Statistics show Mizzou’s Jeremiah Tilmon is putting his foul troubles behind him

Missouri center Jeremiah Tilmon recently seemed incapable of sustaining a multiple-game stretch of productivity. Just three weeks ago, the Tigers basketball team was coming off of a loss at South Carolina, and Tilmon was finishing up a brutal set of poor performances mainly because of foul trouble.

“Man the refs are picking on me,” Tilmon once said about his about his three-game stretch from late December to January in which he tallied a combined total of just 34 minutes, 11 points and three rebounds. “But I looked myself in the mirror and said it was me.

“Ever since then, it’s changed.”

Fast forward to Missouri’s win over Vanderbilt on Saturday, when Tilmon scored a game-high 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds in a career-high 35 minutes, and it appears he’s turned a corner in overcoming his biggest hurdle. Tilmon is in the middle of the most productive stretch of his career heading into Missouri’s game at No. 1 Tennessee on Tuesday. And it’s not even close.

Foul troubles have followed Tilmon since middle school, and his paranoia for getting called for one was obvious only a few weeks ago against Alabama, when he couldn’t keep his eyes off officials after hearing a whistle — even if he was nowhere near the ball.

The 6-foot-10 sophomore center has played at least 26 minutes his last six games and is averaging 13.3 points and just 2.8 fouls per game.

In Missouri’s loss to Alabama, Tilmon played 27 minutes and had just two fouls called on him, but the officials were clearly in his head. He was stagnant on defense and passive on offense. But in Missouri’s next game at Texas A&M, he was relaxed, as officials told him they were going to work with him and explain how he could stay on the floor.

Tilmon scored 14 points in Missouri’s blowout win over the Aggies and didn’t pick up a foul until the final minutes — “a world record,” as one official joked with him. Tilmon has only fouled out once in the six-game stretch, in Missouri’s loss at Arkansas, and that came in the contest’s final minutes, after Tilmon had played 27 minutes.

For most of his MU career, Tilmon has ranked in the top 10 nationally in personal fouls per game. After the Tennessee game he was averaging 3.7 fouls per game, up from his freshman average of 3.67. The recent stretch has Tilmon down to 3.45, No. 29 nationally, according to TeamRankings.com. Another sign he might be starting to figure out how to harness his aggression: Tilmon isn’t one of the 75 most foul-prone players during the past four weeks.

MU coach Cuonzo Martin said Tilmon’s recent stretch “is probably his best effort since he’s been in the program.”

Martin invoked his former coach at Purdue, Gene Keady, when discussing Tilmon’s development, saying big men take more time to develop. Keady taught Martin that it’s rare for a player Tilmon’s size to regularly go against similar players in high school, which makes it tough to learn how certain plays are called.

When discussing Tilmon’s issues, Martin has placed blame on his center and mostly absolved officials. After Tilmon fouled out in 13 minutes during MU’s January loss at South Carolina, Martin said the foul troubles were Tilmon’s own fault.

On Saturday after the win over Vanderbilt, Martin implied the officials played a significant role, saying he just wants to see players officiated fairly.

“I have to be respectful,” Martin said. “I just have to say that as long as there’s balance across the board in how you do it, you do it. If there’s not balance, you don’t allow a young man to grow as a ball player.”

During his three-game stretch of foul issues, Tilmon said he was in a bad place mentally and found himself thinking the officials had it in for him. He started putting more blame on himself and said he’s been a different player since.

Senior guard Jordan Geist said the biggest evidence of growth from Tilmon in the last month has been putting himself in position to avoid fouls.

“I’m just really focusing, if (they) have the ball, keep my hands behind my ears and just wall up,” Tilmon said. “If he makes it, he makes it. My team needs me on the court.”

Missouri is 20-4 when Tilmon scores 10 or more points. Last time the Tigers faced Tennessee, on Jan. 8 in Columbia, Tilmon played just nine minutes and scored three points. His absence allowed Kyle Alexander to score 14 points and pull down 17 rebounds.

Tilmon showed flashes of potential during his freshman year. He had a four-game stretch in which he played 22 minutes or more, but he only averaged 8.7 points per game at that time.

While Martin said that Tilmon is playing the best basketball of his MU career, he’s hesitant to say his center’s foul troubles are behind him.

“You’ll ask again,” Martin said. “It will come up.”