Phil Pressey
Live by the sword...die by the sword...win by the sword. Phil is who he is. A playmaker with a bit of the wild west in him. I've defended him all season and I'm not going to stop now. There's no question he takes quick shots that he has no business taking (but those were the shots that won the VCU game). If he doesn't keep driving, then he doesn't get the opportunity to make the dimes that he does. Even on many of his misses, the end result was a made basket due to the defense having to defend him. In the last three minutes, he was nails. Loved the way he kept competing despite the woeful shooting. Grade: 7/10.
Laurence Bowers
Bowers was streaky, but like Phil made the plays down the stretch to pull out the victory. He kept battling and weathered the storm. The stat that I thought was the most telling from Bowers was the fact that he had 25% of the Mizzou assists (only one other Tiger had an assist outside of Pressey...Ross had 1). In watching the game, I was frustrated with Bowers inability to dominate inside on defense, but think that Illinois deserves a lot of credit as they are a very good team. Grade: 9/10.
Jabari Brown
Brown is the player that this team needed. 18 and 7 is more than I would have dreamed from him in a game like this. He is a huge upgrade and the best perimeter newcomer without question. He made some big 3s when the team needed them and was fairly solid on D as well. Grade: 7/10.
Alex Oriakhi
I thought Oriakhi was the key to this win. His presence on the boards was so profound as he gathered 7 boards on both offense and defense and kept a number of offensive possessions alive. He also was perfect from the line. Great job Alex! Grade: 9/10.
Earnest Ross
Ross was solid and made a few nice plays at crucial times. His offensive rebound and put-back when Mizzou was down late in the second half was the pivotal turning point in momentum. Nice to see him go inside and come up with a big play. Grade: 7/10.
Tony Criswell
Criswell definitely provided some excitement. Watching him play defense is like riding a roller coaster without a seat belt. But he's big enough and active enough to really help the team. Like Oriakhi, he came up with some big offensive rebounds and made some important baskets when the offense seemed to bog down. Grade: 6/10.
Keion Bell
Bell was mostly a non-factor and never really got into the flow of the game. Grade: 5/10.
Negus Webster-Chan
Haith has given Webster-Chan lots of minutes this year to prepare him for these types of situations. Unfortunately, Webster-Chan wet the bed just as he did against Louisville. This was disappointing to see as he should be the best player to provide Pressey some rest. As a result, Phil ended up playing 39 minutes because no one else seems to be able to handle the ball against quality opponents. Grade: 1/10.
Overall Thoughts
It feels so good to feel like Mizzou played very average, but still came away with an excellent win due to decent defense and domination on the boards (51-29). I thought the guards played some of their best defense and forced Illinois into outside jump shots. When Illinois took the lead, they were making some pretty tough shots, but it wasn't due to poor defense. They were going one-on-one and getting space with crossovers but still settled for 17-foot jumpers. When they stopped falling...game over. Illinois is much tougher than UCLA and I hope that Missouri is able to continue to play with a high level intensity out in California. This team has the potential to be really good. Merry Christmas!
Next up: UCLA on Friday.
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