The anatomy of Mizzou’s game-winning play: How Jeremiah Tilmon kept Tigers undefeated
The Missouri Tigers’ last shot at redemption was almost wiped away. Bradley had just missed the front end of a one-and-one, leaving Mizzou exactly 10 seconds to march down the court and earn the equalizing basket.
But when MU guard Mark Smith passed to Xavier Pinson, it looked like an over-and-back call to the naked eye as Smith hovered near the halfcourt line. But the refs saw different — which replay showed was the right call — so play continued.
Pinson penetrated the wayward Bradley defense, making a savvy pass to Mizzou forward Jeremiah Tilmon. The senior forward was virtually behind the basket when he put up the shot attempt, but he finished the layup through contact.
The score was tied. And the Tigers were one free throw away from taking the lead with a second left.
“I was just telling myself to calm down,” Tilmon said ahead of the free throw. “I was still a little hype from making a basket. I know I had been missing, making one of two since the beginning of the game. I was just thinking, ‘Routine, routine.’”
It was no guarantee Tilmon was making that free throw: he came into the game shooting 36.8% from the charity stripe.
No matter. Tilmon calmly hit the free throw. After some last-second attempts by Bradley, the No. 14-ranked Tigers escaped the Braves’ upset bid with a 54-53 win on Tuesday at Mizzou Arena.
“That was a first,” Tilmon said of hitting a game-winner. “Teammates were jumping on me and stuff like that. I’m not the type to be extremely happy about stuff like that. I just be feeling like a lot of pressure is on me and stuff like that. I just try to make it a normal game.”
Mizzou found itself needing a comeback attempt at all after its sloppiest offensive night of the season. MU coach Cuonzo Martin credited Bradley, whose game plan was well-tuned to stopping the MU attack. The Tigers shot 25.4% (16 of 63) from the field, including hitting just 3 of 21 three-pointers. There was some rust from the long layoff, the Tigers agreed, but they credited the Braves for making them work.
The Braves looked like they were cruising to an upset victory, scoring six straight to take an eight-point lead with less than four minutes remaining. Tilmon admitted there were definitely some nerves during the ensuing huddle.
Mizzou finished the game on a 12-3 run. There were some fortunate moments, like Bradley missing free throws, but the Tigers gutted out a victory when a loss seemed inevitable.
“We’ve been here before,” Pinson said. “A lot of times. Whether it was last year or my freshman year. We’ve been in those situations before and now that we have the experienced team that we have and that we work on it so hard in practice, I feel like we just put it all together.”
The Tigers’ second half surge started and ended with Tilmon. He admitted Martin got on him at halftime, making it “obvious that I wasn’t playing as hard as I was supposed to be playing.” Tilmon didn’t share specifics of what Martin told him, but he hit the halftime break with just one point and three rebounds.
It was the Tilmon show in the second half, like he flipped a switch physically. Martin said his center was engaged, taking his time in the post while using his strength. Tilmon finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds, the seventh double-double of his career.
Pinson was MU’s leading scorer at 15 points in an otherwise forgettable night offensively for the Tigers. Pinson was the lone Tiger to make a three, finishing 3 for 7, as MU was inefficient from nearly everywhere on the court.
But they found a way to win to remain undefeated. The Tigers are still perfect with a chance to make a statement when they come back from the holidays. They host No. 8 Tennessee at 8 p.m. Dec. 30 to open SEC play.
“I just said, ‘Guys, we don’t get these games back. We don’t get these days back, these seconds back,’” Martin said. “So we gotta scratch and claw, fight a little harder. They were going to grind it out. We just had to settle in and play sound defense without fouling. We did enough to win the basketball game.
“These types of wins you learn from down the road.”