‘It’s just the Mamba Mentality’: The keys to Mizzou basketball’s comeback win vs. TCU
Missouri men’s basketball forward Kobe Brown snagged the offensive rebound as a wide open Xavier Pinson yelled, “Kobe, Kobe!” from the right wing.
There were just seconds left and the Tigers down by three points to TCU. What had been a 12-point deficit just minutes earlier was nearly gone, but Mizzou still needed one last shot to send the game to overtime.
Pinson answered the call. Wearing the Kobe 5 Protro “Big Stage” sneakers for the first time this season — in honor of the late Kobe Bryant — he sank the game-tying three.
“As you can see, I had the Kobe zone,” Pinson said after the game. “It’s just the Mamba Mentality I feel like.”
The No. 12-ranked Tigers needed all the points they could get against a TCU squad more than willing to trade baskets. After MU struggled stopping the ball screen against Auburn, it was another defensive deficiency that allowed the Frogs confidence and open shots.
Mizzou found itself down 12 points with about four minutes left, looking at what would’ve been its first losing streak of the season. Then Pinson caught fire; the rest of the team made enough plays in support. The Tigers stormed back for a 102-98 overtime win on Saturday at Mizzou Arena, completing the impressive comeback.
“I never understood why teams would give up in situations like that,” MU coach Cuonzo Martin said. “What’s the worst thing that could happen? You lose the game. So why not try to win the basketball game and work extremely hard and do the things that we practice. Let’s give ourselves a chance. That’s really shifting your mindset.”
Pinson scored a career-high 36 points, hitting eight three-pointers. It was Pinson’s seventh three that forced overtime, and he hit his eighth in overtime to propel the Tigers to the victory. Pinson was so on, he converted on a rare four-point play to cut TCU’s lead at the time in half.
But on a 102-point day, Pinson needed a lot more help in the scoring department. It was Tilmon, Mizzou’s trusty center, also notching a career-best performance. He scored 33 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as part of a dominant effort.
Tilmon was commanding early, hitting his first eight shots as TCU had no answers. In a rare move, the Frogs elected not to double-team the big man, allowing Tilmon to feast in the paint. Tilmon said he was surprised he didn’t face doubles, though he said he enjoyed the extra freedom — and points.
Once TCU center Kevin Samuel fouled out with about three minutes remaining, it was another key to Mizzou’s comeback. Pinson said Samuel was the lone big who could contain Tilmon, so it was “SOS” for the Frogs from there.
“We showed a lot of grit today,” Tilmon said. “That’s something Coach Martin always emphasized. We talked about that before the game and situations like this.”
But perhaps it was Brown who had the best day of all. Martin agreed. He said while Tilmon and Pinson will draw most headlines, the game’s MVP was Brown, who finished with a career-high 13 rebounds, five of the offensive variety.
Martin said it was all the “little things” that made Brown so effective: the defending, rebounding, screening, keeping balls alive, getting deflections. It’s not often players are rewarded for those efforts, Martin said, but Brown’s contributions were noted, including all seven of his points.
“I just had to do my part,” Brown said. “Relieve some of the stress off Tilmon. Just do what I could to help the team.”
TCU was hitting open shots, especially freshman guard Mike Miles, who finished with 28 points. Miles, like his teammates, was getting to the basket at ease. While the Frogs converted their looks, part of that was because of Mizzou’s defense allowed those chances.
Martin pointed out where exactly the Tigers struggled: one-on-one defense. While Mizzou mainly kept TCU’s leading scorer RJ Nembhard in check, he still finished with 15 points and was one of five TCU players in double figures.
The Frogs shot 54.9% from the field, and while they went cold late, they were effective. Mizzou has allowed 80 points in back-to-back games, despite not having allowed more than that mark previously this season.
“The game was really sloppy I feel like as far as trading baskets and defensively,” Pinson said. “Just going into the next game, we all have an understanding of what we did wrong from the game before and what we have to work on.”
It was an imperfect effort, one that required a near-perfect finish from the Tigers to pull out the last-second win. Even in overtime, Mizzou looked like it was going to create some distance, only for TCU to take the lead.
Mizzou avoided dropping consecutive games for the first time this season. The Tigers now return to conference play, set to play host to Kentucky at 8 p.m. Tuesday in Mizzou Arena. That game is still up in the air as the Wildcats had to go on a COVID-19 pause.
“We got a lot of grit and a lot of toughness that we can instill into our guys,” Pinson said. “No matter when it is. Today, whether the energy was sky high or super low, however you saw it, you know it changed towards the end. Just the ability to adjust.”