Just gonna say this off the top: There were a lot of whistles I thought were unnecessary. Many of them occurred when Sharife Cooper had the ball. There were some that did not as well. Did it change the outcome of the game? I don't know. If you're convinced it did, I'm not going to change your mind. If you don't think it did, that's fine too. I just want to acknowledge that I do not think the game was well officiated before I focus on other things because I have been around long enough that I know the only thing that’s really going to be discussed is the officiating.
The shot selection early left quite a bit to be desired. Whole bunch of threes and Dru Buggs taking a shot. Not the way you want to start out. Speaking of Buggs, he has a role on this team and he’s filled it pretty well but I’m not sure how he averaged more than eight points a game over three years at Hawaii. Shooting does not appear to be his forte. It wasn’t really anybody else’s forte in the first half either though.
Sharife Cooper is SPECIAL. Xavier Pinson is one of the fastest players in college basketball and he couldn’t stay in front of Cooper. Coming into the game, you knew Cooper was going to make some plays and be a huge factor, but you couldn’t let him completely take over. In the opening minutes, he completely took over. He just dominated the action. Four assists in the first 8 minutes. After sitting to start the second half, he completely took over again midway through. In the 28 minutes he was on the floor, Auburn outscored Missouri by 20 points. In the 12 minutes he was on the bench, Missouri had a 14 point advantage. I’m going to type some other things, but really, it is pretty simple: Auburn had the best player on the floor by such a wide margin that Missouri couldn’t overcome it.
It occurred to me after the game: I wonder if part of Pinson’s offensive game (2-11 from the floor, seven points) can be attributed to spending so much time chasing Cooper around defensively. Maybe that’s an excuse because the other two guys that guarded Cooper were Dru Smith and Javon Pickett and both had well above average offensive nights, but I wonder how much that took out of Pinson and whether it impacted his offense.
Auburn was playing some filthy defense early on. The Tigers had five blocked shots in the first 8:30. Missouri couldn’t get much of anything to the rim. What they did get to the rim didn’t go in, but a lot of them didn’t even make it there. The home team had eight blocks at halftime. They finished with 14. That’s as many as I can remember seeing in a game and I believe equals the most in a college basketball game this year. The other time it happened, it was done by...Auburn.
I find it very cool that there is a player named JT Thor. I would assume Missouri finds it less cool after the way he played tonight.
I could tell after his first two shots the way the game was going to go for Mark Smith. I don’t have data to back this up, but it seems like you always can. If he misses the first two, forget it. He didn’t just miss the first two. He missed them by a BUNCH. It never really got better. If he’s going to shoot 2-11 from the floor, it’s tough to play him as much as Missouri has to play him. 2/11 (1/6 from three, many of them relatively open and in rhythm) in 30 minutes just isn’t gonna get it done. Missouri can win when he plays like that. The Tigers cannot win when he plays like that against decent teams, especially on a night they get nothing from Pinson. But here’s the thing with Smith: If not him, who? He played 30 minutes tonight. Pickett played 26. You can’t get more than about six more out of him. So where do the other 24 minutes go? Torrence Watson? He’s not making any shots. Dru Buggs? He’s a non-factor scoring. Maybe Kobe Brown on a good day, but today was not a good day for him. I understand the frustration with Smith’s play. I also think the only real option Missouri has is for him to figure it out and come up big a few times.
Seemed like a weird game to give Jordan Wilmore his first meaningful SEC minutes. But what do I know? (For those asking, Parker Braun was healthy and on the bench dressed out).
I wonder if it is as obvious to Missouri’s players as it is to me that Jeremiah Tilmon is the best player they have? The offense needs to run through him even more than it does. 21 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high six blocked shots. Tilmon made nine shots from the floor. Xavier Pinson, Mark Smith, Kobe Brown, Torrence Watson, Drew Buggs and Mitchell Smith COMBINED to make eight. Tilmon had 14 attempts. Those players I mentioned had 38 attempts. Had he been better than 3/11 from the free throw line it could have been an even better game. I know Tilmon can’t get every shot. But I think he needs to be force fed the ball even more than he currently is.
Turning point: Down four, Xavier Pinson came up the court with 6:40 to play and launched a 22 footer without a single pass. He missed (shocking considering the way Missouri shot threes outside of Dru Smith, I know). Auburn scored. Lead was six. Torrence Watson missed a three. Pinson fouled out. Cooper made both free throws. Eight point game. Ballgame. Let me stress: Down four points, Missouri had three consecutive possessions which resulted in three-pointers from Pinson, Watson and Javon Pickett. That’s just a bad approach. The Pinson shot was dreadful. He should be beyond taking that shot.
All that said, I expected Missouri to lose this game. They showed some fight coming back from the early deficit and they didn’t play terribly. They just fell short because the other team had the best player on the floor by a wide margin. On Saturday morning, if you told me Missouri split back to back road games at Tennessee and Auburn, I’d have said that was a good stretch. Tonight doesn’t hurt. You’d liked to have won, but losing doesn’t change much for me.
The shot selection early left quite a bit to be desired. Whole bunch of threes and Dru Buggs taking a shot. Not the way you want to start out. Speaking of Buggs, he has a role on this team and he’s filled it pretty well but I’m not sure how he averaged more than eight points a game over three years at Hawaii. Shooting does not appear to be his forte. It wasn’t really anybody else’s forte in the first half either though.
Sharife Cooper is SPECIAL. Xavier Pinson is one of the fastest players in college basketball and he couldn’t stay in front of Cooper. Coming into the game, you knew Cooper was going to make some plays and be a huge factor, but you couldn’t let him completely take over. In the opening minutes, he completely took over. He just dominated the action. Four assists in the first 8 minutes. After sitting to start the second half, he completely took over again midway through. In the 28 minutes he was on the floor, Auburn outscored Missouri by 20 points. In the 12 minutes he was on the bench, Missouri had a 14 point advantage. I’m going to type some other things, but really, it is pretty simple: Auburn had the best player on the floor by such a wide margin that Missouri couldn’t overcome it.
It occurred to me after the game: I wonder if part of Pinson’s offensive game (2-11 from the floor, seven points) can be attributed to spending so much time chasing Cooper around defensively. Maybe that’s an excuse because the other two guys that guarded Cooper were Dru Smith and Javon Pickett and both had well above average offensive nights, but I wonder how much that took out of Pinson and whether it impacted his offense.
Auburn was playing some filthy defense early on. The Tigers had five blocked shots in the first 8:30. Missouri couldn’t get much of anything to the rim. What they did get to the rim didn’t go in, but a lot of them didn’t even make it there. The home team had eight blocks at halftime. They finished with 14. That’s as many as I can remember seeing in a game and I believe equals the most in a college basketball game this year. The other time it happened, it was done by...Auburn.
I find it very cool that there is a player named JT Thor. I would assume Missouri finds it less cool after the way he played tonight.
I could tell after his first two shots the way the game was going to go for Mark Smith. I don’t have data to back this up, but it seems like you always can. If he misses the first two, forget it. He didn’t just miss the first two. He missed them by a BUNCH. It never really got better. If he’s going to shoot 2-11 from the floor, it’s tough to play him as much as Missouri has to play him. 2/11 (1/6 from three, many of them relatively open and in rhythm) in 30 minutes just isn’t gonna get it done. Missouri can win when he plays like that. The Tigers cannot win when he plays like that against decent teams, especially on a night they get nothing from Pinson. But here’s the thing with Smith: If not him, who? He played 30 minutes tonight. Pickett played 26. You can’t get more than about six more out of him. So where do the other 24 minutes go? Torrence Watson? He’s not making any shots. Dru Buggs? He’s a non-factor scoring. Maybe Kobe Brown on a good day, but today was not a good day for him. I understand the frustration with Smith’s play. I also think the only real option Missouri has is for him to figure it out and come up big a few times.
Seemed like a weird game to give Jordan Wilmore his first meaningful SEC minutes. But what do I know? (For those asking, Parker Braun was healthy and on the bench dressed out).
I wonder if it is as obvious to Missouri’s players as it is to me that Jeremiah Tilmon is the best player they have? The offense needs to run through him even more than it does. 21 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high six blocked shots. Tilmon made nine shots from the floor. Xavier Pinson, Mark Smith, Kobe Brown, Torrence Watson, Drew Buggs and Mitchell Smith COMBINED to make eight. Tilmon had 14 attempts. Those players I mentioned had 38 attempts. Had he been better than 3/11 from the free throw line it could have been an even better game. I know Tilmon can’t get every shot. But I think he needs to be force fed the ball even more than he currently is.
Turning point: Down four, Xavier Pinson came up the court with 6:40 to play and launched a 22 footer without a single pass. He missed (shocking considering the way Missouri shot threes outside of Dru Smith, I know). Auburn scored. Lead was six. Torrence Watson missed a three. Pinson fouled out. Cooper made both free throws. Eight point game. Ballgame. Let me stress: Down four points, Missouri had three consecutive possessions which resulted in three-pointers from Pinson, Watson and Javon Pickett. That’s just a bad approach. The Pinson shot was dreadful. He should be beyond taking that shot.
All that said, I expected Missouri to lose this game. They showed some fight coming back from the early deficit and they didn’t play terribly. They just fell short because the other team had the best player on the floor by a wide margin. On Saturday morning, if you told me Missouri split back to back road games at Tennessee and Auburn, I’d have said that was a good stretch. Tonight doesn’t hurt. You’d liked to have won, but losing doesn’t change much for me.
