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.
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