*What shooting slump? Mark Smith made five of nine from the field, 3/7 from three, 5/6 from the line and scored 18 points in his best game since scoring 19 in the win over Wichita State on December 6th, which seems like it was months ago. I honestly think you can tell how Smith’s night is going to go in the first two shots. If one of them goes in, bombs away. If he starts out 0/2, maybe just put it in the holster. After the game, Cuonzo Martin said he thought the biggest difference tonight was that Smith was ready to shoot the ball as soon as he caught it. Smith’s other issue has been turnovers. He had three. Maybe a little higher than you’d like, but not unmanageable.
*Let’s just keep riding this wave till it crests. You don’t really expect 19 and 9 out of Jeremiah Tilmon every night, but that’s exactly what he’s averaging over the last four games. He’s got four double-doubles in the last six, including 19 and 10 tonight. He added three blocks and three steals in what I think is his best game of his career. Yes, even better than the 25 and 11 at Arkansas a couple weeks ago. The numbers could have been even bigger, but there were quite a few rebounds that he kept alive but didn’t get. A couple of them Kobe Brown got. He made more plays than showed up in the box score. He’s not only been the best player on the floor the last two or three weeks—he’s playing like he KNOWS he’s the best player on the floor.
Quote of the night from Cuonzo: “I think Jeremiah’s opponent is Jeremiah.”
There will be a night it will end…but as long as it keeps going, Missouri’s got a shot to win every game on its schedule.
*Welcome to the party, Drew Buggs. For a second straight game, he was Missouri’s best point guard. He not only set a Mizzou career-high with five points (gotta start somewhere), but he had four assists and two turnovers in 19 minutes (compare it with two assists and five turnovers from Xavier Pinson in the same amount of time). He isn’t flashy, but I’m starting to see what the staff has seen in him. He’s been a good steady force the last two games.
*Let me flash back to something I wrote on Monday:
“Some will look at that and say ‘Just stop shooting threes altogether.’ I agree they should probably shoot fewer of them. But you can't just stop. It's like a football team throwing deep. Sometimes you have to do it even if it doesn't work just to make the other team think you are willing to do it. I don't think Missouri needs to shoot 21 threes a game (that's the season average), but it has to shoot some. I think if you could bring that average down to 12-15 a game, that's probably a good range for this team.”
Missouri scored 81 points tonight and shot 58.3% from the floor. The Tigers attempted 13 three-pointers. They made five, so that’s better than the season average. But they were 23-35 from two-point range (nearly 67%) and went to the line 30 times (if they’d shot better than 66.7% from there, they’d have scored 85 or 90).
I’m not always right, but I like to point it out when I am.
*Key stat of the night: Turnovers vs points off turnovers.
South Carolina turned it over 13 times. Missouri turned it over 19. Missouri scored 23 points off the 13 Carolina turnovers. The Gamecocks scored 18 off the Mizzou mistakes. Despite getting six fewer turnovers, Mizzou scored five more points off of them. Every South Carolina turnover turned into about 1.8 points for Mizzou. Every Mizzou turnover turned into less than a point for South Carolina. It’s not just about getting the turnovers, it’s about doing something with them. Missouri did, Carolina didn’t. Big difference.
Stat of the night runner up: Despite getting 11 more offensive rebounds (20 to 9) South Carolina scored just seven more second chance points (16 to 9). Again, it’s a key category, but only if you take advantage of it. South Carolina didn’t.
*Sometimes what we see isn’t all that different from what coaches see. Cuonzo said he watches tape from last year against teams to scout this year and he sees the pace at which Missouri was playing.
“Why did I coach that? Cause I wouldn’t want to watch that,” Martin said. “I hope no fans heard that.”
He laughed when he said it, but there's some truth to it.
The tempo isn’t a made up thing. They’re playing a lot faster. There were multiple times off a make that Missouri flat out beat South Carolina down the floor. Dru Smith threw a great pass to Mark Smith on one, Javon Pickett beat the Gamecocks down the floor a couple times. Missouri scored 20 fast break points. It’s at least the second time this season they’ve scored 20 in transition (they did it against Illinois). Hopefully this is something that continues into the future (like beyond this year).
South Carolina likes to run. Missouri just did it better and beat them at their own game.
*Good win. Game you needed. Missouri is now tied for fourth in the SEC with Kentucky because Mississippi State got blown out by Ole Miss in Starkville tonight. On to Knoxville.
*Let’s just keep riding this wave till it crests. You don’t really expect 19 and 9 out of Jeremiah Tilmon every night, but that’s exactly what he’s averaging over the last four games. He’s got four double-doubles in the last six, including 19 and 10 tonight. He added three blocks and three steals in what I think is his best game of his career. Yes, even better than the 25 and 11 at Arkansas a couple weeks ago. The numbers could have been even bigger, but there were quite a few rebounds that he kept alive but didn’t get. A couple of them Kobe Brown got. He made more plays than showed up in the box score. He’s not only been the best player on the floor the last two or three weeks—he’s playing like he KNOWS he’s the best player on the floor.
Quote of the night from Cuonzo: “I think Jeremiah’s opponent is Jeremiah.”
There will be a night it will end…but as long as it keeps going, Missouri’s got a shot to win every game on its schedule.
*Welcome to the party, Drew Buggs. For a second straight game, he was Missouri’s best point guard. He not only set a Mizzou career-high with five points (gotta start somewhere), but he had four assists and two turnovers in 19 minutes (compare it with two assists and five turnovers from Xavier Pinson in the same amount of time). He isn’t flashy, but I’m starting to see what the staff has seen in him. He’s been a good steady force the last two games.
*Let me flash back to something I wrote on Monday:
“Some will look at that and say ‘Just stop shooting threes altogether.’ I agree they should probably shoot fewer of them. But you can't just stop. It's like a football team throwing deep. Sometimes you have to do it even if it doesn't work just to make the other team think you are willing to do it. I don't think Missouri needs to shoot 21 threes a game (that's the season average), but it has to shoot some. I think if you could bring that average down to 12-15 a game, that's probably a good range for this team.”
Missouri scored 81 points tonight and shot 58.3% from the floor. The Tigers attempted 13 three-pointers. They made five, so that’s better than the season average. But they were 23-35 from two-point range (nearly 67%) and went to the line 30 times (if they’d shot better than 66.7% from there, they’d have scored 85 or 90).
I’m not always right, but I like to point it out when I am.
*Key stat of the night: Turnovers vs points off turnovers.
South Carolina turned it over 13 times. Missouri turned it over 19. Missouri scored 23 points off the 13 Carolina turnovers. The Gamecocks scored 18 off the Mizzou mistakes. Despite getting six fewer turnovers, Mizzou scored five more points off of them. Every South Carolina turnover turned into about 1.8 points for Mizzou. Every Mizzou turnover turned into less than a point for South Carolina. It’s not just about getting the turnovers, it’s about doing something with them. Missouri did, Carolina didn’t. Big difference.
Stat of the night runner up: Despite getting 11 more offensive rebounds (20 to 9) South Carolina scored just seven more second chance points (16 to 9). Again, it’s a key category, but only if you take advantage of it. South Carolina didn’t.
*Sometimes what we see isn’t all that different from what coaches see. Cuonzo said he watches tape from last year against teams to scout this year and he sees the pace at which Missouri was playing.
“Why did I coach that? Cause I wouldn’t want to watch that,” Martin said. “I hope no fans heard that.”
He laughed when he said it, but there's some truth to it.
The tempo isn’t a made up thing. They’re playing a lot faster. There were multiple times off a make that Missouri flat out beat South Carolina down the floor. Dru Smith threw a great pass to Mark Smith on one, Javon Pickett beat the Gamecocks down the floor a couple times. Missouri scored 20 fast break points. It’s at least the second time this season they’ve scored 20 in transition (they did it against Illinois). Hopefully this is something that continues into the future (like beyond this year).
South Carolina likes to run. Missouri just did it better and beat them at their own game.
*Good win. Game you needed. Missouri is now tied for fourth in the SEC with Kentucky because Mississippi State got blown out by Ole Miss in Starkville tonight. On to Knoxville.
