How Mizzou basketball unlocked Jeremiah Tilmon and what that means going forward
It’s one of those plays the Missouri Tigers have ran all season. It started Saturday with MU guard Xavier Pinson getting the pass above the three-point line. Forward Jeremiah Tilmon set up the screen, which Pinson used to dribble right.
Once Pinson made his way inside the arc, both Arkansas defenders committed to stopping him. Pinson then took one hard dribble and lobbed it up to Tilmon, who was running unaccounted for toward the basket.
Tilmon slammed home the dunk on the first play of the game — an early statement to Arkansas it was going to be a long day.
It was the Tilmon show all day as the No. 12-ranked Tigers cruised to an 81-68 win Saturday at Bud Walton Arena. in Fayetteville, Ark. Tilmon scored a career-high 25 points, adding 11 rebounds for his eighth career double-double. Pinson had 23 points of his own.
“When ‘X’ made that first lob, I think it opened it up,” MU coach Cuonzo Martin said. “Tilly feeds off those types of plays. Like I said to him, I don’t really care how many points. But he was effective, he was poaching, he was aggressive, he was assertive.”
The Tilmon lob has been there all season on the pick-and-roll, but Pinson said he simply hasn’t been making the pass. That changed Saturday right from the onset.
The dunk didn’t just make the highlight reel, but served multiple purposes in the game plan, Pinson said. Defenses need to account for the rolling Tilmon more, which opens up other facets of the game. If a help defender creeps into the paint, that’s an open corner three. If they over-commit to Tilmon, that means less attention on Pinson.
“If I get the lob to Tilly a lot and consistently every game, I feel like that would open up a lot for everybody,” Pinson said. “It would open the skip pass, open up the behind pass, open up the corner three. We just gotta make the shots of course.”
Tilmon said his offense isn’t what he focuses on every game, instead affecting the game in other areas like rebounds. But he said the extra offensive touches does help keep him engaged — especially when he makes free throws. Tilmon finished 7 for 10 from the line on Saturday, which he said is crucial to keep him locked in.
The next step for Tilmon, Martin said, is to “embrace the double teams.” The 6-foot-10 forward has been hit with an extra defender often whenever he gets the ball in the post. Instead of always passing out of those double teams, Martin said he wants to see Tilmon with more of a scorer’s edge, using his strength to get buckets and draw fouls.
“I just feel like the game was coming to me today,” Tilmon said. “It wasn’t nothing specific that I was trying to do besides go after the rebounds. As far as offense, I feel like the game was just coming to me.”
While Tilmon and Pinson provided the scoring punch, the Tigers as a whole defensively shut down the Hogs. Arkansas sprinted to an undefeated record because of its offense, one that was averaging 90.8 points per game, eighth-best in the nation.
But the Tigers extinguished the Hogs’ pace, slowed them down. Arkansas put up a season-low point total as coach Eric Musselman was tossed with about four minutes remaining amid the frustration.
Martin said that defensive effort was partly because of how they played offensively, not letting them get sucked into Arkansas’ game. Mizzou has shown a willingness to run this season, but by playing at its own pace it forced the Hogs to adjust, Martin said.
Arkansas missed some shots, yes, but the Tigers were punishing inside the paint. The Hogs finished 8 for 30 on layups with only 22 points in the paint (compared to Mizzou’s 34).
“When you got a new team like this that’s talented,” Martin said, “you have to make them do different things defensively because they hadn’t been together long enough to say, ‘OK, here’s the adjustment.’ That’s a small thing but it’s a big thing.”
Mizzou was staunch defensively and needed every bit of that effort after a sluggish performance overall. They turned it over 21 times Saturday, prompting Martin to joke “I’m gonna name one of my grandkids, ‘turnovers.’”
The Tigers also shot poorly from three-point range again at 26.3%. It was an off-night for the Tigers’ starting guards Mark Smith and Dru Smith, though Martin said they affected the game in other ways. He was, however, quick to say “it can’t happen” in terms of Dru Smith’s foul trouble, which has been a season-long issue.
Missouri overcame some demons despite the imperfect effort, especially after it was run off the court by Tennessee. The Tigers (7-1, 1-1 SEC) earned their first conference victory Saturday. Next up is a road game at Mississippi State at 8 p.m. Tuesday.
“That’s us, that’s more like us,” Martin said. “I even gotta say, maybe the turnovers are like us too. We make it hard on ourselves. You play to a level of grit, toughness and I thought they had some conviction on the defensive side of the ball. Take pride.”