriakhi played against Illinois. He was a huge presence on the boards on both ends of the floor and really kept Illinois from getting anything going in close. However, when you consider that he missed 5 shots and none of his shots were from more than 3 feet away, you can either hope that he improves his touch or becomes even more selective in the shots that he takes. As a senior, it would seem that he's not likely going to all of a sudden develop touch around the basket. Thus, I'm just going to want to see him improve in his shot selection by passing out of some situations. He hasn't shown this aspect of his post game and it is an important one. In the Illinois game, he was triple-teamed on two occasions and rather than pass the ball out for a wide-open shot from the perimeter, he tried to muscle up a shot between three defenders. Both times he was stuffed and Missouri came away with nothing on both of those possessions. He needs to recognize when additional defenders collapse on him and kick the ball back out. Other than that, keep crashing the boards and showing no mercy on that rim when you take it up strong Alex!
Jabari Brown
I really like what I've seen from Brown so far. Frankly, I haven't seen enough to properly critique his game. However, he did commit the cardinal sin of basketball when he tried to save a ball from going out-of-bounds by throwing it back underneath Illinois' basket which resulted in an easy dunk for them. I just want to see that outside stroke which we've been hearing so much about start making 3s at a 50% clip.
Tony Criswell
Criswell continues to provide great minutes and is especially effective on offense. I'd love to see him use his size better on defense though as he seems to really struggle when it comes to defending. Hard to complain with anything else when it comes to Criswell and the energy that he brings.
Keion Bell
Slowly but surely Bell has been filling the role that this team needs by playing solid defense and getting out in transition. He never had a chance to play much in the Illinois game but this team is going to need him this season and I wouldn't be shocked to see him have a nice outing in his hometown against UCLA.
Earnest Ross
Like most Tiger fans, I'd love to see Ross go from being an outside player to an inside player. I'd also like to see him improve his free throw shooting.
Negus Webster-Chan
Defense and confidence. Confidence and defense. He exhibited neither against Illinois in his few minutes in the game.
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