-The cold spell came early this game. And look, there was a lot of contact on both sides that wasn't being called. But if you're Mizzou, you have to finish through some of that. Throught the first 10 minutes, the trio of Sean East, Tamar Bates and Nick Honor combined for zero points and four turnovers. They were never going to get a lead playing that sloppy. That missed alley-oop in transition from Bates to Aidan Shaw was egregious. There's a problem when Connor Vanover is your leading scorer for a long stretch of time.
-Defensively, Arkansas is picking the zone apart with their ball movement. The dump-off pass has been there all night. It hasn't helped that Mizzou's looked lackadaisical getting back on defense - I think the Razorbacks have capitalized on all of the Tigers' turnovers. Missouri hasn't capitalized off any of Arkansas'. At one point, after Makhi Mitchell scored in the post, Gabe turned to me and asked "Isn't the whole point of a zone defense to prevent that pass from happening?" The answer is yes. It's not good.
-Even when the team has gotten stops, Arkansas' been crashing the offensive glass and getting a bunch of second looks at the basket. Mizzou's bigs have to be more physical in that spot - it's not like Arkansas has a bunch of 7-footer going after rebounds. Makhi Mitchell's the biggest player they've got and he's only 6-10 and 240. He's absolutely cooked them.
-If there's one positive to take away, it's that Mizzou hasn't let Arkansas get to the free throw line despite the Razorbacks being a team that's typically very good at getting there. Still, avoiding fouls doesn't count for anything when you're letting the opponent shoot nearly 60% from the floor.
-The lead's too big to come back from. The goal in the second half has to be just to avoid this becoming the worst loss of the season.
-Defensively, Arkansas is picking the zone apart with their ball movement. The dump-off pass has been there all night. It hasn't helped that Mizzou's looked lackadaisical getting back on defense - I think the Razorbacks have capitalized on all of the Tigers' turnovers. Missouri hasn't capitalized off any of Arkansas'. At one point, after Makhi Mitchell scored in the post, Gabe turned to me and asked "Isn't the whole point of a zone defense to prevent that pass from happening?" The answer is yes. It's not good.
-Even when the team has gotten stops, Arkansas' been crashing the offensive glass and getting a bunch of second looks at the basket. Mizzou's bigs have to be more physical in that spot - it's not like Arkansas has a bunch of 7-footer going after rebounds. Makhi Mitchell's the biggest player they've got and he's only 6-10 and 240. He's absolutely cooked them.
-If there's one positive to take away, it's that Mizzou hasn't let Arkansas get to the free throw line despite the Razorbacks being a team that's typically very good at getting there. Still, avoiding fouls doesn't count for anything when you're letting the opponent shoot nearly 60% from the floor.
-The lead's too big to come back from. The goal in the second half has to be just to avoid this becoming the worst loss of the season.
