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.

Next up:  LSU on Wednesday.