-Nick Honor probably should not have thrown that alley-oop to Kobe Brown. It was really well-defended and Kobe had to make a really good play on the ball to come down with it. But man, it felt like it woke up both the team and the arena. The crowd got on its feet, Mizzou forced a jump ball, then a turnover, Kobe scored at the other end to tie it, MSU calls timeout, they play Mr. Brightside, everyone's still on their feet after the timeout, MSU commits a shot clock violation and Kobe draws a foul and takes the lead at the free throw line. Allllll of that was sparked from the alley-oop.
-I wrote in my preview the keys to the game were to contain Tolu Smith, win the turnover margin and get Kobe Brown going. The team did all three, with Kobe getting super aggressive in the second half. He wasn't all that efficient, but just him deciding "I am getting the ball and getting to the rim by any means necessary" changed the whole complexion of the game.
-Tre Gomillion should get a lot of credit for that, too. When D'Moi Hodge went to the bench, Gomillion really took over the shot creation load for a few possessions there and really kept the team afloat. He was also his normal, pesky self on defense, had a major impact on the boards and most importantly looked HEALTHY. I just kept thinking "Man, I forgot what Tre can do for them."
-Mizzou stuck to its 2-3 zone, which turned out to be the correct decision. Like I said, MSU is not a 40% 3-point shooting team. They weren't even a 10% 3-point shooting team in the second half.
-I think the decision to play Mabor Majak over Aidan Shaw was honestly understandable. Mabor is six inches taller and at least just as strong. They really only needed him to stand in the paint and keep his hands up and he did his job. You probably want Mo Diarra out there in the final minute but he'd fouled out. Noah Carter was mostly just fouling Tolu Smith when he was out there. Mabor made some sense.
-That was a million dollar move by Kobe to get the ball under the rim for the last shot of regulation and just a 10 cent finish. BRUTAL
-NICK HONOR. GAME. BLOUSES.
-I said all along this wasn't a must-win game. But man, it takes soooo much pressure off their shoulders. Their final three games are all against teams in the bottom half of the conference. They're already at 20 wins -- the first time they've won that many since 2017-18. The Tigers are set up really well heading into the conference tournament.
-I wrote in my preview the keys to the game were to contain Tolu Smith, win the turnover margin and get Kobe Brown going. The team did all three, with Kobe getting super aggressive in the second half. He wasn't all that efficient, but just him deciding "I am getting the ball and getting to the rim by any means necessary" changed the whole complexion of the game.
-Tre Gomillion should get a lot of credit for that, too. When D'Moi Hodge went to the bench, Gomillion really took over the shot creation load for a few possessions there and really kept the team afloat. He was also his normal, pesky self on defense, had a major impact on the boards and most importantly looked HEALTHY. I just kept thinking "Man, I forgot what Tre can do for them."
-Mizzou stuck to its 2-3 zone, which turned out to be the correct decision. Like I said, MSU is not a 40% 3-point shooting team. They weren't even a 10% 3-point shooting team in the second half.
-I think the decision to play Mabor Majak over Aidan Shaw was honestly understandable. Mabor is six inches taller and at least just as strong. They really only needed him to stand in the paint and keep his hands up and he did his job. You probably want Mo Diarra out there in the final minute but he'd fouled out. Noah Carter was mostly just fouling Tolu Smith when he was out there. Mabor made some sense.
-That was a million dollar move by Kobe to get the ball under the rim for the last shot of regulation and just a 10 cent finish. BRUTAL
-NICK HONOR. GAME. BLOUSES.
-I said all along this wasn't a must-win game. But man, it takes soooo much pressure off their shoulders. Their final three games are all against teams in the bottom half of the conference. They're already at 20 wins -- the first time they've won that many since 2017-18. The Tigers are set up really well heading into the conference tournament.
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