Four takeaways from Mizzou’s very important victory over Temple in Philly Saturday
The Missouri Tigers pulled off a massive bounce-back win in their 64-54 victory over the Temple Owls Saturday.
It goes down as a double-digit victory on the road for the Tigers just days after a staggering upset loss to Charleston Southern. It also snapped a three-game losing skid for Mizzou coach Cuonzo Martin’s team, including an 0-2 mark at the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City.
The Tigers (5-4) were led by Javon Pickett’s season-high 16 points. Dru Smith added 12. Temple guard Quinton Rose also scored 16.
Mizzou is back in action next on Dec. 15 against Southern Illinois, after taking a break during finals week.
Here are four takeaways from the big Mizzou victory.
Huge win: This cannot be overstated: The Tigers needed this one.
Temple was an NCAA Tournament team last year and had already racked up impressive wins against Texas A&M and USC this season. With the Tigers vying for a tournament bid come March, Saturday’s win will look good on their resume. There will be more opportunities to pick up resume-boosting victories the rest of the season, including Braggin’ Rights and conference play.
But Saturday was a great development after a very dismal stretch.
Mizzou’s defense got back on track after allowing 45 second-half points to Charleston Southern. The Owls had 19 turnovers and shot 34.7 percent (17 of 49) for the game.
The Tigers weathered storm when Temple ripped off a 12-0 run in the second half. Then they regrouped for their own 8-0 stretch to seal the victory. All in all, a great bounce-back triumph in Philly.
Tigers competitive to start: Martin tinkered with his starting lineup again, this time inserting forward Mitchell Smith for what was originally Pickett’s spot. The redshirt junior from Arkansas paired nicely with Jeremiah Tilmon in the paint for Mizzou.
Bottom line, the Tigers weren’t buried early. And slow starts were becoming a season trend; Martin presciently said his team had diagnosed their root causes ahead of the game.
Mizzou competed really well in this game’s opening eight minutes, including building a nine-point lead in the first half. Instead of working to overcome a double-digit lead by the opposing team, the Tigers battled and snapped their frustrating skid.
Pinson down the stretch: When the Tigers needed points, they turned to Xavier Pinson to create off the dribble — and he delivered. The sophomore guard from Chicago made back-to-back shots to help MU pull away late and give the Tigers a comfortable lead they would not relinquish.
The performance was similar to an overtime loss at Xavier earlier this year, when Martin relied on Pinson for buckets. Pinson was huge in regulation of that game to force overtime before the Musketeers won it.
Pinson, ever the showman, repeatedly broke down defenders off the dribble in isolation Saturday, leading to crucial points for Mizzou. The Tigers will need more of that as the meat of their schedule approaches.
Balanced scoring effort: The Tigers’ offense wasn’t sparkling, but it was a solid and encouraging team effort.
Martin rolled with nine players in his rotation Saturday, and all of them scored. Pickett and Smith were the only Tigers in double figures, but good things usually happen when you’re getting at least some production throughout the rotation.
The Tigers shot passable 38.9 percent (21 for 54) and played the kind of defense that enable them to keep this one close when their shots weren’t falling.
This story was originally published December 7, 2019 at 9:49 PM.