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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