Preface: I don't just do these after Mizzou wins. I was traveling during the Utah game, believe I did a breakdown for WVU, and had the unfortunate experience of being live, and heavily inebriated for the Illinois game.
Nonetheless...
It's always good to lead with the bottom line, and that's this: Style points aren't worth shit in road conference games. Maybe, just maybe in rare circumstances, in a loss. Never in a win. There is no such thing as a bad road conference win. You play 9. If you win half, you theoretically should be in play for a conference title. Mizzou is 1-0. End of story.
Now, as to the game.
1. South Carolina isn't a great team. I'm not even sure if they're a good team, yet. But they aren't bad. Ken Pomeroy had them at #62 (Tier A road win!), RPI had them #46, BPI had them #84. They'll likely finish top 100 in the first two. That's good for a Tier A or Tier B win come tournament selection time. That's a good thing. Using the #62 figure, here's the number of ROAD WINS Mizzou has had over equal or better teams by year (I didn't look up the latest three seasons, because you know, I didn't need to)
2017: 0
2016: 0
2015: 0
2014: 2 (#62 NC State and #44 Arkansas)
2013: 0
2012: 3 (#26 ISU, #13 Baylor, #32 Texas)
2011: 0
2010: 0
2009: 2 (#26 OSU, #22 UT)
Those 8 wins came by a COMBINED 23 points. Let that marinate. Mizzou hasn't been a model of consistency, but they've had some pretty good teams. Those 2009 and 2012 teams beat better squads on the road, but this team did it by a bigger margin than they did in any of those games.
Not bad.
2. USCe was missing some some guys. I don't give a shit. There's 2-3 teams that have players as good as the one we've been missing all season. Next.
3. Rebounding was a push at 32-31 USC. They got more offensive boards than we did (5), but missed 9 more shots. Cuonzo won't be happy with it, and he shouldn't. We're capable of more.
4. Turnovers. USCe is statistically the 2nd best SEC team (or was coming in) at forcing opponent turnovers. It ended up 13-11 for a -2 rating for the tigers. Most of them were stupid throwaways that went harmlessly out of bounds. I don't have the figures, but Mizzou made more of USCe's turnovers. So that's ok.
5. While I think it's time to accept that Mizzou isn't a team that's good at valuing the ball, I think it's also time to accept that they're a good outside shooting team. Hitting 14-24 on the road is very good. Most were good looks. Unlike the Illinois game, they made them. That comes as part of the deal. Play with/beat teams better than you when you make them, lose to bad teams when you don't. Tigers now rank ~25th nationally in 3 point shooting. A year after ranking 333rd. That's improvement.
6. Free throws were a wash with both making 19. Tigers shot 79%. Another area that they're doing really well in.
7. For as bad as we are at protecting the ball. We're still doing really well in the assist category. 15 on 23 makes is a good number. That will slightly improve their 39th rank in A/FG ratio nationally. Props.
8. Porter, Barnett and Robertson all showed up in a big way. Geist and Puryear each had decent games, with Geist providing 10 and 6 helpers, Puryear and 6. The rest...yuck.
9. Most griping about CBB officiating is tiring. It's a hard game to officiate. Officials largely do a good job. All true statements. Tonight? They were bad. Really bad. Especially on the interior. The calls on Nikko, Porter, Tilmon and Silva were an abortion. The missed illegal screen that resulted in Robertson catching an elbow (AND A FOUL) was worse. Here's an idea. Instead of "rotating" in another official....get 3 guys who know their head from their ass.
Mizzou allowed USC to get within 10 as the game wound down, but made enough plays to hold on after losing Porter. That's what good teams do. They win conference road games.
Nonetheless...
It's always good to lead with the bottom line, and that's this: Style points aren't worth shit in road conference games. Maybe, just maybe in rare circumstances, in a loss. Never in a win. There is no such thing as a bad road conference win. You play 9. If you win half, you theoretically should be in play for a conference title. Mizzou is 1-0. End of story.
Now, as to the game.
1. South Carolina isn't a great team. I'm not even sure if they're a good team, yet. But they aren't bad. Ken Pomeroy had them at #62 (Tier A road win!), RPI had them #46, BPI had them #84. They'll likely finish top 100 in the first two. That's good for a Tier A or Tier B win come tournament selection time. That's a good thing. Using the #62 figure, here's the number of ROAD WINS Mizzou has had over equal or better teams by year (I didn't look up the latest three seasons, because you know, I didn't need to)
2017: 0
2016: 0
2015: 0
2014: 2 (#62 NC State and #44 Arkansas)
2013: 0
2012: 3 (#26 ISU, #13 Baylor, #32 Texas)
2011: 0
2010: 0
2009: 2 (#26 OSU, #22 UT)
Those 8 wins came by a COMBINED 23 points. Let that marinate. Mizzou hasn't been a model of consistency, but they've had some pretty good teams. Those 2009 and 2012 teams beat better squads on the road, but this team did it by a bigger margin than they did in any of those games.
Not bad.
2. USCe was missing some some guys. I don't give a shit. There's 2-3 teams that have players as good as the one we've been missing all season. Next.
3. Rebounding was a push at 32-31 USC. They got more offensive boards than we did (5), but missed 9 more shots. Cuonzo won't be happy with it, and he shouldn't. We're capable of more.
4. Turnovers. USCe is statistically the 2nd best SEC team (or was coming in) at forcing opponent turnovers. It ended up 13-11 for a -2 rating for the tigers. Most of them were stupid throwaways that went harmlessly out of bounds. I don't have the figures, but Mizzou made more of USCe's turnovers. So that's ok.
5. While I think it's time to accept that Mizzou isn't a team that's good at valuing the ball, I think it's also time to accept that they're a good outside shooting team. Hitting 14-24 on the road is very good. Most were good looks. Unlike the Illinois game, they made them. That comes as part of the deal. Play with/beat teams better than you when you make them, lose to bad teams when you don't. Tigers now rank ~25th nationally in 3 point shooting. A year after ranking 333rd. That's improvement.
6. Free throws were a wash with both making 19. Tigers shot 79%. Another area that they're doing really well in.
7. For as bad as we are at protecting the ball. We're still doing really well in the assist category. 15 on 23 makes is a good number. That will slightly improve their 39th rank in A/FG ratio nationally. Props.
8. Porter, Barnett and Robertson all showed up in a big way. Geist and Puryear each had decent games, with Geist providing 10 and 6 helpers, Puryear and 6. The rest...yuck.
9. Most griping about CBB officiating is tiring. It's a hard game to officiate. Officials largely do a good job. All true statements. Tonight? They were bad. Really bad. Especially on the interior. The calls on Nikko, Porter, Tilmon and Silva were an abortion. The missed illegal screen that resulted in Robertson catching an elbow (AND A FOUL) was worse. Here's an idea. Instead of "rotating" in another official....get 3 guys who know their head from their ass.
Mizzou allowed USC to get within 10 as the game wound down, but made enough plays to hold on after losing Porter. That's what good teams do. They win conference road games.
