*I mean, it pretty much went the way I thought it would go so I can't say I'm surprised. But it's still somewhat disappointing. Missouri just isn't a very good basketball team.
*I'll say this for this team: It never quits. Every time you think the game is completely over, they do something to make you think maybe it isn't. As Kermit Davis said, you have to play 40 minutes against them. I mean, you'd love a team that played well AND played hard, but if you don't have a team that plays well, you at least want it to still play hard. That game felt like it should have been a 25 point loss. You don't get any points for staying close, but still, that game should have been over at halftime and it wasn't over until at least the final TV timeout.
*Jordan Geist did a really nice job trying to keep Missouri alive in the second half. At times it looked like Ole Miss just put pretty much everyone on him and was content to let anyone else have the ball.
*Xavier Pinson had stretches where he looked very good. Not his best game overall of late, but there were flashes. To me, he's the freshman who's actually shown the most promise for the future (yes, even including Javon Pickett).
*Geist and Pinson combined for 34 points. Everyone else combined for 31.
*The power forwards: 5 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 6 fouls, 7 turnovers, 38 minutes. Just not good enough. Not even a little bit.
*Jeremiah Tilmon looked tentative to start the game. He just wasn't aggressive and engaged like we've seen him be at times. And then he picked up the fouls. Two of them within 29 seconds of each other when I'd run outside to grab something and he committed them so quickly I didn't even see them. He had four points and four rebounds in 15 minutes. There's not a team in this league Missouri can beat when that's his line.
*25 turnovers. I mean, Ole Miss is a good defensive team. But at least a half dozen of them had to be travels. A few more were just passes to nobody. Even good teams can't overcome that number of empty possessions. This team definitely can't. Those 25 turnovers led to 32 Ole Miss points. Mizzou lost the game by 10. They were outscored by 20 in points off turnovers. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to diagnose the reason for the loss.
*Mark Smith isn't healthy. Kudos to him for giving it a go, but he just wasn't ready. Now you wonder if it turns into something like Emanuel Hall where he is pretty much done for the year because he tried to come back too soon.
*I'll say this for this team: It never quits. Every time you think the game is completely over, they do something to make you think maybe it isn't. As Kermit Davis said, you have to play 40 minutes against them. I mean, you'd love a team that played well AND played hard, but if you don't have a team that plays well, you at least want it to still play hard. That game felt like it should have been a 25 point loss. You don't get any points for staying close, but still, that game should have been over at halftime and it wasn't over until at least the final TV timeout.
*Jordan Geist did a really nice job trying to keep Missouri alive in the second half. At times it looked like Ole Miss just put pretty much everyone on him and was content to let anyone else have the ball.
*Xavier Pinson had stretches where he looked very good. Not his best game overall of late, but there were flashes. To me, he's the freshman who's actually shown the most promise for the future (yes, even including Javon Pickett).
*Geist and Pinson combined for 34 points. Everyone else combined for 31.
*The power forwards: 5 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 6 fouls, 7 turnovers, 38 minutes. Just not good enough. Not even a little bit.
*Jeremiah Tilmon looked tentative to start the game. He just wasn't aggressive and engaged like we've seen him be at times. And then he picked up the fouls. Two of them within 29 seconds of each other when I'd run outside to grab something and he committed them so quickly I didn't even see them. He had four points and four rebounds in 15 minutes. There's not a team in this league Missouri can beat when that's his line.
*25 turnovers. I mean, Ole Miss is a good defensive team. But at least a half dozen of them had to be travels. A few more were just passes to nobody. Even good teams can't overcome that number of empty possessions. This team definitely can't. Those 25 turnovers led to 32 Ole Miss points. Mizzou lost the game by 10. They were outscored by 20 in points off turnovers. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to diagnose the reason for the loss.
*Mark Smith isn't healthy. Kudos to him for giving it a go, but he just wasn't ready. Now you wonder if it turns into something like Emanuel Hall where he is pretty much done for the year because he tried to come back too soon.
