Apologize for the delay, had a dinner immediately after the game (that got off to a bit of late start due to my absence). I see @GabeD already has a healthy head start in post game thread "likes," largely featuring video of some jabroni on a flash in the pan squad.
Here we go...
1. Arkansas. Good team. Not good enough on this day. In their last 4, they had wins vs aTm, @Alabama and at home vs. Auburn. Had won 6 of 7. They're straddling the Q1/Q2 line sitting at 30 in the RPI. This was a big win.
2. The Tigers appeared to be following the patented "good home win" script. Fall behind early, fight back to have a double digit lead before half, make a bad play going into the locker room. Come out, other team fights back, things look sketchy...Mizzou responds, stretches the lead out, and then...
Wait.
We closed it down with no issue? No wild ride?
Bingo. Improvement.
3. Mizzou has now had two 3 game losing streaks in conference play. If I heard right, I believe every SEC team had at least one such streak outside of Tennessee and Auburn. Both times Mizzou did, they came up with big road wins on the back end of a road trip. And immediately followed it up with a home win over a tournament team. That's impressive stuff. Mizzou had AMPLE opportunities to fold up the tent and call it a year. To their credit, they didn't, and they're going to be playing for a couple more weeks because of it. Maybe it's because of their leader?
4. Let's go back to predictions for a second. Here were mine. I had us at 22-9 going into the SECt. We finished at 20-11. We did it a little short on personnel. Final breakdown in expected wins, losses and tossups:
Expected Wins: 18 (actual: 14-4)
Expected Losses: 5 (actual: 2-3)
Toss Ups: 8 (actual: 4-4)
Not too shabby, when you consider two of the expected wins turned losses were Auburn and @Mississippi State, which were both surprisingly good.
But enough about me.
5. Cullen hasn't been a fixture of my post game breakdowns for one reason or another. But he deserves notoriety here. Not for any one thing he did tonight, just that it's a shame we could be losing him for the year. Been impressed with his consistency (and it not being bad) this season. Hope the best with his recovery.
6. Back to the game. Stats time
Shooting: Mizzou 42% -- Arkansas 45%
3 Pt Shooting: Mizzou 42% -- Arkansas 33%
Ft Shooting: Mizzou 82% -- Arkansas 80%
So why the difference?
3 Pt Attempts: Mizzou: 24 -- Arkansas 15
FT Attempts: Mizzou 33 -- Arkansas 15
If you shoot the same percentage, but shoot more...that means more points, because math.
Other numbers:
Rebounds: Mizzou 37 -- Arkansas 25 (domination; add in 11 to 6 on the offensive glass)
Assists: Mizzou 12 -- Arkansas 15 (you don't get assists at the free throw line, fwiw)
Turnovers: Mizzou 12 -- Arkansas 8 (you'll take that every day and twice on sunday)
7. Player of the game. Jordan Barnett. Yes, Porter was excellent and Tilmon played his best game in a Mizzou uniform. But this was Barnett's night. Senior night. Dropped 19 and grabbed 11 boards. Only committed a single turnover. And his defense down the stretch was a difference maker. Hope he brings that game to his hometown next week.
8. Honorable Mention: See above. I'll combine them for brevity:
36 points
16 boards
4 assists
2 steals
2 blocks
6 fouls
6 turnovers
Our freshmen bigs were HUGE in this game. True difference makers. Both of them. At the same time. Mizzou is a scary, scary team if those two are producing with Robertson and Barnett shooting well from outside.
Also, Arkansas's Gafford (for those unaware, a likely first round pick), got 16 and 4, but wasn't allowed to take over the game, as he's been doing recently. And many of those points came in transition.
9. I believe aside from the excellent contributions mentioned above, Mizzou won this game with their half court defense. Their transition defense was...uhh...sub optimal, but they really tightened up the screws when they could force Arkansas to slow down the pace. Well done.
10. What it means. Well...I hesitate to use the term "lock." I think it neglects unknowns and is used considerably too liberally. But I'll say this...I will be surprised if we're not seeing Mizzou's name pop up on selection sunday for the first time in five long, LONG years of wondering through the wilderness. All done with a squad that coming into the season wouldn't have garnered much more than a .500 prediction.
Closing Thoughts: You'll notice not once, until now, have the 3 letters M. P. and J. been mentioned in sequence in this post. And that's for a reason. This Mizzou team is good. Maybe not great, but certainly good. And they continue to be good no matter what "drama" circulates around their teammate. I'm sure this will fall on deaf ears, but a 20 win season, an NCAA appearance and a team by all accounts full of solid student athletes is an enjoyable scenario under all normal circumstances. Roughly 365 days after hearing "SIUTFA," it's a cause for celebration.
Lose your shit over what you think you're owed if you will, but you're missing a hell of a season.
Hoping to see a great turnout in St. Louis this week. Game times aren't optimal, team isn't deep, league is tough. But it should be a hell of an experience. We may not see another revenue SEC league playing a championship event here any time soon. Represent.
Here we go...
1. Arkansas. Good team. Not good enough on this day. In their last 4, they had wins vs aTm, @Alabama and at home vs. Auburn. Had won 6 of 7. They're straddling the Q1/Q2 line sitting at 30 in the RPI. This was a big win.
2. The Tigers appeared to be following the patented "good home win" script. Fall behind early, fight back to have a double digit lead before half, make a bad play going into the locker room. Come out, other team fights back, things look sketchy...Mizzou responds, stretches the lead out, and then...
Wait.
We closed it down with no issue? No wild ride?
Bingo. Improvement.
3. Mizzou has now had two 3 game losing streaks in conference play. If I heard right, I believe every SEC team had at least one such streak outside of Tennessee and Auburn. Both times Mizzou did, they came up with big road wins on the back end of a road trip. And immediately followed it up with a home win over a tournament team. That's impressive stuff. Mizzou had AMPLE opportunities to fold up the tent and call it a year. To their credit, they didn't, and they're going to be playing for a couple more weeks because of it. Maybe it's because of their leader?
4. Let's go back to predictions for a second. Here were mine. I had us at 22-9 going into the SECt. We finished at 20-11. We did it a little short on personnel. Final breakdown in expected wins, losses and tossups:
Expected Wins: 18 (actual: 14-4)
Expected Losses: 5 (actual: 2-3)
Toss Ups: 8 (actual: 4-4)
Not too shabby, when you consider two of the expected wins turned losses were Auburn and @Mississippi State, which were both surprisingly good.
But enough about me.
5. Cullen hasn't been a fixture of my post game breakdowns for one reason or another. But he deserves notoriety here. Not for any one thing he did tonight, just that it's a shame we could be losing him for the year. Been impressed with his consistency (and it not being bad) this season. Hope the best with his recovery.
6. Back to the game. Stats time
Shooting: Mizzou 42% -- Arkansas 45%
3 Pt Shooting: Mizzou 42% -- Arkansas 33%
Ft Shooting: Mizzou 82% -- Arkansas 80%
So why the difference?
3 Pt Attempts: Mizzou: 24 -- Arkansas 15
FT Attempts: Mizzou 33 -- Arkansas 15
If you shoot the same percentage, but shoot more...that means more points, because math.
Other numbers:
Rebounds: Mizzou 37 -- Arkansas 25 (domination; add in 11 to 6 on the offensive glass)
Assists: Mizzou 12 -- Arkansas 15 (you don't get assists at the free throw line, fwiw)
Turnovers: Mizzou 12 -- Arkansas 8 (you'll take that every day and twice on sunday)
7. Player of the game. Jordan Barnett. Yes, Porter was excellent and Tilmon played his best game in a Mizzou uniform. But this was Barnett's night. Senior night. Dropped 19 and grabbed 11 boards. Only committed a single turnover. And his defense down the stretch was a difference maker. Hope he brings that game to his hometown next week.
8. Honorable Mention: See above. I'll combine them for brevity:
36 points
16 boards
4 assists
2 steals
2 blocks
6 fouls
6 turnovers
Our freshmen bigs were HUGE in this game. True difference makers. Both of them. At the same time. Mizzou is a scary, scary team if those two are producing with Robertson and Barnett shooting well from outside.
Also, Arkansas's Gafford (for those unaware, a likely first round pick), got 16 and 4, but wasn't allowed to take over the game, as he's been doing recently. And many of those points came in transition.
9. I believe aside from the excellent contributions mentioned above, Mizzou won this game with their half court defense. Their transition defense was...uhh...sub optimal, but they really tightened up the screws when they could force Arkansas to slow down the pace. Well done.
10. What it means. Well...I hesitate to use the term "lock." I think it neglects unknowns and is used considerably too liberally. But I'll say this...I will be surprised if we're not seeing Mizzou's name pop up on selection sunday for the first time in five long, LONG years of wondering through the wilderness. All done with a squad that coming into the season wouldn't have garnered much more than a .500 prediction.
Closing Thoughts: You'll notice not once, until now, have the 3 letters M. P. and J. been mentioned in sequence in this post. And that's for a reason. This Mizzou team is good. Maybe not great, but certainly good. And they continue to be good no matter what "drama" circulates around their teammate. I'm sure this will fall on deaf ears, but a 20 win season, an NCAA appearance and a team by all accounts full of solid student athletes is an enjoyable scenario under all normal circumstances. Roughly 365 days after hearing "SIUTFA," it's a cause for celebration.
Lose your shit over what you think you're owed if you will, but you're missing a hell of a season.
Hoping to see a great turnout in St. Louis this week. Game times aren't optimal, team isn't deep, league is tough. But it should be a hell of an experience. We may not see another revenue SEC league playing a championship event here any time soon. Represent.
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