Here we are again. Seems like we've got this thing down by now....bit of a slow start, turn it on, exchange baskets before half, stumble out of the gates, extend the lead back to double digits, and then...
Alright, let's get to it...
1. aTm is a good team. They were shorthanded tonight, but the metrics come tourney time won't see that. Pomeroy had aTm at 21st, the RPI had them 16th. Aside from their 5 game slide to start conference play, they've been playing like a 2nd weekend type team. None of that was more apparent than knocking of Auburn, on the road, followed up with a dismantling of Kentucky at home. Both tourney teams. Tennessee will likely age better in terms of quality of win, but make no mistake, this is a MARQUEE win. Good on them for getting it.
2. Mizzou had a few bad turnovers towards the end, but I really didn't feel that this game slipped away because of being loose with the ball. I mean, sure...it ALMOST did at the end. But where aTm made their move was with Jontay and Tilmon taking, and missing shots. They may not have been bad looks for Jontay, but he missed them...badly. If aTm shoots like they did the remainder of the game in the final 6 minutes, no one is talking about it. We had a bad throwaway over the top, but immediately stole it back. The inbounds under the basket wasn't a bad pass...Kassius just...i don't know...tried catching it with his crotch?
3. This game was determined at the free throw line. Mizzou shot 18, made 12. aTm only shot 6, made 5. This is a double edged sword. Mizzou had the opportunity to get even MORE attempts, but settled for jumpers (see #2). And while making twice as many as your opponent shot is great, Mizzou wasn't particularly great at the stripe. But credit to Jontay for knocking down two big ones after struggling for most of the night.
4. Shooting. Mizzou and aTm both shot 39% from the floor. Mizzou was 6/20 from 3, aTm 5/23. No big differences there. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I'm guessing Cuonzo won't be real pleased with the defensive effort in the 2nd half. 37 points in a slow game isn't particularly outstanding. Too many easy looks at the bucket.
5. aTm predictably dominated the boards, 48-32 overall and 14-7 offensively. That almost bit us.
6. The difference in the game was with....guard play????? Tigers only turned it over 8 times, aTm did so 17! 11 of those were steals that resulted in a lopsided points off of number in Mizzou's favor. Additionally, Mizzou assisted on 14 of 22 fg's made. aTm only had 4 on 24. While the defensive effort wasn't superb in the second stanza, we made aTm score off the bounce (or off of boards, unfortunately). Tacking on here, Mizzou only committed 9 team fouls tonight...aTm 17.
7. Was a tough call on player of the game. No one really distanced themself, but I'm going to go with Jeremiah Tilmon. Yes, he took some (more than I like) ill advised shots outside of the paint. He might get there one day, but he's not there yet. Stick to the post, big fella. He ended up with 14 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steal and 2 blocks. Only committed 3 fouls. Only shot 4-12 from the floor, but came out of nowhere and made 6/9 from the line. All of those were big. Also importantly, Williams, Davis and Morelos combined for 15 points, and 21 boards. That's pretty good work on the interior on our part.
8. I already had this one written in my head with ~5 minutes left, but then it went out the window. For the first 35 minutes, I was impressed that every time aTm made a surge, Mizzou promptly, and efficiently, responded on the offensive end. Kash was a big part of this. He didn't make my player of the game, but he easily could have.
9. Barnett and Geist both semi-quietly had a nice game. Barnett can't dribble in the open court, Geist can. JB ended up with 15, 3 boards, 2 assists, 3 steals. Geist, attempted only one shot, didn't make it, but had 5 boards, 5 assists, 3 steals and 3 turnovers.
10. The short bench hurt aTm tonight. The four reserves that played combined for 2 points, 11 rebounds, no assists/steals/blocks and 2 turnovers.
So...here we are again. A white knuckle experience that went our way. Riding a fun 5 game win streak. I'm not going to say Mizzou is in the tournament. I'm conservative that way. If we were to lose every remaining game, we miss it. End of story.
But looking back at 3 weeks ago, sitting at 13-8, we WERE out of the tournament. We were playing poorly, results were even worse. Team was teetering on the edge of collapse.
And I don't know if it was @BoatDan99 (who has quickly become a fixture of these columns), or who it was. But the squad has responded. In a BIG way. Wins @Bama, Kentucky, @Ole Miss, MSU and now aTm. There's at LEAST 3 tourney squads there. I think MSU might be one of the better squads we faced. And we knocked them off. All of them. We often wax poetic about the 2009 and 2012 squads, for good reason. Their best conference winning streak in those seasons? 7 games. Knock of LSU this weekend, and the tigers have an excellent shot of matching them. Pretty crazy stuff, huh?
When the numbers roll in after tonight, I'll update the tourney odds and resumes. Suffice it to say, 21 gets this squad in the tournament. No questions asked. 20 may do it, but that might be pushing it. And here we sit at 18-8 with at LEAST 6 games remaining.
It's all right there guys. Keep on, keepin on. Don't let that button burst.
