-Lamont Paris speaking first. He said he liked a lot of the things he saw today, especially his team's effort. He said free throws and 3-pointers got the better of them.

-Paris said he liked the quality of shots SC got. They made good drives and avoided getting the ball stolen.

-Paris said it's difficult to come out ahead in a one- or two-possession game when you can't string together enough stops. It's obviously more difficult to get those on the road, but that's what the difference was tonight.

-Paris on expecting Mizzou's hot start: "Probably a bad analogy but when you go up against Mike Tyson, part of the strategy is to withstand the first couple of minutes of it."

-Talking to Dennis Gates, Nick Honor and Kobe Brown now. Gates is proud of his team, says it's not easy to win games in February. He said they came out on top tonight because of their ability to execute the little things. South Carolina still made shots, which caused some frustration -- "but that's February."

-Kobe's right eye is still pretty swollen. He said he's able to see out of it, though.

-Nick on Sean East's one-handed pass: "He's been able to make those since he stepped on campus."

-Gates said he wasn't pleased with Kobe's start and challenged him at halftime. Kobe accepted the challenge, didn't pout about it and made the adjustment. "He can never have a bad day. I can never have a bad day. And he started off having a bad day and corrected it. And I'm proud of him."

-Gates thought that even though Mo Diarra didn't have a high rebound count, he was a big help on the boards.

-Gates said he and Isiaih had a conversation before the game and that they agreed that he should sit this one out. He said Isiaih wants to be out there but Gates felt like the better decision was to rest him tonight.

Mizzou (and Blue Springs South) alum Kevin Puryear made his first visit to the Tiger Club of KC yesterday. Kevin, who started 119 games for Tigers basketball, graduated from Mizzou in 2019. He is currently a Portfolio Management Senior Associate with Bank of America in KC, and he has served as color analyst on the SEC Network+.

During the school year, the Tiger Club meets each Tuesday at Noon at the Westport Flea Market Bar and Grill. Our Tues., Feb. 14 guest will be Aaron Ladd of KSHB 41.

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Might only be three, but I’ll say 4 to make sure we’re clear of the play-in round and can watch selection show in comfort.

We’re only a game back from a double-bye. Steal one at auburn or Tennessee and things begin to look pretty bright.

-Tonight had a lot of similarities to the SEMO game -- same starting lineup, same high-percentage shooting, same lackadaisical defense. Mizzou won this game because they had a better shooting night than South Carolina and stepped up on defense in the final six-ish minutes. The team has a tendency to play to the level of its competition, which has helped them out in the big games. But in games like tonight, they just don't bring the same energy. They took care of business this time, but they'll need to be careful not to get caught.

-Kobe came alive in the second half and showed again why he's going to end up on the All-SEC First Team. Even Hayden Brown couldn't hold him. Mizzou is tough to beat when he's at his best.

-Somebody said this before the game and I tend to agree with it: The Tigers' ceiling is not as high if Isiaih Mosley isn't playing. This was the shortest rotation Gates has played all year. Maybe he would've brought more off the bench if the lead got bigger, but it's all just so confusing.

-I rarely make predictions but here's one: GG Jackson is going to be a really good NBA player but will slip out of the draft lottery because he's over-extended on this South Carolina roster and isn't going to get any extra exposure in the NCAA tournament. There really aren't many guys his size who are as skilled or as athletic. He probably shouldn't have reclassified.

-Nick Honor had his highest-scoring night since the UCF game. He usually doesn't need to score all that many to bring value to the team. But it definitely doesn't hurt when he has a good night. It's also always funny to me when he gets a rebound.

-It's also the first time Sean East made it in double figures since Arkansas. I think he's really improved at playing in control as the season has progressed. I'm still not a fan of the one-handed, cross-court passes or his behind-the-back free throw routine -- they may look cool, but they do come at a cost.

-A little part of @GabeD died inside every time a timeout was called or a foul was committed in the final two minutes. These 8 p.m. games aren't good for our health.

-Mizzou has its two toughest games left on the regular season schedule up next, playing Tennessee and Auburn on the road. I'll be in person for BOTH games.

Interesting write up about our upcoming game at Ole Miss. Nothing about our game tonight against S Carolina.

Of course, even the week old story was by a Columbia Tribune reporter.

The Star has totally mailed it in.

Very sad look

14 pts, 2 assists, 0 turnovers. 31 minutes at PG. Quietly the second mvp of this team.

I didn't like many of the moves Coach Gates made today. Thought Gholston should have got more run. I don't like screens being set for Mosley, it crowds his area and takes away his effectiveness. Also, I'm not sure I understand why Kaleb is getting these minutes. He's not a threat offensively at all, and considering we couldn't score, we needed all the points we could get.

Think Kobe needs to be sporting a bandaid under that eye. Ode to the past.

I'll let y'all know when starters get posted

1) Missouri's most recent basketball game was a 63-52 loss to Mississippi State. It wasn't just the fewest points Missouri has scored this season. It was 12 fewer than it has scored in any other game all year. The Tigers shot 32% from the field, the lowest mark of the year (32.9% vs Alabama was the previous worst). They made five fewer shots than they had made in any other game (16; 21 was their previous worst in the loss at Arkansas). The 50 field goals Missouri attempted was the second-lowest total of the year (46 in a 68-66 win over UCF). The possessions were limited in large part due to 15 turnovers, the third-most they've had this year (21 vs Kansas, 16 vs Lindenwood). So was it a bad day at the office or a sign that this team isn't as good as you'd hoped? I lean toward the former. We'll go into a few reasons why.

2) There is no sport in which it is harder to win on the road than college basketball. Missouri is 2-4 on the road this season (that doesn't count wins over UCF and Illinois which were neutral site games). At first glance, you think that's not very good. But you have to compare it to everyone else. The combined road record of SEC teams this year is 36-58. Alabama is 7-1 on the road. Tennessee is 4-2. Those are the top two teams in the league standings. The combined road record of the other 12 teams in the league is 25-55. Texas A&M (4-3) is the only other team with a winning record on the road. Missouri's win percentage in road games is actually percentage points higher than the overall road record of the bottom 12 teams in the SEC. Here's the combined road record of the other high major conferences:

ACC: 40-69
Big 12: 26-41
Big East: 34-57
Big Ten: 35-74
PAC 12: 28-62

Total: 199-361 (combined with the SEC)

That's a winning percentage of .355. Missouri's is .333. That's right on par with every other high major conference. Yes, there are some that are better. The six leagues have a combined 17 teams with a winning record on the road. Out of 76 teams. So 22.4% of high major teams have a winning record on the road. Missouri has four road games remaining. It is going to be a decided underdog at Tennessee and Auburn. It will be a slight favorite or slight underdog at LSU and Georgia. If Missouri can go 2-2 in the four road games, it will finish the year 4-6 on the road. That's not bad. It's not great, but it's not bad.

3) The main difference in Missouri at home and on the road? Shooting.

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Missouri averages right about 61 field goal attempts per game. In six road games, it is averaging 20.9 made field goals per game, 7.5 made three-pointers and and 13.3 free throws. At home, those numbers are 29.7 fielld goals, 9.7 threes and 15.1 free throws. That's nine shots per game with two of them being threes, plus two free throws. That adds up to 22 points per game difference between home games and road/neutral games (and those numbers are boosted by an 89-point, 16/30 from three game at Ole Miss and a 93-point, 53.9% from the floor game against Illinois).

4) It's no secret the magic number for Missouri is 70. The Tigers have been held under 70 points seven times this year. They are 1-6 in those games with the win coming on a banked three-pointer at the buzzer by DeAndre Gholston against UCF. When Mizzou has gotten to 70, it is 16-0. There's not really much analysis needed. When the Tigers score 70, it's always enough to win. Even though the Tigers' opponents are averaging 74.8 points per game, if the game is high-scoring enough for Missouri to get to 70, Missouri wins.

5) So what is the NCAA Tournament outlook? Before losing to Mississippi State, Missouri was generally regarded as a 7 seed. BracketMatrix tracks 93 bracket projections across the country. Missouri was in every single one. The average of those 93 projections was 7.84. So let's assume the Mississippi State game knocks that down to probably an 8 seed as of today with eight regular season games and the SEC Tournament to go.



Missouri is safely in right now. If it goes 4-4 the rest of the way, it will finish 21-10, 9-9 in league play. If they can avoid stubbing their toe in the first round of the SEC Tournament, they should be safely in the field come Selection Sunday. Here's how the rest of the games break down in terms of quadrants:

Q1 games: at Tennessee, at Auburn
Q2 games: vs Texas A&M, vs Mississippi State, at Georgia
Q3 games: at LSU, vs Ole Miss
Q4 games: vs South Carollina

Missouri has to beat Ole Miss and South Carolina at home. It would be a good thing to win at LSU to avoid a Q3 loss. Then win one of the other five. Losing at LSU wouldn't be a death knell or anything, but it would mean you probably have to win two of the other five and it might cost you a seed line.

-Shots are falling again. It's a good sign that the dip didn't last multiple games like last time. Mizzou's likely to get to its magic number. But it's getting put to the test today.

-Hayden Brown's having one of his better games. He's been incredible for South Carolina defensively. I've never seen somebody shorter than Kobe that was strong enough to keep from getting backed down by him. He looks more like a tight end than he does a basketball player. Mizzou is 8-14 on 2-pointers when he's on the floor. On offense, he's slicing the Tigers' zone open with backdoor cuts. I was not expecting him to be this big of a factor.

-The Tigers' defense hasn't looked great, Brown being one of the main reasons why. But they also weren't generating all that many turnovers early on. Once they did late in the half, that's when you started seeing them get back in the driver's seat.

-"Diarra looks good" seems to be the most frequently used phrase tonight. He had some really nice passes that led to open looks along the 3-point line. They aren't afraid of letting him switch onto guards on defense. He's a real contributor.

-Aidan Shaw. That's it, that's the take.
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-Noah Carter is +12 in 12 minutes, the highest mark on the team by far. He's made up for a slow start from Kobe.

A parking pass would be great as well, but we will take what we can get.

New 49ers DC.

Wow

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Never even played a game, this shit is wild

I think people (including myself) are down on Cook not because of his performance per se; he showed development over the season and by the end became a serviceable P5 QB even with a torn labrum. The problem is, 1) we all know that serviceable isn't enough to take Mizzou where we all want to go, and 2) over the last 20 years, most Mizzou QBs in their sophomore year have been better than Cook (MM is the only one arguably worse – Berk only started as a freshman); in other words, we've been a little bit spoiled.


Sophomore stats

Brad Smith:
194/320 (60.6 %) - 1822 (5.69 YPA), 11 TD / 6 INT, Rush 192 / 1310 yds (6.82 YPA), 17 TD

Chase Daniel:
287/452 (63.5%) - 3527 yds (7.80 YPA), 28 TD / 10 INT, Rush 147 / 379 yds (2.58 YPA), 4 TD

Blaine Gabbert:
262/445 (58.9 %) - 3593 yds (8.07 YPA), 24 TD / 9 INT, Rush 104 / 194 yds (1.87 YPA), 3 TD

James Franklin:
238/376 (63.3%) - 2865 yds (7.62 YPA), 21 TD / 11 INT, Rush 217 / 981 YDS (4.52 YPA), 15 TD

Maty Mauk:
221/414 (53.4%) – 2648 yds (6.39 YPA), 25 TD / 13 INT, Rush 108 / 373 yds (3.45 YPA), 2 TD

Drew Lock:
237/434 (54.6%) – 3399 yds (7.83 YPA), 23 TD / 10 INT, Rush 52 / 123 yds (2.37 YPA), 1 TD

Brady Cook:
247/382 (64.7%) – 2734 yds (7.15), 14 TD / 7 INT, Rush 139 / 585 yds (4.21 YPA), 6 TD

You're selling out Mizzou arena every big game and weekends and interest in the program is at levels it hasn't seen in years. Amazing time to be a MU fan. Francois is doing a fantastic job getting asses in seats, but don't you think it would be a good idea to start advertising season tickets for football for this season while there's all this excitement in the air in the athletics department?

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Former Miami center was considering taking a visit to Missouri this spring. Went ahead and committed to SMU tonight

Please join us next Tuesday, February 7th at Llywelyn's Pub in Webster Groves with our guest speaker Gabe DeArmond of Powermizzou.com. Gabe is always one of our most popular guests due to .......

When: Tuesday, February 7th
Time: Arrive 11:15-12 noon
Where: Llewelyn's Pub in Webster Groves on Moody Ave
Cost: $25 paid at the door for lunch
Presentation at 12 noon to 1:00 pm

Yes...I know this is a Mizzou sports forum...but I got more GREAT ADVICE on here last year than I was able to find online and from talking with friends.

My wife and I want to travel to the Northwest to see Glacier National Park this June or July (one guy already told me mid to late May is a better time to go)
Considering possibly also visiting Yellowstone on the same trip? Too much for a 7-8 day trip? Any advice much appreciated:

1) MUST SEE SIGHTS and STOPS along the way
2) Great places to EAT and STAY
3) Best place to FLY INTO and FLY OUT OF (and yes money IS a consideration
4) THINGS YOU MUST BRING on this trip
5) PITFALLS to AVOID
6) RENTAL CAR ADVICE (do you need a 4-wheel drive?)

Thanks for any help you can lend to "The MASTER PLANNER"