Five takeaways from Missouri’s loss at Arkansas: Mark Smith, Xavier Pinson and KenPom
Missouri was unable to put a pair of wins together.
Following a blowout victory at Texas A&M on Saturday, the Tigers fell 72-60 Wednesday at Arkansas after rushing out to a 13-point lead in the opening minutes. Next up, Saturday, is LSU — a winner of eight straight games.
Here are five takeaways from Missouri’s loss to the Hogs:
Kevin Puryear said it best — “Same old song:” Every game Missouri has lost this year has followed a similar format. The Tigers come out strong in the first 10 minutes of the game, collapse before halftime, try to make things interesting in the second half before ultimately falling, usually because of turnovers. Wednesday was no different. Missouri had 24 turnovers against a team it knew was going to press. Ronnie Suggs, Torrence Watson and Jeremiah Tilmon really struggled to take care of the ball and this is a problem that hasn’t changed in the last year and a half.
Give Ken Pomeroy credit: KenPom predicted MU would lose this game by single-digits. And while the Tigers lost by 12, they were in the game for the first 37 minutes. KenPom predicts Missouri will go 15-15 this season, with a lot of those losses being very close. Should this hold true, Missouri could pick off a few more wins, or at least have the chance to.
Xavier Pinson had a decent game: The freshman point guard appears to be MU fans’ favorite player, at least on Twitter, and played 21 minutes after being benched at A&M. Pinson scored eight points and showed flashes of why he should play, and why he shouldn’t. The no-look passer had a behind-the-back pass go right to Arkansas shortly after checking in and turned over the ball the first time he touched it. Pinson is great at getting MU a bucket when it needs one, but his ball security and defense are big liabilities.
Jeremiah Tilmon had... : A great first half and then a routine second half. He played 17 minutes in the first half and went right after Arkansas star forward Daniel Gafford. In the second half, Tilmon only played 10 minutes and had his usual foul issues. He looked passive once they started. His fifth foul was a moving screen; it was awful and shows how far he has to go in fully conquering his issues. MU can’t win close games when it doesn’t have Tilmon on the floor late in the second half.
Mark Smith and Javon Pickett: Smith suffered what Cuonzo Martin thinks is a left ankle sprain and Pickett injured his back early in the game. If both are out for long periods of time, that is terrible news for MU. Smith tied a career high on Wednesday with 22 points and MU could have used Pickett for his ball security and grit. Ideally, both can play on Saturday.