How Mizzou basketball has counteracted long layoff amid schedule adjustments
The Missouri Tigers men’s basketball team is off to its best starts in years, backed up by the No. 14 ranking and perfect 5-0 record. An experienced squad has flexed its depth and wisdom, beating two ranked opponents and boasting a true road victory.
But the Tigers are still a work in progress, MU coach Cuonzo Martin said. That hasn’t been helped by the long layoff between games.
When Mizzou takes on Bradley at 6 p.m. Tuesday, the Tigers will have gone 10 days between games. Then they will endure another eight days off before hosting No. 8 Tennessee in the SEC opener Dec. 30.
That’s a lot more time to work in practice, but Martin said the missing game reps are still valuable.
MU guard Javon Pickett said the team has counteracted that by “staying locked in,” still putting the work behind the scenes while caring for their bodies. Martin said that’s been one of the adjustments this season, having practices be more efficient. Instead of two grinding hours, the on-court time has shrunk to 1 hour, 15 minutes, where it’s about preserving legs while working on specific areas.
“You want to stay sharp,” Martin said. “Not to make any excuses, but not having June and July, there are things we see in practice that we need to correct. I don’t care about what experience you have back. It seems like you need to go over the same stuff all the time.”
Martin, 49, said he’s never seen such chaos in college basketball scheduling his entire life. The Tigers had their game against Prairie View A&M canceled the day before because of COVID-19 considerations. That left MU game-less for an entire week.
But that’s part of the deal playing a season during a pandemic. MU guard Drew Buggs — dubbed “Coach Buggs” by teammates — said the team expected this level of disruption. There will be sacrifices, yes, like spending time away from family and grinding away in practice, but he said the Tigers signed up for that.
“This is something we all wanted,” Buggs said. “We all wanted to have a special season this year. We all knew we were capable of it. We all talked about before the season the sacrifices that are going to have to be made in order to be successful this year.”
The adjusted start to the SEC season also leaves Mizzou with little wiggle room to schedule another game. MU has slots to play more nonconference games, but actual dates are hard to find. Martin said it’s difficult to fit in another game at this point between Bradley and Tennessee.
Martin said there’s a mandatory three days off during the break at the end of the winter semester. While a waiver is possible, fitting in a game makes it tough because of prep time.
“I hate to have our guys play a game with no prep time,” Martin said. “It’s not fair to them and it’s not fair to the opponent. I would say more on the backside as opposed to right now just because of how our schedule is and when we start conference play.”
Martin said they’re also sifting through the logistics to allow players to see their families over the holidays. The extra added time allows them that opportunity, but Martin said they’re still working to keep players safe once they return from traveling back home.
“No better time than the holiday season,” Martin said. “We owe that to them. So we gotta figure out the best way to make that happen.”
All the Tigers can do in the background is stay mentally sharp, Pickett said. They’ve been getting up shots and resetting mentally, though they have yet to hit the grind that is the conference season.
MU welcomes a Bradley team that makes up just another piece of a tough nonconference schedule. The Braves won their conference tournament championship the past two seasons, earning NCAA Tournament bids. They’re a stout team, Martin said, which is why the Tigers wanted to schedule them.
“We just take it one day at a time because my biggest concern is my guys being healthy,” Martin said. “But if you start something, you finish it. Like I talked to our guys, you’re in it, you’re in it. If you’re not, I respect it.”