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.

Next up:  Ole Miss on Saturday.  I'm worried about this one.