My pledge in this post is to give you more information in a few paragraphs than Karl Ravech and Jimmy Dykes did in a two-hour plus broadcast. I don’t think it will be difficult to achieve.
*That was the definition of a balanced attack. Missouri had five players in double figures. None of them scored more than 17 points. According to Mike Kelly, the last time that happened was in a 72-69 win over Georgia on January 28 last year. (Edit: Mizzou historian Tom Orf tweeted the Tigers also did this against Oregon this year)
*But it wasn’t just balanced in scoring. Missouri played ten players today. Nine of them played between 14 and 24 minutes. Cuonzo Martin talked yesterday of wanting to get some of his guys more rest. Playing Parker Braun for 14 minutes and Torrence Watson for 15 allows him to do that. If you can do that for a few games down the stretch here and still come out with wins, you’ll be a better team for it. You want to limit some of the mileage heading into the postseason. Once you get in the tournament, you want Jeremiah Tilmon closer to 31 minutes than the 21 he played today and Xavier Pinson closer to 34 than the 24 he played today. But if you can get regular season wins and limit the minutes for those guys, they’re that much fresher come tourney time. Mission accomplished, at least for today.
*On that front, I've brought up the idea of sitting Javon Pickett before. He came off gimpy again today. By putting him out there, you're not giving him time to heal. Give him the week off, hope you can win without him. It's far more important to have him in three weeks than it is Tuesday.
*Jeremiah Tilmon: 7/7 from the free throw line. Tigers will win a lot of games if he can do that. In fact, the big man didn’t miss a shot in his return to the court, also making all five of his field goal attempts. It’s not as simple as they win when he’s here and they don’t when he’s not. But they’re 14-4 with him and 0-2 without him and they’re a lot better with him.
*Free throw shooting as a whole was much improved. Missouri finished 16 of 19 from the line. Big difference from the last few games.
*A potential benefit of Tilmon being out is Kobe Brown becoming more aggressive. He had 10 of Missouri’s first 20 points and was very assertive while some of his teammates were trying to settle in. You don’t expect him to be in double figures every night, but it’s a bonus knowing he is capable of doing it. Makes it tougher for teams to immediately double Tilmon every time he touches the ball.
*Mark Smith has now played back to back productive games. After 11 points and 7 rebounds in the loss at Georgia, Smith had 13 and 5 today. He has shot it better than 50% from the floor in the last two games. Maybe some signs he’s coming out of his slump at the right time. If he can give you 12 and 6, this team can do some damage.
*Some +/- notes:
Dru Smith and Mark Smith led the way at +17
DrewBuggs was +10 in 17 minutes
Jeremiah Tilmon was +9 in 21 mintues
Only Javon Pickett and Parker Braun on the wrong side, coming in at -4 in 16 minutes and -1 in 14 minutes respectively
*Missouri did still have the second half swoon (getting outscored 26-14 during one stretch), but there were two differences in this one. First, the lead was 19 when the swoon started (with a buzzer beating three at the end of the first half). Second, Mizzou answered. At 59-52, Tilmon got fouled and made two. Then Dru Smith got a steal, scored and went to the line. That put the lead back to a dozen and kicked off a 14-4 run that pretty much iced the game.
*I’m not going to declare everything fixed after beating South Carolina. This is not a good South Carolina team and it was shorthanded. But after the last two weeks, you take absolutely any win you can get. Missouri had to stem the momentum. It had to get some confidence back. It did both. The Tigers are now on the verge of NCAA Tournament lock status. To get there, pretty much all they have to do is beat Texas A&M (if the Aggies ever play another game) and MAYBE one more game. That’s a good season. It’s maybe not everything you hoped it was going to be two weeks ago, but being virtually assured of a tournament bid on February 20 is pretty damn strong. Missouri is a half-game back of Tennessee, Florida (and potentially Ole Miss by night’s end) for fourth in the league. Everything the Tigers set out to do is still on the table.
*Speaking of seedings in the SEC Tournament, it's still very, very muddled. Bama has a magic number of one to win the league. Arkansas and LSU have a pretty big leg up on everyone else for the 2-3 spots (it's possible to catch them, but not easy). The fourth double bye is likely going to come down to Mizzou, Tennessee, Florida, Kentucky and Ole Miss. If Missouri wins out, it will get that spot. But it's very likely to come down to tiebreakers. The process is to convoluted to get into here and there are too many games to be played. But the one advantage Missouri may have in every tiebreaker scenario is that they've beaten Alabama. Nobody else has. If you get to the point where you're having to break ties by records against other teams in the league standings (it's not that uncommon), Missouri has the edge over everyone.
*That was the definition of a balanced attack. Missouri had five players in double figures. None of them scored more than 17 points. According to Mike Kelly, the last time that happened was in a 72-69 win over Georgia on January 28 last year. (Edit: Mizzou historian Tom Orf tweeted the Tigers also did this against Oregon this year)
*But it wasn’t just balanced in scoring. Missouri played ten players today. Nine of them played between 14 and 24 minutes. Cuonzo Martin talked yesterday of wanting to get some of his guys more rest. Playing Parker Braun for 14 minutes and Torrence Watson for 15 allows him to do that. If you can do that for a few games down the stretch here and still come out with wins, you’ll be a better team for it. You want to limit some of the mileage heading into the postseason. Once you get in the tournament, you want Jeremiah Tilmon closer to 31 minutes than the 21 he played today and Xavier Pinson closer to 34 than the 24 he played today. But if you can get regular season wins and limit the minutes for those guys, they’re that much fresher come tourney time. Mission accomplished, at least for today.
*On that front, I've brought up the idea of sitting Javon Pickett before. He came off gimpy again today. By putting him out there, you're not giving him time to heal. Give him the week off, hope you can win without him. It's far more important to have him in three weeks than it is Tuesday.
*Jeremiah Tilmon: 7/7 from the free throw line. Tigers will win a lot of games if he can do that. In fact, the big man didn’t miss a shot in his return to the court, also making all five of his field goal attempts. It’s not as simple as they win when he’s here and they don’t when he’s not. But they’re 14-4 with him and 0-2 without him and they’re a lot better with him.
*Free throw shooting as a whole was much improved. Missouri finished 16 of 19 from the line. Big difference from the last few games.
*A potential benefit of Tilmon being out is Kobe Brown becoming more aggressive. He had 10 of Missouri’s first 20 points and was very assertive while some of his teammates were trying to settle in. You don’t expect him to be in double figures every night, but it’s a bonus knowing he is capable of doing it. Makes it tougher for teams to immediately double Tilmon every time he touches the ball.
*Mark Smith has now played back to back productive games. After 11 points and 7 rebounds in the loss at Georgia, Smith had 13 and 5 today. He has shot it better than 50% from the floor in the last two games. Maybe some signs he’s coming out of his slump at the right time. If he can give you 12 and 6, this team can do some damage.
*Some +/- notes:
Dru Smith and Mark Smith led the way at +17
DrewBuggs was +10 in 17 minutes
Jeremiah Tilmon was +9 in 21 mintues
Only Javon Pickett and Parker Braun on the wrong side, coming in at -4 in 16 minutes and -1 in 14 minutes respectively
*Missouri did still have the second half swoon (getting outscored 26-14 during one stretch), but there were two differences in this one. First, the lead was 19 when the swoon started (with a buzzer beating three at the end of the first half). Second, Mizzou answered. At 59-52, Tilmon got fouled and made two. Then Dru Smith got a steal, scored and went to the line. That put the lead back to a dozen and kicked off a 14-4 run that pretty much iced the game.
*I’m not going to declare everything fixed after beating South Carolina. This is not a good South Carolina team and it was shorthanded. But after the last two weeks, you take absolutely any win you can get. Missouri had to stem the momentum. It had to get some confidence back. It did both. The Tigers are now on the verge of NCAA Tournament lock status. To get there, pretty much all they have to do is beat Texas A&M (if the Aggies ever play another game) and MAYBE one more game. That’s a good season. It’s maybe not everything you hoped it was going to be two weeks ago, but being virtually assured of a tournament bid on February 20 is pretty damn strong. Missouri is a half-game back of Tennessee, Florida (and potentially Ole Miss by night’s end) for fourth in the league. Everything the Tigers set out to do is still on the table.
*Speaking of seedings in the SEC Tournament, it's still very, very muddled. Bama has a magic number of one to win the league. Arkansas and LSU have a pretty big leg up on everyone else for the 2-3 spots (it's possible to catch them, but not easy). The fourth double bye is likely going to come down to Mizzou, Tennessee, Florida, Kentucky and Ole Miss. If Missouri wins out, it will get that spot. But it's very likely to come down to tiebreakers. The process is to convoluted to get into here and there are too many games to be played. But the one advantage Missouri may have in every tiebreaker scenario is that they've beaten Alabama. Nobody else has. If you get to the point where you're having to break ties by records against other teams in the league standings (it's not that uncommon), Missouri has the edge over everyone.
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