Great win for the Tigers! I had figured this was going to be a sure-loss with a few challenging games coming up on the road and I was worried that the season was about to spiral down the drain. But these guys rose to the challenge and proved me wrong. I've been ragging on this team's defense all season long and they held the nation's second best offense to 60 points on 66 possessions. That is incredible. Without a doubt, it was the defense in the second part of both halves that brought home the victory.
I am convinced that these guys CAN play good defense, they just appear to be lazy and disinterested most of the time. But the lineup of Oriakhi, Bowers, Bell, Brown and Pressey can play some pretty energetic defense if they commit to it. Ross has looked better the last two games as well, in this regard. If they can continue to show this type of energy and desire to shut down their opponents, there is no reason why they can't win the remaining games on the schedule.
Phil Pressey
Pressey had a great game I thought. 7 points, 6 rebounds (second on the team), 10 assists and 3 steals stuffed the stat sheet. He played good defense too. I thought he took over the game during the comeback with his drives (scoring and dishing), but then pulled another dumb stunt with the late 3 which looked like deja vu all over again. 7/10 (could have been higher but the dumb 3).
Laurence Bowers
Bowers finally came to play after a horrible outing in Fayetteville. His turnaround was falling and he was game high in rebounds with 10.
Got busy...and that's all I got.
Game 24: Mississippi State
It started with defense (like it always should). We got to see a little bit of everything in this game, most of which was positive for Mizzou fans. What I especially liked was how aggressive Missouri was on the boards as they forced Mississippi State to jump shots and then gobbled up the rebound. Even though Mizzou was clearly the better team, they did show some effort that has been sorely lacking in their previous road games. The losses to LSU and A&M would not have happened if Missouri would have started those games with the intensity that we saw tonight. I really think the starting five can play good defense when they set their minds to it. We saw some zone in the second half, but at that point it was hard to tell much as both teams were going through the motions.
Phil Pressey
Decent game. Had a few silly passes, but still had a nice presence and only shot the ball once the whole game. I thought his defense was great as he really caused problems for MSU's offense. 6/10.
Laurence Bowers
Bowers was so-so. I thought he got exposed a couple of times on defense in the second half when a simple pump fake took him completely out of the play. Otherwise, he was solid. 6/10.
Jabari Brown
Brown was great. He absolutely stuffed the stat sheet and just had a wonderful overall game. 20 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. He finally had a strong game away from Mizzou Arena. 10/10.
Alex Oriakhi
His 10 rebounds were great and I thought he was fairly dominating inside early on despite not getting into the scoring column. He still has some poor instincts on offense though as Pressey threw him a great lob pass which he caught right under the basket and then inexplicably put on the floor where three smaller MSU players were able to bat it away. All he had to do was go up with the ball as he was right there. 5/10.
Earnest Ross
Ross was okay but had a horrible sequence in the first half where he bricked two 3-pointers then threw the ball to MSU giving them an easy basket the other way for one of their few makes (MSU made only 11 shots all game). 4/10.
Keion Bell
Looking great on both ends. Crazy that he is even knocking down some 3s now. He's finally found his role and is absolutely flourishing. 10/10.
Calling My Shot
As we well know, Arkansas is very tough at home. That combined with Missouri's poor road play this year makes me think this is going to be a difficult game for the Tigers to win. I predict Arkansas to come out hot and Missouri to be lackluster, ultimately losing by 15-20 on Saturday.
Phil Pressey
Decent game. Had a few silly passes, but still had a nice presence and only shot the ball once the whole game. I thought his defense was great as he really caused problems for MSU's offense. 6/10.
Laurence Bowers
Bowers was so-so. I thought he got exposed a couple of times on defense in the second half when a simple pump fake took him completely out of the play. Otherwise, he was solid. 6/10.
Jabari Brown
Brown was great. He absolutely stuffed the stat sheet and just had a wonderful overall game. 20 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. He finally had a strong game away from Mizzou Arena. 10/10.
Alex Oriakhi
His 10 rebounds were great and I thought he was fairly dominating inside early on despite not getting into the scoring column. He still has some poor instincts on offense though as Pressey threw him a great lob pass which he caught right under the basket and then inexplicably put on the floor where three smaller MSU players were able to bat it away. All he had to do was go up with the ball as he was right there. 5/10.
Earnest Ross
Ross was okay but had a horrible sequence in the first half where he bricked two 3-pointers then threw the ball to MSU giving them an easy basket the other way for one of their few makes (MSU made only 11 shots all game). 4/10.
Keion Bell
Looking great on both ends. Crazy that he is even knocking down some 3s now. He's finally found his role and is absolutely flourishing. 10/10.
Calling My Shot
As we well know, Arkansas is very tough at home. That combined with Missouri's poor road play this year makes me think this is going to be a difficult game for the Tigers to win. I predict Arkansas to come out hot and Missouri to be lackluster, ultimately losing by 15-20 on Saturday.
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