Cuonzo Martin thinks MU can compete for the Southeastern Conference title next year

Cuonzo Martin’s team faces a daunting task on Tuesday night — No. 4 Kentucky visits Mizzou Arena — but that doesn’t have him down on the future.

And while Missouri’s men’s basketball coach is currently focused on finishing his second season strong, he hasn’t held back from telling commentators that the Tigers will be in contention for the Southeastern Conference title next season despite their current 12-12 record that includes just three conference wins.

Martin’s first two years at Missouri have had the ‘what-if’ factor, as both started with a season-ending injury to the team’s best players, in Michael and Jontay Porter, respectively.

Next season, Missouri will add top Evansville transfer Dru Smith and return the freshman trio of Torrence Watson, Xavier Pinson and Javon Pickett along with sophomores Mark Smith and Jeremiah Tilmon.

The addition of signees Tray Jackson and Mario McKinney should give MU more athleticism. And Jackson should be an immediate upgrade at power forward. The Tigers have struggled to get production from that position.

While Missouri has looked every bit the part of a team missing its best player — see the Tigers’ ability to hang in games but failure to get over the hump — Martin thinks he’s seen enough to feel optimistic going into next year.

“When you’re healthy you have a chance,” he said. “You have to have good guards. I think we’re moving toward that. Your key guys have to be healthy. And then you go from there. I like where we’re going as a program. Every step you have to get better. If the pain of losing, missing shots, not blocking out, if that doesn’t pain you, then this is probably not the program for you. You have to have a love and passion to be great at this thing.”

Martin said Missouri’s biggest hurdle to winning games has been turnovers, which he didn’t see coming when he first started to assemble this team.

The Tigers tied for a season-high 25 turnovers in their loss to Ole Miss Saturday. That’s the highest turnover percentage for the program in the KenPom era. Missouri had a 36.9 turnover percentage against the Rebels, according to KenPom.com.

Missouri’s staff has even stopped using the word “turnover” around the team. Martin only used the word when asked by reporters.

“It is what it is,” Martin said. “I know the time we spend on it in practice. I know they’re not trying to turn the ball over. What’s the point in continuing to talk about it?”

In regards to Kentucky, Martin said the Wildcats’ offense starts with sophomore PJ Washington, who has scored at least 20 points in seven of his last eight games. Washington is “playing as well as anybody in the conference,” according to Martin.

Missouri plans to retire Derrick Chievous’ No. 3 at halftime of Tuesday’s game. Martin has a personal relationship with the Tigers’ all-time leading scorer after recruiting his son, Quinton, to play for him at Tennessee.

Martin praised the elder Chievous as a player’s parent, saying that he never heard complaints about playing time while he was coaching Quinton. Martin said he still keeps in touch with Quinton Chievous, now playing in the NBA G-League.

“His son made my job easy,” Martin said of Chievous. “He was a worker, he was a tough kid.”

This story was originally published February 18, 2019 at 3:40 PM.