I took the night off on Wednesday and dedicated my energy elsewhere. It was the first time this season that I may have been questioning the effort/hustle of the squad. They turned it around the last few minutes of the first half and put forth better effort in the second, but it wasn't enough (along with a mix of many other things).
But today. Things changed.
1. aTm isn't a good team. Let's dispense with that immediately. The metrics have them roughly on par with USCe on the season as a whole. They are FAR better than they showed today. An impressive win at Bama, only down 2 possessions midway through the 2nd half in Lexington, a quality win over Oregon State. Not a tournament team, probably not playing postseason basketball at all (after the conference tourney). Mizzou a year ago played two teams ranked between 100-110 on the road in Pomeroy's ratings...a 3 point win vs. UCF and a 6 point win at Ole Miss. Winning road games against teams at that level is not easy. And...
2. Beating teams by 23 on their home court, no matter how bad, is a statement. Yes, aTm couldn't hit water from a boat, yes Mizzou had quite a bit to do with that. Cause and effect arguments aside, it was a flat dismantling. This was Mizzou's biggest margin of victory in conference play since March of 2013, when we thrashed Arkansas at Mizzou arena by 30. It was their biggest margin of victory in an SEC road game since beating a horrendous Mississippi State team several weeks earlier (ranked 256th in Pomeroy; much worse than Kim's teams). Mizzou isn't a particularly great team either. And they got the check mark in every category of the ledger today. And they entered the game as 5 point dogs.
3. To put things in perspective, had Mizzou taken their 36-21 lead into the second half and had the folks at Reed Arena remove Mizzou's 2nd half basket, Mizzou wouldn't have trailed until 5:26 left in the game when the Aggies scored their 37 point. Gracious.
4. Let's talk about Mizzou's defense and perhaps more importantly, Aggy's offense
13-50 (26%)
4-22 3 Pt (18.2%; season: 28.6%)
9-28 2 Pt (32%; season: 53.3%)
Turnovers: 11
Assists: 9
O Boards: 10
5. Compare and contrast the other end of the floor
25-52 (48.1%)
8-20 3 Pt (40%; season: 39.1%)
17-32 2 Pt (53%; season: 46.2%)
Turnovers: 12
Assists: 13
O Boards: 6 (consider there were 10 less FG reb opps and MULTIPLE more FT miss opps)
6. Mizzou in my opinion, played a bit better than average on the offensive end. There were still droughts, 66 isn't a big number. They hit their season mark from range, beat it from inside and were mediocre with assist/to ratio. But, the defensive end was where the game was won. Those numbers for aTm are hideous. Let me give you a similar stat line:
16-59 (27%)
1-18 (5.6%)
15-41 (36.6%)
Turnovers: 11
Assists: 9
O Boards: 12
Those were the offensive numbers Mizzou put up in Kim's first year in the systematic destruction that we received from an undefeated Kentucky team, 86-37. Let that sink in to appreciate how bad aggy's offense operated today.
7. Geist gets the game ball today. Not only for his 17/5/5 line, but because much like Tilmon, he showed how important he is. He was off and running the first half when Mizzou shockingly put this to bed in he first 20 minutes. He was a huge reason for that. Having him performing allows guys to slot in their roles much more nicely. He's a key, key piece.
8. Props also to Tilmon and Puryear. Don't have minutes played totals, but those two committed 3 total fouls, scored 22, grabbed 16 boards and only committed 3 turnovers. They came up big against a physical team that likes to play in the paint.
9. I haven't seen enough of aTm to get a read from what their offense is trying to do. But THANK YOU for flipping the script and keeping the dribble drive out of the paint. A much needed improvement from Wednesday.
10. Mizzou is still most likelihood a "Ceiling: NIT" type team. That's ok. Any postseason basketball for a young, building program is good. Today's win took our Pomeroy rating from 107th to 79th in a heartbeat. We entered league play at 73rd. Have a tough week ahead with a trip to the Sam's Club on Wednesday before welcoming LSU to Columbia on Saturday. A split is my semi-realistic hope. Taking both changes things.
PS: Props to Nikko putting the "Reed" in Reed Arena with that damn impressive put back.
But today. Things changed.
1. aTm isn't a good team. Let's dispense with that immediately. The metrics have them roughly on par with USCe on the season as a whole. They are FAR better than they showed today. An impressive win at Bama, only down 2 possessions midway through the 2nd half in Lexington, a quality win over Oregon State. Not a tournament team, probably not playing postseason basketball at all (after the conference tourney). Mizzou a year ago played two teams ranked between 100-110 on the road in Pomeroy's ratings...a 3 point win vs. UCF and a 6 point win at Ole Miss. Winning road games against teams at that level is not easy. And...
2. Beating teams by 23 on their home court, no matter how bad, is a statement. Yes, aTm couldn't hit water from a boat, yes Mizzou had quite a bit to do with that. Cause and effect arguments aside, it was a flat dismantling. This was Mizzou's biggest margin of victory in conference play since March of 2013, when we thrashed Arkansas at Mizzou arena by 30. It was their biggest margin of victory in an SEC road game since beating a horrendous Mississippi State team several weeks earlier (ranked 256th in Pomeroy; much worse than Kim's teams). Mizzou isn't a particularly great team either. And they got the check mark in every category of the ledger today. And they entered the game as 5 point dogs.
3. To put things in perspective, had Mizzou taken their 36-21 lead into the second half and had the folks at Reed Arena remove Mizzou's 2nd half basket, Mizzou wouldn't have trailed until 5:26 left in the game when the Aggies scored their 37 point. Gracious.
4. Let's talk about Mizzou's defense and perhaps more importantly, Aggy's offense
13-50 (26%)
4-22 3 Pt (18.2%; season: 28.6%)
9-28 2 Pt (32%; season: 53.3%)
Turnovers: 11
Assists: 9
O Boards: 10
5. Compare and contrast the other end of the floor
25-52 (48.1%)
8-20 3 Pt (40%; season: 39.1%)
17-32 2 Pt (53%; season: 46.2%)
Turnovers: 12
Assists: 13
O Boards: 6 (consider there were 10 less FG reb opps and MULTIPLE more FT miss opps)
6. Mizzou in my opinion, played a bit better than average on the offensive end. There were still droughts, 66 isn't a big number. They hit their season mark from range, beat it from inside and were mediocre with assist/to ratio. But, the defensive end was where the game was won. Those numbers for aTm are hideous. Let me give you a similar stat line:
16-59 (27%)
1-18 (5.6%)
15-41 (36.6%)
Turnovers: 11
Assists: 9
O Boards: 12
Those were the offensive numbers Mizzou put up in Kim's first year in the systematic destruction that we received from an undefeated Kentucky team, 86-37. Let that sink in to appreciate how bad aggy's offense operated today.
7. Geist gets the game ball today. Not only for his 17/5/5 line, but because much like Tilmon, he showed how important he is. He was off and running the first half when Mizzou shockingly put this to bed in he first 20 minutes. He was a huge reason for that. Having him performing allows guys to slot in their roles much more nicely. He's a key, key piece.
8. Props also to Tilmon and Puryear. Don't have minutes played totals, but those two committed 3 total fouls, scored 22, grabbed 16 boards and only committed 3 turnovers. They came up big against a physical team that likes to play in the paint.
9. I haven't seen enough of aTm to get a read from what their offense is trying to do. But THANK YOU for flipping the script and keeping the dribble drive out of the paint. A much needed improvement from Wednesday.
10. Mizzou is still most likelihood a "Ceiling: NIT" type team. That's ok. Any postseason basketball for a young, building program is good. Today's win took our Pomeroy rating from 107th to 79th in a heartbeat. We entered league play at 73rd. Have a tough week ahead with a trip to the Sam's Club on Wednesday before welcoming LSU to Columbia on Saturday. A split is my semi-realistic hope. Taking both changes things.
PS: Props to Nikko putting the "Reed" in Reed Arena with that damn impressive put back.
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