Where it went wrong for Mizzou basketball in puzzling loss at Mississippi State
Missouri men’s basketball coach Cuonzo Martin admitted he looked to his coaching staff after the game Tuesday, wondering:
What happened?
The Tigers led by as many as 14 points against Mississippi State in the second half. By the final buzzer, No. 13 Mizzou was dealt a 78-63 loss on Tuesday at Humphrey Coliseum in Starkville.
MU’s hot start further befuddled how the final score was so lopsided in favor of the Bulldogs. The Tigers (7-2, 1-2 SEC) were nearly perfect in the first half, sprinting out to a lead, defending well and spreading the ball. Even one of their main season-long issues — turnovers — was missing as they recorded just one giveaway in the first 20 minutes.
“In the second half — I couldn’t tell you,” Martin said. “I need to watch film to see what exactly happened. When we were up 14 with around at the 17-minute mark in the game, it kind of changed from there.”
Then the Bulldogs (7-4, 2-1) outscored the Tigers 51-24 in the second half. There were times when MU tried to answer, but Mississippi State had already grabbed all the momentum after going on a 15-0 run.
The final stats showed one glaring disparity: rebounding margin. Despite being one of Martin’s key points to the game, Missouri was outrebounded 37-22 Tuesday. The Bulldogs had 10 offensive rebounds, leading to a 17-4 edge in second-chance points.
“That’s the biggest thing with their team, they crash the offensive glass,” Martin said. “They have big bodies, you know they’re crashing the glass. You just gotta take pride in blocking guys out. I thought we did a great job, cracking down, being physical, driving guys back. You have to maintain that.”
Mizzou forward Jeremiah Tilmon said he thought the Tigers played decent defense, but Mississippi State kept making tough mid-range shots and getting to the lane. Once the Bulldogs got the lead, he said, it allowed them to play with more confidence against the ranked Tigers. Mississippi State guard DJ Stewart led the way with 24 points, including 13 straight points for the Bulldogs when they were hunting for the upset.
Aside from taking the lead, Mississippi State’s pressure affected the Tigers. There were spurts where Martin thought his players rushed their shot selection as the Bulldogs took the lead. Mizzou shot just 39.3% in the second half and didn’t attempt a single free throw. That’s despite the Tigers came into Tuesday’s game as one of the best teams at getting to the free throw line.
Martin said he doesn’t think he’s ever seen a team called for only three fouls in a half like the Bulldogs on Tuesday. It’s not as if Mississippi State played zone compared to man-to-man either. Though the foul disparity was there, Martin said “that’s not the reason why we lost.”
“We don’t really have time to be learning from games,” Tilmon said. “We gotta learn from this one, watch film and move onto the next one. We don’t really have too much time to dwell on the loss. We just gotta keep moving and learn from our mistakes.”
There were some positives, though mostly from the first half. The Tigers looked like they were going to run away with the game behind a smooth performance from MU guard Xavier Pinson. He wasn’t looking for his shot often, but shared the ball more — including a slick pass to a trailing Tilmon — as he had a career-high eight assists, coupled with 13 points.
Tilmon had another strong game, finishing with 16 points and six rebounds on 8 of 10 shooting. But he was bogged down by foul trouble, regulating him to the bench, which is when Mississippi State went on its many runs.
But Mizzou didn’t maintain its composure, Martin said, as it couldn’t climb above the .500 mark in SEC play. The last time the Tigers had a winning conference record was in Martin’s first season, when they went 10-8 in the SEC on their way to the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers come back home for their next game to host LSU at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Mizzou Arena.
“If you see what’s going on in that particular time, you address that situation,” Martin said. “This is what we need to do to get stops, this is what we need to do to maintain. We gotta focus on these things. What happens if you gotta settle in and slowly get stops. You can’t get five stops in one possession.”