Up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down.
If anyone forgot, Missouri won a basketball game against a team with the second best NET rating in the conference. Vanderbilt is rated 15th in the NET as of this morning, and now Mizzou has pulled wins against the two top teams in the NET in the SEC at home.
This game was probably their best game of the year also… until it wasn’t. The Tigers started off the game poorly, going down 9-3 before finally stringing together a few stops.. But the offense was stilted until about the 13 minute mark when they strung together a 8-0 run, that gave them the lead for the first, and last, time. Jayden Stone broke and 11-11 tie with 11:57 left in the first half. Vandy would not tie or lead the rest of the game.
From 11-6 all the way to 65-44, the Tigers outscored one of the most efficient basketball teams in the conference 59-33 over the course of 25:17 of game action. They were good offensively, they were sound defensively, they rebounded, they took care of the ball and got good shots. It was all going so well.
The lead was 21 with 8:41 to play, that followed a multiple review session where Vanderbilt’s Devin McGlockton was hit for his second flagrant foul on the day. And to further bog down the game, Mark Byington was begging the officials to call a non-existant hook and hold on the same play McGlockton elbowed Anthony Robinson in the face. The game was officially at a stand still, and Vanderbilt began to claw their way back into the game.
I contend the moment things really turned when Mark Mitchell was fouled by Tyler Tanner after a Vanderbilt turnover. Mark rarely complains for fouls to be called and he immediately jumped up as though he was raked across the arm, and it looked like he was. Tanner seized the ball and converted a shot and was fouled in the process. Instead of Mitchell shooting with a 16 point lead, Vanderbilt was setting up their press only down 13 now. Mizzou turned it over on the next possession, Tyler Nickel canned another three pointer and suddenly things began to tighten for the home team.
From that moment on, Mizzou seemed to only make the absolutely necessary plays to not fully collapse.
Mizzou turned the ball over 14 times in the game, but 7 of those were in the final 8 minutes. In that timeframe they only attempted 9 shots from the field, they missed 5 of them. They were also 7 of 8 from the Free Throw line in the final 8 minutes. 7 of 8 from the line and 4 of 9 from the field isn’t terrible, if they’re able to just prevent one of the turnovers from happening it’s likely a very different ending.
For the first 12 minutes of the second half, Vandy was 5-19 from the floor, in the final 8 minutes they were 13-18. I think as much as the turnovers, it was a lot of poor defense also. With each guy creating at least one big mistake to let the ‘Dores creep back into it.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter. They held on, they won, they got another Quad 1 win. They’re 18-8 and 8-5 in the SEC. But lets review anyway.
It was a good well paced game, and not just because Vandy turned up the heat to press for a lot of the second half. Where I think Mizzou really struggled was in and around the rim. Mizzou was 6-16 on layups per Statbroadcast, and 5-5 on dunks. So 11-21 at the rim. That also means they were 2-11 from outside the rim, which is really bad. Good thing they made up for by going to the line 32 times, and making 10/20 from behind the arc.
Related to that was Mark Mitchell’s 2 for 9 night, including just a single 2 point make, and he was fouled several times shooting and didn’t get the roll on any of them. I think you could consider that an outlier performance for him, which also likely contributed to closeness of the game late. Again, thank god they made 10 threes, if anything maybe they should’ve shot more of them!
Statbroadcast also credits Vandy for being 8-22 on layups, and 1-1 for dunks, so 9-23 at the rim, and 18-40 overall means they were 9-17 in the mid range. Remember Mizzou was 2-9. Usually you want a team shooting more from the mid range.
On the season: Mark Mitchell 49, Jayden Stone 30, Jacob Crews 19, Anthony Robinson 18, T.O. Barrett 13, Trent Pierce 8, Shawn Phillips 7, Jevon Porter 5, Sebastian Mack 3, Annor Boateng 1
What a weird game. Mark, again, 1 for 8 from 2FG and 1-1 from three. But he had 9 assists. T.O. Barrett was 1-5 from inside the arc, 2 of 5 from outside of it. Stone was 2-7 inside the arc, and 4-6 outside of it. Those three combined to shoot 4 of 20 from 2FG, and 7 of 12 from 3FG. Really guys sometimes just turn those 2s into threes and maybe you have a better chance of them going in.
Big minutes from Trent Burns where we kind of saw the best version (so far) of Trent. 7 rebounds, numerous shots affected at the rim to go with an block. He did have a turnover and an air ball of a three, but I thought the turnover was the smart play just a bad pass. That’s one of those things he’ll get better at as he plays more. He was +19 mostly because he was on the floor when Mizzou was making their run in multiple segments.
I’m not sure what caused Jacob Crews to see so little time. He looked okay out there but only got up a single three attempt. Maybe it was that he shares a position with Trent Pierce, and we also got good Trent back for the night.
There’s just way too much red in the TOR%, including from guys they need to perform better. I thought Ant was playing one of his best games in conference play, but he and TO just made a lot of costly mistakes in the last 8 minutes. Without them though, things would have been worse. Just calm down and make smart plays.
I also want to see them attack the press more. If a team is pressing you late, it’s because they’re down. That leaves them vulnerable at the rim so go get points!
All the turnovers didn’t cost them and that’s the good news.
As I said above, it’s a needed result if Missouri has hopes to play in the NCAA Tournament. What’s next are two of the toughest games they’ll have all year. At Bud Walton Arena against a really good Arkansas team. And then home for Tennessee, with a surging Nate Ament playing like an All American.
If there’s good news, Arkansas is coming off a double overtime loss in Tuscaloosa and are playing with a lighter rotation thanks to some poor injury luck. Winning in Bud Walton is difficult but not impossible. It will still likely take Missouri’s best effort on the season. And then the Tennessee game is at home!
I think you win either of those games and you’re probably feeling pretty good about a trip to March Madness. Win both then. Why not?
I’ve moved the glossary to a static page at RockM+ to reduce the size of the bottom of this post.
So if you’re looking for what any of these stats mean, Check out the Glossary!
In attempting to update Study Hall, I’ve moved away from Touches/Possession and moving into the Rates a little more. This is a little experimental so if there’s something you’d like to see let me know and I’ll see if there’s an easy visual way to present it.
If there’s something you’d like to see more of an explanation on, drop a note and let me know!
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