1. South Carolina...what to say? With a 6 game sample size, not a lot to go off of. I think they're a decent club. At least, I think they have pretty good pieces. In a year that they've had with shutdowns, one after the other, it's hard to get anything going momentum wise. I knew enough to know they weren't Frank clubs of old. This group likes to get up and go, to the detriment of their defensive shot defense prowess. Instead, more reminiscent of a Mike Anderson team...create turnovers and run. They have some intriguing players in the back court, Couisnard, Bryant and Lawson are a dynamic trio. They flashed it tonight, but not enough for it to matter.
2. The home squad got off to a hot start. Up 10-0 in a heartbeat, led by 11 at half, won by 11. They did some good things in between, but that was the story of the evening. After getting out to the comfortable lead, they once let it slip to 5 and maintained a double digit lead by playing even the rest of the night. I think two stretches prevented this from being more lopsided...1. In the first half Mizzou made one bucket over 8 possessions with 4 TO's that sent USC on a 7-0 run to cut it to 5. In the second half, it was one possession. Kobe had a beautiful steal and run out drawing a flagrant, clanked both and Smith just missed canning a 3 on the ensuing inbounds. 12 points left on the board. 23 feels different than 11. It looks different in analytics rankings (hence Mizzou staying steady at 38 in Pomeroy's ratings after the win). But does it really matter? Not a ton. I also thought the tigers could've gotten to the line a bit more down the stretch of the second half. They did shoot 12 free throws over their last 17 possessions, but knowing USC's propensity to foul, our game strategy of attacking the rim, it probably should've been more. Hitting 7-12 in that stretch didn't aid the pretty picture cause either.
3. Turnovers. A to% of 26.3 is bad. Really bad. But worth noting, of the 19 giveaways, 7, SEVEN, were whistled offensive fouls. I thought a few were questionable, with what wasn't being called on the other end. Namely, the early call on Mark, what appeared to be an "assist" on the moving screen by Tilmon and the Pickett floater which at worst, was off before the contact...But still. 19 in 72 possessions is too many. The main culprit? Mr. Pinson. Probably the worst I've seen him play since early his freshman year. He took a blow to the head, but the die was formed well before that point. X gave it away 5 times and I believe escaped one that should've gone to him and not Kobe. He was out of sorts in areas other than TO's, but hey, we're on the topic.
4. Offensive Rebounds. A pretty putrid effort on the defensive glass for the tigers. Granted, USC missed a TON of shots, but allowing a 41.7% oREB rate is just about as bad as the turnover figure. Those two things are the only way USC stayed in the game. Aside from the stretches earlier, Mizzou could've won by even more.
5. So, bad stuff is out of the way. What was good? Pretty much everything else:
2 PT
Mizzou: 23-35 (65.7%)
USC: 19-42 (45.2%)
3 PT
Mizzou: 5-13 (38.5%)
USC: 8-28 (28.6%)
FT
Mizzou: 20-30 (66.7%
USC: 8-19 (42.1% criminy)
OReb%
Mizzou: 37.5
USC: 41.7
TO%
Mizzou: 26.4
USC: 18.1
PPP
Mizzou: 1.123
USC: .970
6. MVP. I don't want to get in the habit of reasons NOT to give the MVP to Tilmon. He earned it. His transformation of late has been fantastic. He's averaging 16.6 ppg and 8.2 in league play. He tallied 19 and 10 tonight with 3 blocks and 3 STEALS!. He was efficient. 8-11 from the floor and 3-5 at the line. He definitely has earned it. But I do want to give a nod to Mark. He cooled a bit in the second half, but made 2-2 at the rim, 3-7 from beyond the arc and 5-6 at the line. Mizzou is a different team when he's performing. As mentioned before the year, Mizzou can be good enough to win some games when 2 of Dru, X, Mark and Tilmon are on. They're going to win a lot of games when 3 of them are. They're going to be a unit if all four are. Tonight, with Dru's notoriously quiet contribution of 16 points, 4 boards and 3 helpers combined with those two, Mizzou could turn it over 1/4 of their trips, have X have a really off night and handle a P5 team that isn't bad easily.
7. Speaking of quiet. Drew Buggs. 6 points, 1 board, 4 assists, 2 to, 2 steals and 4 fouls? Not an impressive line, right? Well, not so much. As mentioned before, our ballhandling situation was a bit out of sorts tonight. Combine X's issues with Dru getting himself into some foul trouble and logging only 25 minutes, someone had to step up and drive the bus. Drew did. USC pressures the ball. You don't have Buggs tonight we may be talking about another blown double digit lead. Going to rename him Allstate. We're in good hands when he's in. No one is excited about insurance, but you better have it.
8. Let's talk a second about game planning. Coming in, USC had two defensive issues. 1. Their 2 point defense wasn't great. 2. They foul a lot. What did Mizzou do? Shoot 30 free throws to only *48 FG (an absurd 62.5% clip) and attack the hell out of the tin. They shot 17-23 at point blank and grabbed a large portion of those freebies in remaining attempts not reflected. It's not a great comparison, but I liken rim shots/free throws to a football team's run game, and the outside shooting to the pass game. The upside is larger outside/passing, but the former raises your floor. And if the opponent can't stop it, you're gonna win the game. Mizzou hoisted only 13 3's tonight. This is what I'm saying with game planning.
9. Up Next: Tennessee. You never get to turn off a game and turn it back on for a do over. This is as close as you're gonna get. The Vols got waxed in Gainesvegas tonight, so I'm sure they're going to be motivated too. Teams that 1. defend the rim on defense; and 2. are proficient at the mid range on offense have given our group problems. Tennessee does both. Speaking of game planning, it will be interesting to see what we do here. Mizzou was taken out of their game immediately, and took themselves out of their game thereafter. Can this plan work Saturday? Will there be some wholesale adjustments? We'll see.
10. Speaking of the Vols getting waxed. I encourage those of you who only watch Mizzou hoops to watch non-Mizzou games if you've got the time. First, it's fun as long as Dan Dakich isn't polluting your air space. Second, it gives some context to what's going on in the game. Might help with those bracket picks too.
2. The home squad got off to a hot start. Up 10-0 in a heartbeat, led by 11 at half, won by 11. They did some good things in between, but that was the story of the evening. After getting out to the comfortable lead, they once let it slip to 5 and maintained a double digit lead by playing even the rest of the night. I think two stretches prevented this from being more lopsided...1. In the first half Mizzou made one bucket over 8 possessions with 4 TO's that sent USC on a 7-0 run to cut it to 5. In the second half, it was one possession. Kobe had a beautiful steal and run out drawing a flagrant, clanked both and Smith just missed canning a 3 on the ensuing inbounds. 12 points left on the board. 23 feels different than 11. It looks different in analytics rankings (hence Mizzou staying steady at 38 in Pomeroy's ratings after the win). But does it really matter? Not a ton. I also thought the tigers could've gotten to the line a bit more down the stretch of the second half. They did shoot 12 free throws over their last 17 possessions, but knowing USC's propensity to foul, our game strategy of attacking the rim, it probably should've been more. Hitting 7-12 in that stretch didn't aid the pretty picture cause either.
3. Turnovers. A to% of 26.3 is bad. Really bad. But worth noting, of the 19 giveaways, 7, SEVEN, were whistled offensive fouls. I thought a few were questionable, with what wasn't being called on the other end. Namely, the early call on Mark, what appeared to be an "assist" on the moving screen by Tilmon and the Pickett floater which at worst, was off before the contact...But still. 19 in 72 possessions is too many. The main culprit? Mr. Pinson. Probably the worst I've seen him play since early his freshman year. He took a blow to the head, but the die was formed well before that point. X gave it away 5 times and I believe escaped one that should've gone to him and not Kobe. He was out of sorts in areas other than TO's, but hey, we're on the topic.
4. Offensive Rebounds. A pretty putrid effort on the defensive glass for the tigers. Granted, USC missed a TON of shots, but allowing a 41.7% oREB rate is just about as bad as the turnover figure. Those two things are the only way USC stayed in the game. Aside from the stretches earlier, Mizzou could've won by even more.
5. So, bad stuff is out of the way. What was good? Pretty much everything else:
2 PT
Mizzou: 23-35 (65.7%)
USC: 19-42 (45.2%)
3 PT
Mizzou: 5-13 (38.5%)
USC: 8-28 (28.6%)
FT
Mizzou: 20-30 (66.7%
USC: 8-19 (42.1% criminy)
OReb%
Mizzou: 37.5
USC: 41.7
TO%
Mizzou: 26.4
USC: 18.1
PPP
Mizzou: 1.123
USC: .970
6. MVP. I don't want to get in the habit of reasons NOT to give the MVP to Tilmon. He earned it. His transformation of late has been fantastic. He's averaging 16.6 ppg and 8.2 in league play. He tallied 19 and 10 tonight with 3 blocks and 3 STEALS!. He was efficient. 8-11 from the floor and 3-5 at the line. He definitely has earned it. But I do want to give a nod to Mark. He cooled a bit in the second half, but made 2-2 at the rim, 3-7 from beyond the arc and 5-6 at the line. Mizzou is a different team when he's performing. As mentioned before the year, Mizzou can be good enough to win some games when 2 of Dru, X, Mark and Tilmon are on. They're going to win a lot of games when 3 of them are. They're going to be a unit if all four are. Tonight, with Dru's notoriously quiet contribution of 16 points, 4 boards and 3 helpers combined with those two, Mizzou could turn it over 1/4 of their trips, have X have a really off night and handle a P5 team that isn't bad easily.
7. Speaking of quiet. Drew Buggs. 6 points, 1 board, 4 assists, 2 to, 2 steals and 4 fouls? Not an impressive line, right? Well, not so much. As mentioned before, our ballhandling situation was a bit out of sorts tonight. Combine X's issues with Dru getting himself into some foul trouble and logging only 25 minutes, someone had to step up and drive the bus. Drew did. USC pressures the ball. You don't have Buggs tonight we may be talking about another blown double digit lead. Going to rename him Allstate. We're in good hands when he's in. No one is excited about insurance, but you better have it.
8. Let's talk a second about game planning. Coming in, USC had two defensive issues. 1. Their 2 point defense wasn't great. 2. They foul a lot. What did Mizzou do? Shoot 30 free throws to only *48 FG (an absurd 62.5% clip) and attack the hell out of the tin. They shot 17-23 at point blank and grabbed a large portion of those freebies in remaining attempts not reflected. It's not a great comparison, but I liken rim shots/free throws to a football team's run game, and the outside shooting to the pass game. The upside is larger outside/passing, but the former raises your floor. And if the opponent can't stop it, you're gonna win the game. Mizzou hoisted only 13 3's tonight. This is what I'm saying with game planning.
9. Up Next: Tennessee. You never get to turn off a game and turn it back on for a do over. This is as close as you're gonna get. The Vols got waxed in Gainesvegas tonight, so I'm sure they're going to be motivated too. Teams that 1. defend the rim on defense; and 2. are proficient at the mid range on offense have given our group problems. Tennessee does both. Speaking of game planning, it will be interesting to see what we do here. Mizzou was taken out of their game immediately, and took themselves out of their game thereafter. Can this plan work Saturday? Will there be some wholesale adjustments? We'll see.
10. Speaking of the Vols getting waxed. I encourage those of you who only watch Mizzou hoops to watch non-Mizzou games if you've got the time. First, it's fun as long as Dan Dakich isn't polluting your air space. Second, it gives some context to what's going on in the game. Might help with those bracket picks too.
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