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.

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.

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.

Next up:  Vanderbilt on Saturday.