That was kind of a strange first half. First, we made it nearly eight minutes into the game without the first media timeout, which I found excellent for viewing but appeared to tire the Missouri players out a bit. Then, the two teams that entered tonight last and 12th in three-point percentage combined to shoot 10-24 from behind the arc. Go figure.
Mizzou was 6-12 from deep. The Tigers needed them. Outside of the three-point shot, the offense has looked a bit out of sorts against Ole Miss’ trap-happy 1-3-1 zone. Mizzou shot 8-14 from two-point range and turned the ball over six times (it seemed like more to me). Xavier Pinson really struggled after lighting Ole Miss up twice last season. Luckily for the Tigers, Dru Smith continues to be an aggressor on the offensive end, and his shot is falling. Smith already has 11 points on 4-7 shooting. He’s been the best player on the floor so far. Javon Pickett gave Missouri good minutes, as well, in his return from injury, scoring eight points. I’ll be interested to see how many minutes he can play tonight, because he has certainly provided more than Mark Smith thus far.
On the other end, Ole Miss got way too many easy looks. I don’t blame Mizzou for leaving them some open shots from behind the three-point arc, because again, Ole Miss is the worst three-point shooting team in the SEC, but the Rebels shot an insane 12-14 from two-point range in that half. They scored 18 points in the paint. I’m not going to try to fully diagnose what’s going on for Missouri’s defense in real time, but my impression is they’re actually hedging too hard on some of these screens and then giving up cuts to the basket.
The other issue for Missouri is the Tigers haven’t gotten out in transition, like, at all. They don’t have a single fast break point. They lived on those against Alabama. We’ll see if they can generate more of those opportunities in the second half.
Mizzou was 6-12 from deep. The Tigers needed them. Outside of the three-point shot, the offense has looked a bit out of sorts against Ole Miss’ trap-happy 1-3-1 zone. Mizzou shot 8-14 from two-point range and turned the ball over six times (it seemed like more to me). Xavier Pinson really struggled after lighting Ole Miss up twice last season. Luckily for the Tigers, Dru Smith continues to be an aggressor on the offensive end, and his shot is falling. Smith already has 11 points on 4-7 shooting. He’s been the best player on the floor so far. Javon Pickett gave Missouri good minutes, as well, in his return from injury, scoring eight points. I’ll be interested to see how many minutes he can play tonight, because he has certainly provided more than Mark Smith thus far.
On the other end, Ole Miss got way too many easy looks. I don’t blame Mizzou for leaving them some open shots from behind the three-point arc, because again, Ole Miss is the worst three-point shooting team in the SEC, but the Rebels shot an insane 12-14 from two-point range in that half. They scored 18 points in the paint. I’m not going to try to fully diagnose what’s going on for Missouri’s defense in real time, but my impression is they’re actually hedging too hard on some of these screens and then giving up cuts to the basket.
The other issue for Missouri is the Tigers haven’t gotten out in transition, like, at all. They don’t have a single fast break point. They lived on those against Alabama. We’ll see if they can generate more of those opportunities in the second half.
