Deja vu.
What a horrible ending to the season. Inconsistent all year, Missouri proves that it cannot get out of its own way and just falls flat on its face in what I considered to be a pretty important game. There is no point in providing individual breakdowns in this game since this truly was a meltdown in which every player contributed (including Oriakhi despite his nice shooting numbers). However, there are some players whose performance is worth noting which I will do in a random thoughts format as there really is no longer any point in trying to make sense of what to expect from this team...except for more inconsistency.
Effort and Fundamentals - I've been screaming about them all season long and they are still a problem. This team cannot get consistent results because they are so fundamentally poor. It's like they have skills, but are not smart enough to know how to use them. The Jekyll & Hyde results have been hard to watch since at times this team looks like it is playing good basketball. Then in the second half, everyone on the team just seemed to be standing around hoping to save some energy for Vanderbilt. There were no hard cuts to the basket, absolutely no defensive intensity and sloppy ballhandling all contributed to the ultimate loss.
Phil Pressey - speaking of Jekyll & Hyde, which Pressey will show up in the next game? The one who does not shoot or the one who shoots more than any other player?
Free Throws - no Tiger went to the line more than once in this game. But even with the limited opportunities, Missouri players failed at the freebies. On another note, opposing guards can maul Pressey and the refs simply will not call a foul. This has been happening all year.
Defense - In the first half, Ole Miss scored 24 points on 33 possessions (0.73 points per possession). In the second half, Ole Miss scored 40 points on 31 possessions (1.29 points per possession). 7 of Ole Miss's 11 offensive rebounds came in the second half, usually from Murphy Holloway outworking Bowers who was horrific on defense in the second half.
Bowers - his second half was pathetic. He scored two early baskets in the second half, then disappeared (at least when it came to positive contributions) for the rest of the game. He did not get a single offensive rebound the whole half and looked horrible when defending the interior against Ole Miss. Bowers was going up against Holloway who had 9 rebounds in the second half to Bowers' 2. Just a really head-scratching performance from Bowers all the way around.
Keion Bell - Bell seems to have regressed back to early season form as he provided no help in scoring points. (He did do a good job of grabbing offensive boards though to extend some offensive possessions.)
Sloppy - Missouri turned the ball over 16 times, with 10 of those committed in the second half allowing Ole Miss back into the game. Again...effort and fundamentals.
Coaching - did not care for whatever it was that Haith was trying to do in that game. Not once did I feel like Missouri did anything good after a timeout. And there's no point in mentioning the obvious slow-down which directly contributed to the loss. Poor game from the coaching staff, in my opinion. How many times are they going to have to see this before they learn?
Expectations - no reason to expect anything different from this bunch. The only question is who will we see next - Jekyll or Hyde?
Game 32: Texas A&M
This was ugly. Two good things I saw in this game...(1) Mizzou controlled the game from the start and (2) the whole team passed the ball pretty well. The defense was okay, but A&M helped by missing an awful lot of open shots. I thought Pressey, Bell and Brown did a great job defending the perimeter, especially when they were playing man-to-man. I thought the zone was spotty as A&M got some pretty good looks but luckily missed a number of easy ones.
A couple of other things were confirmed in this game: (1) Ross can help this team and he can hurt this team. He did both in this particular game. He's just so fundamentally flawed that if he just took a more cerebral approach to the game he could be great. (2) Bell is nowhere near as good at running the offense as Pressey. The TigerBoard has this irrational hatred of Pressey that usually results in lots of "Let Bell run the point!" Yeah, good luck with that.
Good: Oriakhi, Pressey, Brown and Criswell.
Okay: Bowers.
Bad: Everyone else.
A couple of other things were confirmed in this game: (1) Ross can help this team and he can hurt this team. He did both in this particular game. He's just so fundamentally flawed that if he just took a more cerebral approach to the game he could be great. (2) Bell is nowhere near as good at running the offense as Pressey. The TigerBoard has this irrational hatred of Pressey that usually results in lots of "Let Bell run the point!" Yeah, good luck with that.
Good: Oriakhi, Pressey, Brown and Criswell.
Okay: Bowers.
Bad: Everyone else.
Game 31: Tennessee
Jekyll & Hyde. Which one will show up at the post-season tournaments? Missouri continued to get poor results when playing away from home leading to another heart-breaking loss in almost the exact same fashion as numerous other games this season. I felt like Haith made some poor tactical decisions based upon the circumstances which ultimately sealed Mizzou's fate as none of us were shocked with the ending.
In my opinion, this game was lost in the first half when Haith went DEEP into the bench due to foul trouble. I texted my brother-in-law at the time and proved to be prophetic as I said the only way Mizzou wins on the road is by getting out to a big lead in the first half and "just keeping it close" is going to end like all of the others. And sure enough...
Missouri was up 13-7 when Bowers picked up his second foul and was sent to the bench for the rest of the half. Missouri held their own until Oriakhi picked up his second foul, leading 19-14 at the point he went to the bench and the Tigers line-up was Pressey, Criswell, Rosburg, Webster-Chan and Ross. What was Haith thinking? One starter and four substandard bench players on the floor at the same time in a critical game?!? Shock of all shocks, Tennessee then went on a 12-2 run and went from being 5 down to 5 points ahead in a matter of 5 minutes. I had a pretty good idea how the game was going to end at that point. Instead of keeping Bowers in the game who was torching the Vols defense to extend an early lead, Mizzou was fortunate to be tied at halftime.
But like I said earlier, this team plays better when ahead and when on the road, conservative play-it-by-the-book let's-keep-it-close has not worked ONE SINGLE TIME this year. So why did Haith think it would be different this game? Well...it wasn't.
Phil Pressey
Phil played a solid game but will again be remembered for taking a questionable shot which missed horribly at a crucial point in the game. No way was he to blame for the loss. I know it's popular with the majority of the fanbase to place this one on him, but I simply cannot agree with that sentiment. 6/10.
Laurence Bowers
Bowers was making great cuts to the basket early on and Pressey was finding him. Unfortunately, foul trouble put him on the bench for all but six minutes of the first half after he had scored 9 of Missouri's first 13 points. Bowers was outmuscled much of the second half in fighting for rebounds as 5 Tennessee players had as many or more boards as Bowers ended up with. 7/10.
Jabari Brown
Never got it going and didn't look good on any of his 3-point attempts. 2/10.
Alex Oriakhi
Oriakhi was dominated by a much-younger Jarnell Stokes. Orakhi just couldn't keep him off the boards which proved to be a critical key to this game. 4/10.
Keion Bell
Bell was largely a no-show with 7 points and only 1 rebound. 3/10.
Earnest Ross
Ross was awful. He was 1-9 before hitting the 3-pointer at the buzzer, pushing his shooting percentage up to a whopping 20%. He missed easy lay-ups, he missed open threes, but worst of all his putrid defense allowed for Jordan McRae to heat up in the second half. 1/10.
Tony Criswell
Criswell scored 4 points, all in the last minute of the first half allowing Missouri to go into the locker room tied. Outside of that one minute of game time, Criswell was 0-3, 0 rebounds, 0 assists and 2 turnovers in his other 13 minutes of playing time. Not good. 2/10.
Now What?
Here is your 2012-2013 Missouri Tiger Basketball team. I think most of us are overall disappointed with how things have turned out. This team is not as good as we had hoped, even missing the services of Michael Dixon. I don't have any expectations that things will get any better for the conference and national tournaments for the following reasons:
1) Depth - early on this team looked to be deep, but it turns out that there is no depth and what depth there is pretty poor. I think the starting five is a good team, but after those first five, the bench leaves a lot to be desired. Ross and Criswell are horrible defenders and are almost always in the game whenever the opponent goes on a run. Rosburg and NWC bring absolutely nothing.
2) Effort - this team has been outhustled in a lot of games this year and has frequently looked horrible on defense. But we've seen moments when these guys can play good defense, so we know they have the ability they just don't seem committed to sustaining any effort on that end of the floor.
3) Fundamentals/Intangibles - the team looks to have poor fundamentals on defense and settles too often for poor shots without even trying to get it inside. If the game is close, is there any reason to think Mizzou is going to pull out a win?
4) Coaching - Haith needs to take some risks, in my opinion. We've seen the result of "keeping things close" and it never ends well for this bunch. Shorten that bench...never play Ross and Criswell at the same time. Ride Bowers as long as you can. For all of his faults, Norm did a great job of managing foul trouble I thought. He would allow his players (especially his stars) to play in the first half until they picked up 3 fouls and then spend time at half time addressing the foul issue so that no cheap ones were picked up early on in the second half. Bowers needs to be on the floor as much as possible.
In my opinion, this game was lost in the first half when Haith went DEEP into the bench due to foul trouble. I texted my brother-in-law at the time and proved to be prophetic as I said the only way Mizzou wins on the road is by getting out to a big lead in the first half and "just keeping it close" is going to end like all of the others. And sure enough...
Missouri was up 13-7 when Bowers picked up his second foul and was sent to the bench for the rest of the half. Missouri held their own until Oriakhi picked up his second foul, leading 19-14 at the point he went to the bench and the Tigers line-up was Pressey, Criswell, Rosburg, Webster-Chan and Ross. What was Haith thinking? One starter and four substandard bench players on the floor at the same time in a critical game?!? Shock of all shocks, Tennessee then went on a 12-2 run and went from being 5 down to 5 points ahead in a matter of 5 minutes. I had a pretty good idea how the game was going to end at that point. Instead of keeping Bowers in the game who was torching the Vols defense to extend an early lead, Mizzou was fortunate to be tied at halftime.
But like I said earlier, this team plays better when ahead and when on the road, conservative play-it-by-the-book let's-keep-it-close has not worked ONE SINGLE TIME this year. So why did Haith think it would be different this game? Well...it wasn't.
Phil Pressey
Phil played a solid game but will again be remembered for taking a questionable shot which missed horribly at a crucial point in the game. No way was he to blame for the loss. I know it's popular with the majority of the fanbase to place this one on him, but I simply cannot agree with that sentiment. 6/10.
Laurence Bowers
Bowers was making great cuts to the basket early on and Pressey was finding him. Unfortunately, foul trouble put him on the bench for all but six minutes of the first half after he had scored 9 of Missouri's first 13 points. Bowers was outmuscled much of the second half in fighting for rebounds as 5 Tennessee players had as many or more boards as Bowers ended up with. 7/10.
Jabari Brown
Never got it going and didn't look good on any of his 3-point attempts. 2/10.
Oriakhi was dominated by a much-younger Jarnell Stokes. Orakhi just couldn't keep him off the boards which proved to be a critical key to this game. 4/10.
Keion Bell
Bell was largely a no-show with 7 points and only 1 rebound. 3/10.
Earnest Ross
Ross was awful. He was 1-9 before hitting the 3-pointer at the buzzer, pushing his shooting percentage up to a whopping 20%. He missed easy lay-ups, he missed open threes, but worst of all his putrid defense allowed for Jordan McRae to heat up in the second half. 1/10.
Tony Criswell
Criswell scored 4 points, all in the last minute of the first half allowing Missouri to go into the locker room tied. Outside of that one minute of game time, Criswell was 0-3, 0 rebounds, 0 assists and 2 turnovers in his other 13 minutes of playing time. Not good. 2/10.
Now What?
Here is your 2012-2013 Missouri Tiger Basketball team. I think most of us are overall disappointed with how things have turned out. This team is not as good as we had hoped, even missing the services of Michael Dixon. I don't have any expectations that things will get any better for the conference and national tournaments for the following reasons:
1) Depth - early on this team looked to be deep, but it turns out that there is no depth and what depth there is pretty poor. I think the starting five is a good team, but after those first five, the bench leaves a lot to be desired. Ross and Criswell are horrible defenders and are almost always in the game whenever the opponent goes on a run. Rosburg and NWC bring absolutely nothing.
2) Effort - this team has been outhustled in a lot of games this year and has frequently looked horrible on defense. But we've seen moments when these guys can play good defense, so we know they have the ability they just don't seem committed to sustaining any effort on that end of the floor.
3) Fundamentals/Intangibles - the team looks to have poor fundamentals on defense and settles too often for poor shots without even trying to get it inside. If the game is close, is there any reason to think Mizzou is going to pull out a win?
4) Coaching - Haith needs to take some risks, in my opinion. We've seen the result of "keeping things close" and it never ends well for this bunch. Shorten that bench...never play Ross and Criswell at the same time. Ride Bowers as long as you can. For all of his faults, Norm did a great job of managing foul trouble I thought. He would allow his players (especially his stars) to play in the first half until they picked up 3 fouls and then spend time at half time addressing the foul issue so that no cheap ones were picked up early on in the second half. Bowers needs to be on the floor as much as possible.
Game 26: Florida
Great win for the Tigers! I had figured this was going to be a sure-loss with a few challenging games coming up on the road and I was worried that the season was about to spiral down the drain. But these guys rose to the challenge and proved me wrong. I've been ragging on this team's defense all season long and they held the nation's second best offense to 60 points on 66 possessions. That is incredible. Without a doubt, it was the defense in the second part of both halves that brought home the victory.
I am convinced that these guys CAN play good defense, they just appear to be lazy and disinterested most of the time. But the lineup of Oriakhi, Bowers, Bell, Brown and Pressey can play some pretty energetic defense if they commit to it. Ross has looked better the last two games as well, in this regard. If they can continue to show this type of energy and desire to shut down their opponents, there is no reason why they can't win the remaining games on the schedule.
Phil Pressey
Pressey had a great game I thought. 7 points, 6 rebounds (second on the team), 10 assists and 3 steals stuffed the stat sheet. He played good defense too. I thought he took over the game during the comeback with his drives (scoring and dishing), but then pulled another dumb stunt with the late 3 which looked like deja vu all over again. 7/10 (could have been higher but the dumb 3).
Laurence Bowers
Bowers finally came to play after a horrible outing in Fayetteville. His turnaround was falling and he was game high in rebounds with 10.
Got busy...and that's all I got.
I am convinced that these guys CAN play good defense, they just appear to be lazy and disinterested most of the time. But the lineup of Oriakhi, Bowers, Bell, Brown and Pressey can play some pretty energetic defense if they commit to it. Ross has looked better the last two games as well, in this regard. If they can continue to show this type of energy and desire to shut down their opponents, there is no reason why they can't win the remaining games on the schedule.
Phil Pressey
Pressey had a great game I thought. 7 points, 6 rebounds (second on the team), 10 assists and 3 steals stuffed the stat sheet. He played good defense too. I thought he took over the game during the comeback with his drives (scoring and dishing), but then pulled another dumb stunt with the late 3 which looked like deja vu all over again. 7/10 (could have been higher but the dumb 3).
Laurence Bowers
Bowers finally came to play after a horrible outing in Fayetteville. His turnaround was falling and he was game high in rebounds with 10.
Got busy...and that's all I got.
Game 24: Mississippi State
It started with defense (like it always should). We got to see a little bit of everything in this game, most of which was positive for Mizzou fans. What I especially liked was how aggressive Missouri was on the boards as they forced Mississippi State to jump shots and then gobbled up the rebound. Even though Mizzou was clearly the better team, they did show some effort that has been sorely lacking in their previous road games. The losses to LSU and A&M would not have happened if Missouri would have started those games with the intensity that we saw tonight. I really think the starting five can play good defense when they set their minds to it. We saw some zone in the second half, but at that point it was hard to tell much as both teams were going through the motions.
Phil Pressey
Decent game. Had a few silly passes, but still had a nice presence and only shot the ball once the whole game. I thought his defense was great as he really caused problems for MSU's offense. 6/10.
Laurence Bowers
Bowers was so-so. I thought he got exposed a couple of times on defense in the second half when a simple pump fake took him completely out of the play. Otherwise, he was solid. 6/10.
Jabari Brown
Brown was great. He absolutely stuffed the stat sheet and just had a wonderful overall game. 20 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. He finally had a strong game away from Mizzou Arena. 10/10.
Alex Oriakhi
His 10 rebounds were great and I thought he was fairly dominating inside early on despite not getting into the scoring column. He still has some poor instincts on offense though as Pressey threw him a great lob pass which he caught right under the basket and then inexplicably put on the floor where three smaller MSU players were able to bat it away. All he had to do was go up with the ball as he was right there. 5/10.
Earnest Ross
Ross was okay but had a horrible sequence in the first half where he bricked two 3-pointers then threw the ball to MSU giving them an easy basket the other way for one of their few makes (MSU made only 11 shots all game). 4/10.
Keion Bell
Looking great on both ends. Crazy that he is even knocking down some 3s now. He's finally found his role and is absolutely flourishing. 10/10.
Calling My Shot
As we well know, Arkansas is very tough at home. That combined with Missouri's poor road play this year makes me think this is going to be a difficult game for the Tigers to win. I predict Arkansas to come out hot and Missouri to be lackluster, ultimately losing by 15-20 on Saturday.
Phil Pressey
Decent game. Had a few silly passes, but still had a nice presence and only shot the ball once the whole game. I thought his defense was great as he really caused problems for MSU's offense. 6/10.
Laurence Bowers
Bowers was so-so. I thought he got exposed a couple of times on defense in the second half when a simple pump fake took him completely out of the play. Otherwise, he was solid. 6/10.
Jabari Brown
Brown was great. He absolutely stuffed the stat sheet and just had a wonderful overall game. 20 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. He finally had a strong game away from Mizzou Arena. 10/10.
Alex Oriakhi
His 10 rebounds were great and I thought he was fairly dominating inside early on despite not getting into the scoring column. He still has some poor instincts on offense though as Pressey threw him a great lob pass which he caught right under the basket and then inexplicably put on the floor where three smaller MSU players were able to bat it away. All he had to do was go up with the ball as he was right there. 5/10.
Earnest Ross
Ross was okay but had a horrible sequence in the first half where he bricked two 3-pointers then threw the ball to MSU giving them an easy basket the other way for one of their few makes (MSU made only 11 shots all game). 4/10.
Keion Bell
Looking great on both ends. Crazy that he is even knocking down some 3s now. He's finally found his role and is absolutely flourishing. 10/10.
Calling My Shot
As we well know, Arkansas is very tough at home. That combined with Missouri's poor road play this year makes me think this is going to be a difficult game for the Tigers to win. I predict Arkansas to come out hot and Missouri to be lackluster, ultimately losing by 15-20 on Saturday.
Game 23: Ole Miss
Good win. I was worried that the team might come out moping after the heartbreaker the other night. And things started off ominously when Bell fouled Henderson (a/k/a Public Enemy #1) on a 3-pointer to start the game. But the Tigers showed some energy and just completely dominated Ole Miss on the boards, with Alex Oriakhi being the difference-maker on both ends as he ended the game with almost as many rebounds by himself as the whole Ole Miss team. The defense is still ragged (and dropped a few spots nationally to 107 after this game), but I think the starting five CAN play good enough defense. (Bowers looked 100 times better on defense this game than he did against Texas A&M.) However, there is a pretty severe drop-off when Criswell and/or Ross are in the game as those two just are not good defenders.
Phil Pressey
Pressey was okay in this game. He shot way too many times for my taste. He is a streaky player and I felt like he forced some shots at times when it would have been better to work the ball through other players' hands. I do feel that Pressey hasn't been getting many calls though as he gets hit a lot and the refs just don't blow the whistle. Hard to believe he shot and drove as many times as he did in this game and never once got to the free throw line. 22 points is good, but not when it takes 23 shots to get them. 5/10.
Laurence Bowers
If you would have told me that Bowers would finish this game with more technical fouls than field goals, I would have expected Missouri to lose this game. Outside of the techs, he was pretty quiet as he didn't score or get many rebounds. (About that hanging on the rim tech, that was ridiculous. Maybe we are used to watching Thomas Robinson pull himself up on every one of his dunks and then taunt afterwards and never once get called for it, but I have never seen a tech called for what Bowers did and I have watched a lot of basketball.) 4/10.
Jabari Brown
I really thought Brown played a good game. A nice mix of outside shooting and drives to the hoop. He seems to play so much better at home as we have yet to see him play like this away from Mizzou Arena. 7/10.
Alex Oriakhi
9/10. Was the best player on the floor. I docked him a point for losing his cool and starting the fight. He really needs to control his emotions as it has cost the team on a couple of occasions. Outside of that, he single-handedly destroyed Ole Miss.
Earnest Ross
If I had a doghouse and someone was in it, that person would be Earnest Ross. Now Ross actually put up some great numbers in this game (10 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals), but he continues to make me cringe numerous times every game. Despite less playing time and not handling the ball much, he had almost half of Missouri's total team turnovers. 6/10
Keion Bell
Whatever you are doing, keep doing it. 10/10.
Tony Criswell
Criswell knows his role but is a bit weak on defense. He played his role well. 7/10.
Overall Thoughts
First off, I want to say that I thought Haith did a great job with substitutions in this game. I've been critical of all the minutes he was previously giving Rosburg and NWC and it appears that he now has a nice seven-man rotation which plays the seven best players. In my opinion, there is a fairly significant drop-off after those first seven. I also think this starting line-up is a keeper as it plays the five best defenders and they have shown themselves to play with some nice cohesiveness at times. Secondly, I'm thrilled to see the Tigers knock down free throws at a nice rate for the second game in a row. I hope that this particular trend continues.
I'll be adding a new wrinkle to the Report for these last few games...
Calling My Shot
If you are still reading, you know that I don't pull any punches when critiquing the team that we all love. I actually felt like the Ole Miss game yesterday was going to be a tight one and could go either way in the final moments. I was elated to be wrong with how that turned out. My prediction for Wednesday's game at Mississippi State....Missouri gets their first road win with a comfortable 9-point victory.
Phil Pressey
Pressey was okay in this game. He shot way too many times for my taste. He is a streaky player and I felt like he forced some shots at times when it would have been better to work the ball through other players' hands. I do feel that Pressey hasn't been getting many calls though as he gets hit a lot and the refs just don't blow the whistle. Hard to believe he shot and drove as many times as he did in this game and never once got to the free throw line. 22 points is good, but not when it takes 23 shots to get them. 5/10.
Laurence Bowers
If you would have told me that Bowers would finish this game with more technical fouls than field goals, I would have expected Missouri to lose this game. Outside of the techs, he was pretty quiet as he didn't score or get many rebounds. (About that hanging on the rim tech, that was ridiculous. Maybe we are used to watching Thomas Robinson pull himself up on every one of his dunks and then taunt afterwards and never once get called for it, but I have never seen a tech called for what Bowers did and I have watched a lot of basketball.) 4/10.
Jabari Brown
I really thought Brown played a good game. A nice mix of outside shooting and drives to the hoop. He seems to play so much better at home as we have yet to see him play like this away from Mizzou Arena. 7/10.
Alex Oriakhi
9/10. Was the best player on the floor. I docked him a point for losing his cool and starting the fight. He really needs to control his emotions as it has cost the team on a couple of occasions. Outside of that, he single-handedly destroyed Ole Miss.
Earnest Ross
If I had a doghouse and someone was in it, that person would be Earnest Ross. Now Ross actually put up some great numbers in this game (10 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals), but he continues to make me cringe numerous times every game. Despite less playing time and not handling the ball much, he had almost half of Missouri's total team turnovers. 6/10
Keion Bell
Whatever you are doing, keep doing it. 10/10.
Tony Criswell
Criswell knows his role but is a bit weak on defense. He played his role well. 7/10.
Overall Thoughts
First off, I want to say that I thought Haith did a great job with substitutions in this game. I've been critical of all the minutes he was previously giving Rosburg and NWC and it appears that he now has a nice seven-man rotation which plays the seven best players. In my opinion, there is a fairly significant drop-off after those first seven. I also think this starting line-up is a keeper as it plays the five best defenders and they have shown themselves to play with some nice cohesiveness at times. Secondly, I'm thrilled to see the Tigers knock down free throws at a nice rate for the second game in a row. I hope that this particular trend continues.
I'll be adding a new wrinkle to the Report for these last few games...
Calling My Shot
If you are still reading, you know that I don't pull any punches when critiquing the team that we all love. I actually felt like the Ole Miss game yesterday was going to be a tight one and could go either way in the final moments. I was elated to be wrong with how that turned out. My prediction for Wednesday's game at Mississippi State....Missouri gets their first road win with a comfortable 9-point victory.
Game 22: Texas A&M
In the first half, Missouri continued to show us how poorly they defend as the normally inept Aggies were getting open lay-ups and jump shots much to their liking. It is fruitless to belabor the point...these Tigers just can't defend. Neither can they grab the ball. It was so frustrating watching Mizzou players bat around the ball while an Aggie would slip in to the play and grab it. What a fitting ending that A&M gets a wide-open look at the game-winning shot after an inexplicable gaffe by Pressey.
After that horrible ending, I'm going to put as much energy into this report as Missouri expends on an opponent's fast break.
Phil Pressey
2/10.
Laurence Bowers
3/10.
Jabari Brown
2/10.
Alex Oriakhi
7/10.
Earnest Ross
2/10.
Keion Bell
5/10.
Tony Criswell
2/10. Worst hands on a bad hands team.
After that horrible ending, I'm going to put as much energy into this report as Missouri expends on an opponent's fast break.
Phil Pressey
2/10.
Laurence Bowers
3/10.
Jabari Brown
2/10.
Alex Oriakhi
7/10.
Earnest Ross
2/10.
Keion Bell
5/10.
Tony Criswell
2/10. Worst hands on a bad hands team.
Next up: Ole Miss on Saturday.
Game 21: Auburn
Officially concerned. Many of you might feel energized by the relatively easy win over Auburn, but I came away from this game feeling much like I did after the LSU disaster, that our Missouri Tigers are a decent team that will make the national tournament but flame out in the first weekend to a team that you would think Missouri could beat. There are three things about this team which, unless corrected, are going to be its downfall: (1) poor defense, (2) lack of hustle and (3) poor fundamentals (or as some of you have correctedly said "low BB IQ"). I actually watched this game twice before making this report. Having these pre-conceived concerns, I am waiting for a game in which Missouri will convince me that these are unfounded concerns. Unfortunately, this game (despite the double-digit win) did nothing of the sort. Auburn is a horrible team offensively (ranked 181), yet they had one of their best scoring games against Missouri. (They have scored more than 77 points 4 other times this season -- against 347th ranked Grambling, 301st ranked Tennessee Tech. Florida State and Illinois.) Missouri's defense is in free-fall mode and is now ranked 98th after this game. (Missouri finished the regular season last year with a defense ranked in the 60s.) Missouri's Pomeroy ranking has now dropped to a season-worst of 49 after being as high as 20 right before the UCLA game.
Phil Pressey
Pressey was great on offense and not-so-great on defense. He had a number of amazing passes and obviously took Haith's comments to heart as he only shot twice the whole game. While I loved his highlight-reel passes, Phil needs to recognize that the same things he can do going against Auburn's 152nd ranked defense will not be possible when going against Florida's top ranked defense. Missouri still has upcoming games against decent defensive teams in Florida, Kentucky and Ole Miss and I hope that Phil adjusts his game accordingly. 7/10.
Laurence Bowers
Bowers was pretty quiet and never really asserted himself. He made his baskets in short little bursts and never did much outside of that. 5/10.
Jabari Brown
Brown had what I thought was his worst game at home this year. However, he's still probably the second or third most important player on this team and does enough good things to help the team. He's especially helpful though when he's able to knock down the outside shots. I was glad that he got back on track from the line as he knocked down all 7 of his free throws. 5/10.
Alex Oriakhi
Oriakhi missed another wide open lay-up early on and was also somewhat quiet in this game finishing with 11 points and 6 rebounds. I figured that he would be a little more dominating at home against an overmatched opponent. 5/10.
Earnest Ross
Ross had his best offensive game for Mizzou and was shooting with a lot of confidence. Can he be consistent enough to continue with this type of performance on the road? I'm still not crazy about his defense, but I guess there's no point in expecting that to get any better as that's the one area of his game that his been consistent. 9/10.
Keion Bell
Bell did what this team needs for him to do...get steals...score in transition and make drives to the basket. I also liked that he had a couple of nice assists on his drives. More of this please. 10/10.
Tony Criswell
Criswell had 4 points and 3 rebounds in 14 minutes of play. While I am a big fan of Tony and love his hustle on the offensive boards, he's not a good defender and gets beat badly on a few occasions every game. He seems to have very poor lateral quickness and also bites on too many fakes and crossovers. He was jumping out on a number of pump fakes against Auburn, which completely took him out of the play on defense which led to some easy points for the other Tigers. 5/10.
Overall Thoughts
When making these reports, I am mindful of the individual game and the meta-game (the season). I am happy that Mizzou was able to defend their home floor and get the victory over Auburn, but as I said above, this game showed many of the same fundamental problems which are going to keep this team from doing much in the post-season. Bell's defensive pressure was nice, but most teams have a number of defenders who can create those types of turnovers from the opposition. It really is alarming at how poorly Mizzou does in this area (I know I sound like a broken record as I harp on this after almost every game but once again Auburn had 12 turnovers when they have been averaging over 20 on the season). Missouri is now ranked 299th in the nation at creating turnovers. As a result, team's routinely have their best offensive showings against Missouri. With such a shoddy defense, all it takes is a less-than-stellar shooting performance and this team can lose to anybody. I had high hopes that the defense would keep us in games despite a huge drop-off in offensive efficiency, but the truth of the matter is that this defense is even worse than last year's. Again, glad to get the win, but have resigned myself for this to end up being a pretty lackluster season.
Phil Pressey
Pressey was great on offense and not-so-great on defense. He had a number of amazing passes and obviously took Haith's comments to heart as he only shot twice the whole game. While I loved his highlight-reel passes, Phil needs to recognize that the same things he can do going against Auburn's 152nd ranked defense will not be possible when going against Florida's top ranked defense. Missouri still has upcoming games against decent defensive teams in Florida, Kentucky and Ole Miss and I hope that Phil adjusts his game accordingly. 7/10.
Laurence Bowers
Bowers was pretty quiet and never really asserted himself. He made his baskets in short little bursts and never did much outside of that. 5/10.
Jabari Brown
Brown had what I thought was his worst game at home this year. However, he's still probably the second or third most important player on this team and does enough good things to help the team. He's especially helpful though when he's able to knock down the outside shots. I was glad that he got back on track from the line as he knocked down all 7 of his free throws. 5/10.
Alex Oriakhi
Oriakhi missed another wide open lay-up early on and was also somewhat quiet in this game finishing with 11 points and 6 rebounds. I figured that he would be a little more dominating at home against an overmatched opponent. 5/10.
Earnest Ross
Ross had his best offensive game for Mizzou and was shooting with a lot of confidence. Can he be consistent enough to continue with this type of performance on the road? I'm still not crazy about his defense, but I guess there's no point in expecting that to get any better as that's the one area of his game that his been consistent. 9/10.
Keion Bell
Bell did what this team needs for him to do...get steals...score in transition and make drives to the basket. I also liked that he had a couple of nice assists on his drives. More of this please. 10/10.
Tony Criswell
Criswell had 4 points and 3 rebounds in 14 minutes of play. While I am a big fan of Tony and love his hustle on the offensive boards, he's not a good defender and gets beat badly on a few occasions every game. He seems to have very poor lateral quickness and also bites on too many fakes and crossovers. He was jumping out on a number of pump fakes against Auburn, which completely took him out of the play on defense which led to some easy points for the other Tigers. 5/10.
Overall Thoughts
When making these reports, I am mindful of the individual game and the meta-game (the season). I am happy that Mizzou was able to defend their home floor and get the victory over Auburn, but as I said above, this game showed many of the same fundamental problems which are going to keep this team from doing much in the post-season. Bell's defensive pressure was nice, but most teams have a number of defenders who can create those types of turnovers from the opposition. It really is alarming at how poorly Mizzou does in this area (I know I sound like a broken record as I harp on this after almost every game but once again Auburn had 12 turnovers when they have been averaging over 20 on the season). Missouri is now ranked 299th in the nation at creating turnovers. As a result, team's routinely have their best offensive showings against Missouri. With such a shoddy defense, all it takes is a less-than-stellar shooting performance and this team can lose to anybody. I had high hopes that the defense would keep us in games despite a huge drop-off in offensive efficiency, but the truth of the matter is that this defense is even worse than last year's. Again, glad to get the win, but have resigned myself for this to end up being a pretty lackluster season.
Next up: Texas A&M on Thursday.
Game 20: at LSU
Missouri started the game in a zone and when LSU had no trouble finding open shots after three possessions, Missouri went to a man-to-man for the remainder of the game. I thought it was an interesting time to experiment with the zone, considering that Missouri couldn't stop SEMO earlier in the year with their zone and has looked pathetic every time they've tried it. Tonight was more of the same in that regard. This game highlighted what I've been trying to say all year and that is that this team is going nowhere because they just can't play good defense. LSU is not a good team (and their offense is ranked 192), yet they were blowing by all of the Missouri defenders as they created easy looks which they cashed in on. Missouri's defense was so pathetic that they couldn't even turn over a team that averages over 21 turnovers a game. A simple pick set by Mizzou's opponent is all that it takes to break this defense. There are just too many weak links on this team to play at a high level and they have now been exposed for what they are -- a mediocre bunch that plays okay at home but just looks awful on the road.
Missouri just doesn't seem interested in playing when away from Mizzou Arena and just starts these games horribly. While they showed some life in the second half, they had dug too big of a hole with sloppy play and little hustle. They are lazy on both ends and the results are what you would expect. How come LSU is running the floor and alley-ooping on Missouri, yet Missouri has not been able to do that all year? The thing about good defense is that it can be a huge weapon when the shots aren't falling (which for Missouri, seems to happen on the road). In tonight's game, Missouri players missed an awful lot of wide open shots which you would expect college basketball players to make at a decent clip. When those dry spells occur, a good defense can generate easy scoring opportunities.
About the offense, Missouri as a team only had 7 assists for the whole game (which is less than Phil's per game average on the season). Pressey had 5 of the 7 assists. The rest of these guys are not very good at passing the ball.
Phil Pressey
Phil had a pretty nice game, but had some late game lapses which really hurt and led to the loss. Gotta give him credit for willing his team back into this game with some nice defensive steals, but the late turnover, foul and missed 3s were big during crunch time. Not sure why he didn't drive to set up Brown, Ross or Bowers on the last possession. 5/10.
Laurence Bowers
Bowers looked like a shell of his former self in the first half. He looked slow and had no strength as he was not a factor at all. He came out of half time looking much better and has a few nice putbacks and was active on the offensive glass. 6/10.
Jabari Brown
Brown struggled tonight, but still came away shooting a respectable 40% from behind the arc and ended with 19 points. He missed some driving shots that he normally makes and just didn't seem to be as sharp as he usually is. 6/10.
Alex Oriakhi
Oriakhi had as many fouls as he did points and rebounds. Not good. 2/10.
Earnest Ross
Ross was awful in the first half and came back to have a few nice plays in the second half. He still makes boneheaded plays like the time when LSU hit the ball out of bounds and he tried to save it. (He has done this a number of times this year and has yet to figure this out.) His defense in the first half was the worst I've seen from him all year. He did not come ready to play. 3/10.
Tony Criswell
Criswell led the team with 9 rebounds. While he does make a few tip shots from time-to-time, I thought there were a few times where he should have just grabbed the rebound and go right back up with the shot as he had some room, yet just batted the ball toward the goal instead. 6/10.
Overall Thoughts
I'd love to put a positive spin on this one, but this was a bad loss. Mizzou just came out extremely flat and didn't make enough plays down the stretch to overcome their horrible first half. LSU had lost 5 of their last 6 and their previous best win was over Seton Hall (99th in Pomeroy). I was disappointed with the effort and am now beginning to think that this team won't survive the first weekend in the national tournament. They are mentally very weak, don't play smart basketball and don't play good enough defense to beat strong teams. I'd love for them to prove me wrong, but tonight's performance was not an aberration.
Missouri just doesn't seem interested in playing when away from Mizzou Arena and just starts these games horribly. While they showed some life in the second half, they had dug too big of a hole with sloppy play and little hustle. They are lazy on both ends and the results are what you would expect. How come LSU is running the floor and alley-ooping on Missouri, yet Missouri has not been able to do that all year? The thing about good defense is that it can be a huge weapon when the shots aren't falling (which for Missouri, seems to happen on the road). In tonight's game, Missouri players missed an awful lot of wide open shots which you would expect college basketball players to make at a decent clip. When those dry spells occur, a good defense can generate easy scoring opportunities.
About the offense, Missouri as a team only had 7 assists for the whole game (which is less than Phil's per game average on the season). Pressey had 5 of the 7 assists. The rest of these guys are not very good at passing the ball.
Phil Pressey
Phil had a pretty nice game, but had some late game lapses which really hurt and led to the loss. Gotta give him credit for willing his team back into this game with some nice defensive steals, but the late turnover, foul and missed 3s were big during crunch time. Not sure why he didn't drive to set up Brown, Ross or Bowers on the last possession. 5/10.
Laurence Bowers
Bowers looked like a shell of his former self in the first half. He looked slow and had no strength as he was not a factor at all. He came out of half time looking much better and has a few nice putbacks and was active on the offensive glass. 6/10.
Jabari Brown
Brown struggled tonight, but still came away shooting a respectable 40% from behind the arc and ended with 19 points. He missed some driving shots that he normally makes and just didn't seem to be as sharp as he usually is. 6/10.
Alex Oriakhi
Oriakhi had as many fouls as he did points and rebounds. Not good. 2/10.
Earnest Ross
Ross was awful in the first half and came back to have a few nice plays in the second half. He still makes boneheaded plays like the time when LSU hit the ball out of bounds and he tried to save it. (He has done this a number of times this year and has yet to figure this out.) His defense in the first half was the worst I've seen from him all year. He did not come ready to play. 3/10.
Tony Criswell
Criswell led the team with 9 rebounds. While he does make a few tip shots from time-to-time, I thought there were a few times where he should have just grabbed the rebound and go right back up with the shot as he had some room, yet just batted the ball toward the goal instead. 6/10.
Overall Thoughts
I'd love to put a positive spin on this one, but this was a bad loss. Mizzou just came out extremely flat and didn't make enough plays down the stretch to overcome their horrible first half. LSU had lost 5 of their last 6 and their previous best win was over Seton Hall (99th in Pomeroy). I was disappointed with the effort and am now beginning to think that this team won't survive the first weekend in the national tournament. They are mentally very weak, don't play smart basketball and don't play good enough defense to beat strong teams. I'd love for them to prove me wrong, but tonight's performance was not an aberration.
Next up: Auburn on Saturday.
Game 19: Vanderbilt
This is the game I have been looking for (at least, the first half was). After Vandy's first few possessions, I thought it was going to be another dreadful game from Missouri's defense. But Keion Bell's energy got the defense going and Oriakhi was an absolute beast on the boards which sparked some life in this team which has been sorely missed the last few games. The first half gave a glimpse of what this team can do when their heart is in it. Oriakhi completely dominated the offensive boards and Bell was a madman in the passing lanes and who would have thought...this led to great offensive production. Unfortunately, Missouri came back down to earth at the beginning of the second half as far as their defense was concerned (Vandy scored more points in the first 8 minutes of the second half than they scored in the whole first half).
Phil Pressey
Phil had a nice game. Solid play on both ends and ended with a nice stat line of 12 points, 6 assists and 2 turnovers. 8/10.
Jabari Brown
Jabari was 8-12 from the field...good. He turned it over 5 times...bad. But Jabari did what this team needs for him to do. He played decent defense and got hot. What I especially have liked about Jabari is that he is the one guy on this team who continues to take the ball to the hole and have the ability to finish. We were led to believe that he had some hops, but I think we can put that rumor to rest. He's just not a high-flyer as he frequently gets his shot stuffed back in his face by good defenders when he's attacking the basket. But he is crafty around the basket and has shown to have a wonderful touch in getting the ball to fall the hoop. 8/10.
Alex Oriakhi
Oriakhi had his best game as a Tiger. He absolutely dominated on the boards and showed some nifty moves around the basket. He has a gear that allows him to dominate, but he is so inconsistent in getting there. He had an outstanding game today. 10/10
Earnest Ross
I've been more critical of Ross this year than any other player and I actually thought he played okay today. I hate it when he drives to the basket though. He took it inside once in this game and just kind of turned his back to the basket and flipped the ball behind his head hoping it would at least draw iron (it didn't). But despite that, he played with lots of energy and was very aggressive at going after rebounds (which is what we need for him to do!). All of his makes in this game were from behind the arc. 7/10.
Keion Bell
Bell was great in the first half and looked pretty pedestrian in the second half. But I thought his contribution in the first half was outstanding as his active hands led to some steals and run-outs which really got the team going. He struggled late when he was running the point. He wasn't able to knock down any of his drives and was a bit sloppy on occasion. But overall, nice effort. 6/10.
Tony Criswell
Criswell had an interesting stat line of 4 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 fouls. A quadruple-quad! Criswell is probably never going to be a good defender but provides enough hustle to make up for it though never seemed to get going in this particular game. 5/10.
Overall Thoughts
Games like these are what gets us fans sucked in. We see moments when this team can play great defense. We see moments when Alex Oriakhi completely takes over. We see moments when Brown and Ross get hot from outside and hit 50% from 3. Unfortunately, these guys don't seem to have the mental make-up to consistently give this type of effort. (Witness the second half when Vandy outscored Mizzou by 7.) I'm afraid that's what this team is going to be this year. Good in spurts and not-so-good at times. I'd love for this team to be consistently good. But we just haven't seen it yet. Hopefully, they'll make a commitment to defend and allow that to get them going in the other phases of the game.
Phil Pressey
Phil had a nice game. Solid play on both ends and ended with a nice stat line of 12 points, 6 assists and 2 turnovers. 8/10.
Jabari Brown
Jabari was 8-12 from the field...good. He turned it over 5 times...bad. But Jabari did what this team needs for him to do. He played decent defense and got hot. What I especially have liked about Jabari is that he is the one guy on this team who continues to take the ball to the hole and have the ability to finish. We were led to believe that he had some hops, but I think we can put that rumor to rest. He's just not a high-flyer as he frequently gets his shot stuffed back in his face by good defenders when he's attacking the basket. But he is crafty around the basket and has shown to have a wonderful touch in getting the ball to fall the hoop. 8/10.
Alex Oriakhi
Oriakhi had his best game as a Tiger. He absolutely dominated on the boards and showed some nifty moves around the basket. He has a gear that allows him to dominate, but he is so inconsistent in getting there. He had an outstanding game today. 10/10
Earnest Ross
I've been more critical of Ross this year than any other player and I actually thought he played okay today. I hate it when he drives to the basket though. He took it inside once in this game and just kind of turned his back to the basket and flipped the ball behind his head hoping it would at least draw iron (it didn't). But despite that, he played with lots of energy and was very aggressive at going after rebounds (which is what we need for him to do!). All of his makes in this game were from behind the arc. 7/10.
Keion Bell
Bell was great in the first half and looked pretty pedestrian in the second half. But I thought his contribution in the first half was outstanding as his active hands led to some steals and run-outs which really got the team going. He struggled late when he was running the point. He wasn't able to knock down any of his drives and was a bit sloppy on occasion. But overall, nice effort. 6/10.
Tony Criswell
Criswell had an interesting stat line of 4 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 fouls. A quadruple-quad! Criswell is probably never going to be a good defender but provides enough hustle to make up for it though never seemed to get going in this particular game. 5/10.
Overall Thoughts
Games like these are what gets us fans sucked in. We see moments when this team can play great defense. We see moments when Alex Oriakhi completely takes over. We see moments when Brown and Ross get hot from outside and hit 50% from 3. Unfortunately, these guys don't seem to have the mental make-up to consistently give this type of effort. (Witness the second half when Vandy outscored Mizzou by 7.) I'm afraid that's what this team is going to be this year. Good in spurts and not-so-good at times. I'd love for this team to be consistently good. But we just haven't seen it yet. Hopefully, they'll make a commitment to defend and allow that to get them going in the other phases of the game.
Next up: LSU on Wednesday.
Game 18: South Carolina
The reason why this Missouri team is probably not going to go places this year is because its defense just isn't capable of getting stops when it needs to. South Carolina has a poor offense, yet was able to get some easy looks during crucial parts of the game and Missouri did not look good. In addition, SC on three different occasions got three tries on the offensive end because they outhustled Mizzou in getting rebounds. Great teams have good defenses so that when the shooting goes cold they can still get stops and stay in the game. While Missouri came up with the victory, this was not a well played game by our Tigers.
Phil Pressey
Phil stunk. He is in a terrible shooting slump and his shots aren't even close to going in. His shooting woes have seemed to affect the rest of his game as he just hasn't looked like the great player that he is. He definitely played better in the second half and made some nice plays late and I thought Haith did a good job of managing Phil's foul trouble. 4/10.
Jabari Brown
Brown had a rough game. Lots of missed shots and turnovers. He still plays aggressively but has very little lift when going at the goal and is easily blocked. He hit the big shot at the end which was nice to see. 4/10.
Alex Oriakhi
Oriakhi asserted himself early on and was a tough match-up for the smaller South Carolina team. He knocked down his free throws and was grabbing boards. He seemed to tire late in the game and allowed SC to get some boards and easy shots in close. 8/10.
Earnest Ross
Ross played with lots of energy, but continues to make so many fundamental errors and is just horrible when driving to the basket. I found myself more frustrated with his play than any other Tiger as he just plays dumb on both ends of the floor. I realize he scored some points, but his overall game is so weak. He gets hung up on every screen when playing defense and frequently was to blame for SC getting multiple shots as he was out of position and failed to block out an outside shooter (for those of you who have been reading the Report all season should know I have been harping about this and tonight we saw instances where Ross' poor defense really hurt the Tigers). Ross did hit a big shot at the end which gave Mizzou some breathing room in the last minute and he was one of two Tigers with double-doubles. 7/10.
Tony Criswell
Criswell struggled as well by getting outworked on the boards and playing very poor defense. I felt like SC went at him late and seemed to score at will to make the end a lot more interesting than we would have liked. 2/10.
Overall Thoughts
Even without Bowers and Bell, Mizzou should have had an easy time with South Carolina at home. This game is very concerning and it appears that there may be some distractions that are affecting the team's play. I hope they can get it together and start playing better otherwise this season will be a huge disappointment.
Phil Pressey
Phil stunk. He is in a terrible shooting slump and his shots aren't even close to going in. His shooting woes have seemed to affect the rest of his game as he just hasn't looked like the great player that he is. He definitely played better in the second half and made some nice plays late and I thought Haith did a good job of managing Phil's foul trouble. 4/10.
Jabari Brown
Brown had a rough game. Lots of missed shots and turnovers. He still plays aggressively but has very little lift when going at the goal and is easily blocked. He hit the big shot at the end which was nice to see. 4/10.
Oriakhi asserted himself early on and was a tough match-up for the smaller South Carolina team. He knocked down his free throws and was grabbing boards. He seemed to tire late in the game and allowed SC to get some boards and easy shots in close. 8/10.
Earnest Ross
Ross played with lots of energy, but continues to make so many fundamental errors and is just horrible when driving to the basket. I found myself more frustrated with his play than any other Tiger as he just plays dumb on both ends of the floor. I realize he scored some points, but his overall game is so weak. He gets hung up on every screen when playing defense and frequently was to blame for SC getting multiple shots as he was out of position and failed to block out an outside shooter (for those of you who have been reading the Report all season should know I have been harping about this and tonight we saw instances where Ross' poor defense really hurt the Tigers). Ross did hit a big shot at the end which gave Mizzou some breathing room in the last minute and he was one of two Tigers with double-doubles. 7/10.
Tony Criswell
Criswell struggled as well by getting outworked on the boards and playing very poor defense. I felt like SC went at him late and seemed to score at will to make the end a lot more interesting than we would have liked. 2/10.
Overall Thoughts
Even without Bowers and Bell, Mizzou should have had an easy time with South Carolina at home. This game is very concerning and it appears that there may be some distractions that are affecting the team's play. I hope they can get it together and start playing better otherwise this season will be a huge disappointment.
Next up: Vanderbilt on Saturday.
Game 17: at Florida
This was going to be a tough game for the Tigers to win. My pre-game prediction was for Missouri to hang tough in the first half, but for the Gators to get a little momentum right before halftime and continue that into the second half, ultimately pulling away for a 75-56 victory. Well, it was a pretty bad sign when the Tigers were down by a touchdown before they could even get a shot off. And then it got worse from there...
Phil Pressey
Phil is a good player, but needs to recognize that he needs to adjust when going up against a strong defensive team like Florida. He tried too many risky passes which resulted in turnovers and easy points the other direction. Not only that, he's just been dreadful with his jump shot yet continues to shoot it at a healthy rate. He ended the game with 10 turnovers and never made any adjustments to his style of play which was disappointing as Florida's defense just made him look silly. 2/10.
Jabari Brown
Brown had plenty of opportunities, and was at various points one of the few bright spots during this game. He led the team with 16 points, but that's pretty bad when you consider that he took 18 shots. 4/10
Alex Oriakhi
Oriakhi was just awful in this game. Haith seemed to lose his patience with Oriakhi early on which is why Rosburg played so much. For whatever reason, he just decided he didn't want to play any defense and that freed up Florida to pretty much score at will. 1/10
Earnest Ross
Ross was even worse. Ross' defense was so poor that it seemed like Florida scored on every possession in which he was on the floor. 0/10
Keion Bell
Bell probably had the best game of any Tiger scoring 14 points on 6 field goal attempts. He was one of the few players who attacked the goal and was rewarded with a few trips to the line. 7/10
Tony Criswell
Criswell led the team in rebounding with a whopping 5 boards. Other than that, he was pretty poor in all other phases, just like everyone else. 4/10
Stefan Jankovic
Jankovic led the Tigers with 3 steals, but really made little to no impact on this game. 4/10
Overall Thoughts
Florida is a great team. Missouri is not. Even with a healthy Bowers, Florida would have blown Missouri out today. This game shows what a good defensive team can do. Unfortunately, it also showed what a good offensive team can do going up against a poor defensive team. Missouri just looked horrible from the opening tip on defense. Florida didn't even have to break a sweat as they were getting such easy looks in the first 10 minutes and even on one of their rare misses, it seemed like they were able to get the offensive board because this Missouri bunch just didn't seem to bring it. I tried to tell you it wasn't going to be pretty. But this game turned out even worse than what I was expecting. This was complete and utter domination in all phases of the game.
Like I have mentioned in previous games, Missouri still goes through stretches where it draws no fouls on the opposition as Florida wasn't whistled for their first foul of the game until the 9:28 mark, going the first ten minutes without a single foul. This was also the third game in a row in which Pressey has failed to even get to the free throw line. I don't like some of these patterns that have emerged now that the conference season is underway.
Phil Pressey
Phil is a good player, but needs to recognize that he needs to adjust when going up against a strong defensive team like Florida. He tried too many risky passes which resulted in turnovers and easy points the other direction. Not only that, he's just been dreadful with his jump shot yet continues to shoot it at a healthy rate. He ended the game with 10 turnovers and never made any adjustments to his style of play which was disappointing as Florida's defense just made him look silly. 2/10.
Jabari Brown
Brown had plenty of opportunities, and was at various points one of the few bright spots during this game. He led the team with 16 points, but that's pretty bad when you consider that he took 18 shots. 4/10
Alex Oriakhi
Oriakhi was just awful in this game. Haith seemed to lose his patience with Oriakhi early on which is why Rosburg played so much. For whatever reason, he just decided he didn't want to play any defense and that freed up Florida to pretty much score at will. 1/10
Earnest Ross
Ross was even worse. Ross' defense was so poor that it seemed like Florida scored on every possession in which he was on the floor. 0/10
Keion Bell
Bell probably had the best game of any Tiger scoring 14 points on 6 field goal attempts. He was one of the few players who attacked the goal and was rewarded with a few trips to the line. 7/10
Tony Criswell
Criswell led the team in rebounding with a whopping 5 boards. Other than that, he was pretty poor in all other phases, just like everyone else. 4/10
Stefan Jankovic
Jankovic led the Tigers with 3 steals, but really made little to no impact on this game. 4/10
Overall Thoughts
Florida is a great team. Missouri is not. Even with a healthy Bowers, Florida would have blown Missouri out today. This game shows what a good defensive team can do. Unfortunately, it also showed what a good offensive team can do going up against a poor defensive team. Missouri just looked horrible from the opening tip on defense. Florida didn't even have to break a sweat as they were getting such easy looks in the first 10 minutes and even on one of their rare misses, it seemed like they were able to get the offensive board because this Missouri bunch just didn't seem to bring it. I tried to tell you it wasn't going to be pretty. But this game turned out even worse than what I was expecting. This was complete and utter domination in all phases of the game.
Like I have mentioned in previous games, Missouri still goes through stretches where it draws no fouls on the opposition as Florida wasn't whistled for their first foul of the game until the 9:28 mark, going the first ten minutes without a single foul. This was also the third game in a row in which Pressey has failed to even get to the free throw line. I don't like some of these patterns that have emerged now that the conference season is underway.
Next up: South Carolina on Tuesday. Should be an easy win.
Game 16: Georgia
A win is a win is a win. And every win is a good win. But (There is always a but, isn't there?) when trying to formulate an accurate picture of how this game unfolded, it is critical to factor in just how poor a team Georgia is in order to highlight what Mizzou did well and not so well. I say this because normally you would be happy if Mizzou held its opponent to 62 points. However, when you consider that Georgia has been held below that number in 11 of its 16 games, all of a sudden it doesn't seem that impressive. I thought Mizzou played okay tonight, but overall was pretty lackluster at both ends even though the final score looks decent enough. I sincerely believe that a similar level of play on Saturday will result in a blowout victory for Florida.
Phil Pressey
Phil was solid on offense, but dreadful on defense. I thought he gambled too often (which did lead to 4 steals), but allowed his man (Vincent Williams) too many open looks and paths to the basket. Williams, as a result, had a career high by a significant margin (scoring 23 tonight when his previous best was 14 earlier this year). 4/10.
Jabari Brown
Brown was limited in the first half as he picked up two quick fouls guarding Georgia's star, Caldwell-Pope. I thought Brown had a nice game and I was especially pleased when he drove the baseline on three consecutive possessions, scoring on one of those drives and getting to the free throw line on the other two. If he can continue to drive with the basketball, that will help free up his outside shot. While he guarded Caldwell-Pope, I thought he did a good job of making him work for his shots. 7/10.
Alex Oriakhi
Oriakhi was pretty solid and did a great job on the offensive boards in the first half. He was not as active in the second half and I felt like he got out-hustled a couple of times when Georgia was able to gather a couple of offensive rebounds right over him. But anytime Alex goes 5-5 from the field and 3-4 from the line, that's a nice outing. Perhaps more importantly though was that Alex kicked the ball out twice in this game after getting it down low, with both kick-outs resulting in made 3-pointers. 8/10.
Earnest Ross
Ross started off shaky, missing his first three shots and then caught fire and was very active at driving to the hoop. Of course, he almost died on three different occasions in this game, so who knows if he'll be healthy by Saturday. 7/10.
Keion Bell
Bell handled the back-up point guard duties and did an admirable job. He, like Pressey, gambled a bit too much on defense though for my liking. Tonight marked the end of the NWC experiment. 7/10.
Tony Criswell
Criswell is fun to watch. He brings a lot of energy to the lineup, though he's still a little raw. He was back to being active on the boards and knocked down a few shots against Georgia's zone. 6/10.
Stefan Jankovic
Jankovic likes to shoot and foul. He did both at a fairly nice clip tonight. 5/10.
Overall Thoughts
Georgia played a zone for the entire game and I thought Missouri showed nice patience in trying to find holes. Missouri utilized the weave quite a bit and this worked nicely on a number of occasions, as Pressey eventually would make a quick move at top getting through the first wave of defenders allowing for nice passing lanes to a cutting wing player. Pressey had nice assists to Criswell, Ross, Brown and Oriakhi off of this play when going against the zone. Missouri countered with some zone of its own which I thought had mixed results. Missouri really needs to continue attacking inside as they go through periods where they don't force the action. For example, in tonight's game from the 16:13 mark of the first half to the 15:10 mark of the second half, Georgia had one foul called on them....1 foul in over 20 minutes of game time. That is unbelievable! But what makes this worth mentioning is that we have seen similar periods in games against UCLA and Bucknell this year. For whatever reason, Missouri has not done a good job of drawing fouls or getting the calls...I'll let you decide.
Phil Pressey
Phil was solid on offense, but dreadful on defense. I thought he gambled too often (which did lead to 4 steals), but allowed his man (Vincent Williams) too many open looks and paths to the basket. Williams, as a result, had a career high by a significant margin (scoring 23 tonight when his previous best was 14 earlier this year). 4/10.
Jabari Brown
Brown was limited in the first half as he picked up two quick fouls guarding Georgia's star, Caldwell-Pope. I thought Brown had a nice game and I was especially pleased when he drove the baseline on three consecutive possessions, scoring on one of those drives and getting to the free throw line on the other two. If he can continue to drive with the basketball, that will help free up his outside shot. While he guarded Caldwell-Pope, I thought he did a good job of making him work for his shots. 7/10.
Alex Oriakhi
Oriakhi was pretty solid and did a great job on the offensive boards in the first half. He was not as active in the second half and I felt like he got out-hustled a couple of times when Georgia was able to gather a couple of offensive rebounds right over him. But anytime Alex goes 5-5 from the field and 3-4 from the line, that's a nice outing. Perhaps more importantly though was that Alex kicked the ball out twice in this game after getting it down low, with both kick-outs resulting in made 3-pointers. 8/10.
Earnest Ross
Ross started off shaky, missing his first three shots and then caught fire and was very active at driving to the hoop. Of course, he almost died on three different occasions in this game, so who knows if he'll be healthy by Saturday. 7/10.
Keion Bell
Bell handled the back-up point guard duties and did an admirable job. He, like Pressey, gambled a bit too much on defense though for my liking. Tonight marked the end of the NWC experiment. 7/10.
Tony Criswell
Criswell is fun to watch. He brings a lot of energy to the lineup, though he's still a little raw. He was back to being active on the boards and knocked down a few shots against Georgia's zone. 6/10.
Stefan Jankovic
Jankovic likes to shoot and foul. He did both at a fairly nice clip tonight. 5/10.
Overall Thoughts
Georgia played a zone for the entire game and I thought Missouri showed nice patience in trying to find holes. Missouri utilized the weave quite a bit and this worked nicely on a number of occasions, as Pressey eventually would make a quick move at top getting through the first wave of defenders allowing for nice passing lanes to a cutting wing player. Pressey had nice assists to Criswell, Ross, Brown and Oriakhi off of this play when going against the zone. Missouri countered with some zone of its own which I thought had mixed results. Missouri really needs to continue attacking inside as they go through periods where they don't force the action. For example, in tonight's game from the 16:13 mark of the first half to the 15:10 mark of the second half, Georgia had one foul called on them....1 foul in over 20 minutes of game time. That is unbelievable! But what makes this worth mentioning is that we have seen similar periods in games against UCLA and Bucknell this year. For whatever reason, Missouri has not done a good job of drawing fouls or getting the calls...I'll let you decide.
Next up: Florida on Saturday. I don't think it will be pretty.
Game 15: at Ole Miss
Mizzou went on the road for the first time in conference without their leading scorer, so it was no surprise that they were an underdog going up against a good Ole Miss team. However, I did not expect them to come out as flat and lifeless as they did. The team as a whole exhibited lots of poor body language even from early on as numerous players frequently gave up on plays and just didn't seem to give a hoot about doing all the things that a winning basketball team does. This game also was further confirmation that this team has poor hands and even poorer instincts. I continue to be amazed at how every catch is an adventure and what should be an easy rebound for a Mizzou player frequently ends up controlled by the opposing team and how a loose ball where there are 4 Mizzou players and 1 opponent always seems to end up with the opponent. I have mentioned this from the very first game of the season and now that the opposition is getting better and more athletic, this has become even more noticeable. Ole Miss was more aggressive and even though they were a bit rough around the edges, they fought hard and ultimately made Mizzou look pretty bad. 49 points against Ole Miss!
Phil Pressey
Phil looked like the only decent player for Mizzou tonight. Everyone else looked pretty poor. It was so frustrating watch him make nice moves and deliver nice passes only for a cutter to miss an easy shot. He made over 10 passes that should have resulted in an assist, but ended up with as many turnovers as assists. 4/10.
Jabari Brown
I like Brown a lot and think he is going to be a great player. He had a rough night tonight and just seemed to play rattled. He'll bounce back as he is one of the few who is fundamentally sound and has a good understanding of the game. 3/10.
Alex Oriakhi
Oriakhi also seemed to be a little off and never really asserted himself. Give some credit to Ole Miss, as they were tough inside and had some big guys who could handle the ball and create nice scoring opportunities for themselves. Unfortunately, Oriakhi struggles against these types of players and tonight was no exception. 3/10.
Earnest Ross
I had hoped I would never have to say this, but it is now apparent that Ross has very poor fundamentals and frequently seems to have no idea what is going on in the game. In addition, he's an outside shooter who doesn't shoot very well. His drives to the hoop are horrible. He is not able to elevate quickly and as a result is very easy to defend, not to mention he has very poor touch around the basket (much like a few other players on this team). 1/10.
Keion Bell
Bell missed a number of gimmies in this one and still looks so awkward on offense. I also felt like he gave up on a number of plays. There were numerous times during the game when he just stopped and watched a play while the Ole Miss players continued to hustle. Bell did have 7 rebounds which was nice to see. 3/10.
Tony Criswell
It was nice to have Criswell back in the line-up though he struggled to defend Holloway. Criswell's problem is that he does not have lateral quickness and frequently gets in trouble by using his hands and body to defend rather than getting his feet moving. 3/10.
Negus Webster-Chan
Playing with zero confidence and finding new and creative ways to turn the ball over. It's almost like his sole mission in life is to prove to everyone that Pressey needs to be on the floor for all 40 minutes. 0/10.
Overall Thoughts
I thought Haith mailed this one in. I understand he was frustrated, but his job is to still coach no matter what. I felt like the team came out of halftime with little energy and then really showed no desire or fight to get back into it after that. What was most concerning to me is that this team's defense is so mediocre that it really does not have the ability to come from behind, nor does the team seem to have the mental make-up to fight through some adversity and make the effort to claw back into a game when down. They all just kind of gave up, much like the Louisville game. That was disappointing to me.
Phil Pressey
Phil looked like the only decent player for Mizzou tonight. Everyone else looked pretty poor. It was so frustrating watch him make nice moves and deliver nice passes only for a cutter to miss an easy shot. He made over 10 passes that should have resulted in an assist, but ended up with as many turnovers as assists. 4/10.
Jabari Brown
I like Brown a lot and think he is going to be a great player. He had a rough night tonight and just seemed to play rattled. He'll bounce back as he is one of the few who is fundamentally sound and has a good understanding of the game. 3/10.
Alex Oriakhi
Oriakhi also seemed to be a little off and never really asserted himself. Give some credit to Ole Miss, as they were tough inside and had some big guys who could handle the ball and create nice scoring opportunities for themselves. Unfortunately, Oriakhi struggles against these types of players and tonight was no exception. 3/10.
Earnest Ross
I had hoped I would never have to say this, but it is now apparent that Ross has very poor fundamentals and frequently seems to have no idea what is going on in the game. In addition, he's an outside shooter who doesn't shoot very well. His drives to the hoop are horrible. He is not able to elevate quickly and as a result is very easy to defend, not to mention he has very poor touch around the basket (much like a few other players on this team). 1/10.
Keion Bell
Bell missed a number of gimmies in this one and still looks so awkward on offense. I also felt like he gave up on a number of plays. There were numerous times during the game when he just stopped and watched a play while the Ole Miss players continued to hustle. Bell did have 7 rebounds which was nice to see. 3/10.
Tony Criswell
It was nice to have Criswell back in the line-up though he struggled to defend Holloway. Criswell's problem is that he does not have lateral quickness and frequently gets in trouble by using his hands and body to defend rather than getting his feet moving. 3/10.
Negus Webster-Chan
Playing with zero confidence and finding new and creative ways to turn the ball over. It's almost like his sole mission in life is to prove to everyone that Pressey needs to be on the floor for all 40 minutes. 0/10.
Overall Thoughts
I thought Haith mailed this one in. I understand he was frustrated, but his job is to still coach no matter what. I felt like the team came out of halftime with little energy and then really showed no desire or fight to get back into it after that. What was most concerning to me is that this team's defense is so mediocre that it really does not have the ability to come from behind, nor does the team seem to have the mental make-up to fight through some adversity and make the effort to claw back into a game when down. They all just kind of gave up, much like the Louisville game. That was disappointing to me.
Next up: Georgia on Wednesday.
Game 14: Alabama
I thought tonight's game against Alabama was a much better effort all around, especially since a few guys got hot from outside which really allowed the offense to open up. I thought the defensive effort was especially good from the main lineup (Pressey, Brown, Ross, Bowers and Oriakhi), as was the offense since these five were responsible for all Tiger points scored in this contest. I felt like the defense was not nearly as good when any of those guys were out. Missouri got out to a nice lead early with this group, but then Alabama came back when Haith went to the subs. When Brown and Ross are knocking down shots and the guys are making cuts to the basket, this team is very tough to defend. Alabama is a very athletic team and was a good test to open the conference season. Two Tigers had double-doubles (Pressey and Oriakhi).
Phil Pressey
I thought Phil was great. He had a couple of bad turnovers, but otherwise was exactly what he needs to be for the team to succeed. He would have had a ridiculous assist total if Ross could have knocked down a few those lay-ups in close. Grade: 8/10.
Laurence Bowers
In my last report, I called out Bowers for not getting to the line. I was pleased to see him play more physical in this game and force the action a couple of times on offense. He had gotten to where he seemed to rely too much on Pressey to set him up for shots in the last few games, but tonight he made some things happen on his own which I think he needs to do more often. I loved his spin move from the left side of the lane which resulted in a nice lay-in. Keep attacking Bowers! 8/10.
Jabari Brown
Brown was fantastic in this game. It was great to see him get hot and shoot with confidence from any spot on the floor. But that's not the only place where he shined in this game. He played outstanding defense and is the only perimeter defender for Mizzou who shows the ability to fight through a screen and stay with his man at the same time. He did a great job of keeping Trevor Lacey in check. Lacey is a good scorer who never really got going and also never got to the free throw line. Brown really slowed him down and makes Mizzou a much better team on defense even when he's not making his shots. Lastly, how about Brown running the offense? Showed some nice passes on the pick-and-roll with Oriakhi and on one other occasion when he was running the show. Brown looked good in every phase tonight and is the primary reason why this team can be really good. 10/10.
Alex Oriakhi
Oriakhi was typically solid. I'm in the camp that believes that he is one of the most important players on the floor because there is a noticeable drop-off in overall production when he is on the bench. I also liked to see him get back on track from the charity stripe. 8/10.
Earnest Ross
Ross had a great night scoring. He's a bit of an enigma because I'm starting to think that he really is a perimeter player despite his physique. He looked pretty bad on three separate occasions when driving to the basket and came nowhere close to finishing point-blank shots (two were airballs and the third got stuffed right back into his face). But he's a streaky shooter who was "on" tonight and was active enough to give Alabama fits from both near and far. Unlike Brown, Ross struggles on defending out on the perimeter when it comes to screens. Ross always tries to go under the screen and frequently gets caught. I'd love to see him learn from Brown and start fighting through those screens because Brown showed exactly how to do it in this game. Ross was 75% from 3, 50% from 2 and 50% from the line in this game. 8/10.
Negus Webster-Chan
Webster-Chan has fallen out of favor with me, mainly because he just doesn't do anything but get beat on defense when he is in and act scared whenever he is defended closely when he has the ball. I thought his defense was especially bad in this game as the Alabama guards blew by him with ease. In his 12 minutes of playing time, he had 1 rebound and 2 fouls and no other stats. He is becoming the Invisible Man. 4/10.
Keion Bell
Bell started the game by turning the ball over on his first touch, while trying to force the action and then proceeded to get lost trying to defend his man on Alabama's possession which allowed a wide-open 3 which was converted. Haith immediately had Ross at the scorer's table and that was it for Bell. Haith had him come in on two other occasions for a minute at a time in the first half, but Bell never even got a single second in the second half. 1/10.
Stefan Jankovic
I know a lot of you love Jankovic, but he's pretty wild. He had a nice block in the second half, but the team defense really suffers when he is in the game. And tonight he had a couple of crazy shots that even had the ESPN announcers chuckling. 4/10.
Overall Thoughts
I feel like the primary five players are very good and a healthy Criswell and Bell can provide some needed depth. Outside of that, there is a pretty big drop-off. But Pressey, Brown, Bowers, Ross and Oriakhi looked like a very good unit tonight and I think they will continue to gel as it seems like Brown and Ross are starting to figure out what they can do when Pressey has the ball. Did anyone else notice the weave play early on that resulted in Pressey getting the ball at the wing with Bowers sealing off his man for an easy entry pass from Pressey? This was a nicely executed play coming out of a timeout. Good to see.
Phil Pressey
I thought Phil was great. He had a couple of bad turnovers, but otherwise was exactly what he needs to be for the team to succeed. He would have had a ridiculous assist total if Ross could have knocked down a few those lay-ups in close. Grade: 8/10.
Laurence Bowers
In my last report, I called out Bowers for not getting to the line. I was pleased to see him play more physical in this game and force the action a couple of times on offense. He had gotten to where he seemed to rely too much on Pressey to set him up for shots in the last few games, but tonight he made some things happen on his own which I think he needs to do more often. I loved his spin move from the left side of the lane which resulted in a nice lay-in. Keep attacking Bowers! 8/10.
Jabari Brown
Brown was fantastic in this game. It was great to see him get hot and shoot with confidence from any spot on the floor. But that's not the only place where he shined in this game. He played outstanding defense and is the only perimeter defender for Mizzou who shows the ability to fight through a screen and stay with his man at the same time. He did a great job of keeping Trevor Lacey in check. Lacey is a good scorer who never really got going and also never got to the free throw line. Brown really slowed him down and makes Mizzou a much better team on defense even when he's not making his shots. Lastly, how about Brown running the offense? Showed some nice passes on the pick-and-roll with Oriakhi and on one other occasion when he was running the show. Brown looked good in every phase tonight and is the primary reason why this team can be really good. 10/10.
Oriakhi was typically solid. I'm in the camp that believes that he is one of the most important players on the floor because there is a noticeable drop-off in overall production when he is on the bench. I also liked to see him get back on track from the charity stripe. 8/10.
Earnest Ross
Ross had a great night scoring. He's a bit of an enigma because I'm starting to think that he really is a perimeter player despite his physique. He looked pretty bad on three separate occasions when driving to the basket and came nowhere close to finishing point-blank shots (two were airballs and the third got stuffed right back into his face). But he's a streaky shooter who was "on" tonight and was active enough to give Alabama fits from both near and far. Unlike Brown, Ross struggles on defending out on the perimeter when it comes to screens. Ross always tries to go under the screen and frequently gets caught. I'd love to see him learn from Brown and start fighting through those screens because Brown showed exactly how to do it in this game. Ross was 75% from 3, 50% from 2 and 50% from the line in this game. 8/10.
Negus Webster-Chan
Webster-Chan has fallen out of favor with me, mainly because he just doesn't do anything but get beat on defense when he is in and act scared whenever he is defended closely when he has the ball. I thought his defense was especially bad in this game as the Alabama guards blew by him with ease. In his 12 minutes of playing time, he had 1 rebound and 2 fouls and no other stats. He is becoming the Invisible Man. 4/10.
Keion Bell
Bell started the game by turning the ball over on his first touch, while trying to force the action and then proceeded to get lost trying to defend his man on Alabama's possession which allowed a wide-open 3 which was converted. Haith immediately had Ross at the scorer's table and that was it for Bell. Haith had him come in on two other occasions for a minute at a time in the first half, but Bell never even got a single second in the second half. 1/10.
Stefan Jankovic
I know a lot of you love Jankovic, but he's pretty wild. He had a nice block in the second half, but the team defense really suffers when he is in the game. And tonight he had a couple of crazy shots that even had the ESPN announcers chuckling. 4/10.
Overall Thoughts
I feel like the primary five players are very good and a healthy Criswell and Bell can provide some needed depth. Outside of that, there is a pretty big drop-off. But Pressey, Brown, Bowers, Ross and Oriakhi looked like a very good unit tonight and I think they will continue to gel as it seems like Brown and Ross are starting to figure out what they can do when Pressey has the ball. Did anyone else notice the weave play early on that resulted in Pressey getting the ball at the wing with Bowers sealing off his man for an easy entry pass from Pressey? This was a nicely executed play coming out of a timeout. Good to see.
Next up: Ole Miss on Saturday. I'm worried about this one.
Game 13: Bucknell
I had been worried about this game all year, but after the UCLA game figured that the Tigers would be especially motivated to come out and blow the doors off of this one. Well, my initial thought was the correct one. The Tigers looked lethargic and were not sharp on either end. 64% of the scoring came from Pressey and Bowers as no other Tiger stepped up in this one.
Phil Pressey
Phil started poorly, playing with no purpose and just chucking shots and driving into the lane when there was nothing open. He then started heating up as he made three straight shots. He continued to shoot and shoot and shoot and ultimately took over the game much like he did in the VCU game. He's taking the exact same shots that drive us crazy when they don't fall, but they started dropping during crunch time. He made some amazing passes late as well (both to Ross and Bell). The pass to Bell was incredible as it was 3/4 of the court and right on the money, leading to an easy basket when the Tigers most needed it. I'd love to give Phil good marks in this game, but if I have a pet peeve (and I do), it's when your All-American point guard can't make big free throws. 6/10.
Laurence Bowers
Bowers made some nice shots early on then kind of disappeared for a bit. He was pretty much the only player who could put the ball in the basket in the first half. He was not near as effective in the second half going 2-6 and getting outrebounded time and again by Bucknell's star. Bowers really needs to become more aggressive. He has taken a total of 1 free throw in the last two games. I know he's never going to be a banger, but I think he does have the ability to put the ball on the floor and put some pressure on the defense. 6/10.
Jabari Brown
Brown was cold and not especially assertive on offense. The charge call on him was ridiculous. But when the so-called "best shooter" on the team goes 1-9....not good. He had a few assists in his first game, but hasn't had a single one since. What's up with that? 3/10.
Alex Oriakhi
Oriakhi looked very good early on guarding Muscala and I'm becoming a believer that he makes a dramatic difference on both ends of the floor when he is in the game. The defense as a whole is dramatically better when he is on the floor and even though he's pretty rough around the goal, his presence on the offensive boards is a huge help to the offense. This game was another testimony to Oriakhi's importance to the team as everyone looks better when he was on the floor. 6/10.
Negus Webster-Chan
Webster-Chan did nothing. He ran around for a while and pretended to play a little defense. 2/10.
Earnest Ross
Ross really had a poor game, but made some nice plays late to help pull out the victory. I thought his defense was iffy (nothing new there), but he was horrible on offense. He took a couple of very quick shots and then when he gets close to the hoop he just seems to throw the ball at the basket, having no touch. 0-6 from the field and 1-4 from the line in the first half is awful. 1-3 and 2-2 in the second was an improvement and I was glad to see him knock down the late free throws. 4/10.
Keion Bell
Bell played poorly on both ends of the floor. Thankfully, he made sure to finish with a dunk this time. 3/10.
Stefan Jankovic
Jankovic is an absolute train wreck on defense when he is in. He did have a nice two-possession sequence starting the second half with the 3-pointer and dunk. But that was it. 5/10.
Overall Thoughts
When your two primary wings both go 1-9, that's a sign that you are in for a struggle. Bucknell sure seemed to get a lot of lucky bounces down the stretch, but karma bit them on the very close play where Muscala was out of bounds when they had a chance to win it (it was the right call). Just like the UCLA game, the opponent had very few fouls in the second half. It seems that Missouri's offense is either (a) not attacking or (b) not getting the calls. It just seems strange that with a point guard like Pressey, the opposition is committing so few fouls. Super ugly, but probably a good test to head into conference play. For the second game in a row, did not notice any coaching moves that I thought were especially good. Not calling out Haith, just pointing out that any tactics he may have employed were not noticed by me.
Phil Pressey
Phil started poorly, playing with no purpose and just chucking shots and driving into the lane when there was nothing open. He then started heating up as he made three straight shots. He continued to shoot and shoot and shoot and ultimately took over the game much like he did in the VCU game. He's taking the exact same shots that drive us crazy when they don't fall, but they started dropping during crunch time. He made some amazing passes late as well (both to Ross and Bell). The pass to Bell was incredible as it was 3/4 of the court and right on the money, leading to an easy basket when the Tigers most needed it. I'd love to give Phil good marks in this game, but if I have a pet peeve (and I do), it's when your All-American point guard can't make big free throws. 6/10.
Laurence Bowers
Bowers made some nice shots early on then kind of disappeared for a bit. He was pretty much the only player who could put the ball in the basket in the first half. He was not near as effective in the second half going 2-6 and getting outrebounded time and again by Bucknell's star. Bowers really needs to become more aggressive. He has taken a total of 1 free throw in the last two games. I know he's never going to be a banger, but I think he does have the ability to put the ball on the floor and put some pressure on the defense. 6/10.
Jabari Brown
Brown was cold and not especially assertive on offense. The charge call on him was ridiculous. But when the so-called "best shooter" on the team goes 1-9....not good. He had a few assists in his first game, but hasn't had a single one since. What's up with that? 3/10.
Oriakhi looked very good early on guarding Muscala and I'm becoming a believer that he makes a dramatic difference on both ends of the floor when he is in the game. The defense as a whole is dramatically better when he is on the floor and even though he's pretty rough around the goal, his presence on the offensive boards is a huge help to the offense. This game was another testimony to Oriakhi's importance to the team as everyone looks better when he was on the floor. 6/10.
Negus Webster-Chan
Webster-Chan did nothing. He ran around for a while and pretended to play a little defense. 2/10.
Earnest Ross
Ross really had a poor game, but made some nice plays late to help pull out the victory. I thought his defense was iffy (nothing new there), but he was horrible on offense. He took a couple of very quick shots and then when he gets close to the hoop he just seems to throw the ball at the basket, having no touch. 0-6 from the field and 1-4 from the line in the first half is awful. 1-3 and 2-2 in the second was an improvement and I was glad to see him knock down the late free throws. 4/10.
Keion Bell
Bell played poorly on both ends of the floor. Thankfully, he made sure to finish with a dunk this time. 3/10.
Stefan Jankovic
Jankovic is an absolute train wreck on defense when he is in. He did have a nice two-possession sequence starting the second half with the 3-pointer and dunk. But that was it. 5/10.
Overall Thoughts
When your two primary wings both go 1-9, that's a sign that you are in for a struggle. Bucknell sure seemed to get a lot of lucky bounces down the stretch, but karma bit them on the very close play where Muscala was out of bounds when they had a chance to win it (it was the right call). Just like the UCLA game, the opponent had very few fouls in the second half. It seems that Missouri's offense is either (a) not attacking or (b) not getting the calls. It just seems strange that with a point guard like Pressey, the opposition is committing so few fouls. Super ugly, but probably a good test to head into conference play. For the second game in a row, did not notice any coaching moves that I thought were especially good. Not calling out Haith, just pointing out that any tactics he may have employed were not noticed by me.
Next up: Alabama on Tuesday.
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