Mizzou Tigers win opener despite ‘stagnant’ second half against Central Michigan
The Missouri men’s basketball team looked shaky throughout its season opener against Central Michigan, but the Tigers escaped with a 78-68 victory on Tuesday at Mizzou Arena.
Mizzou was up 45-29 at halftime but only shot 33.3% from the field in the second half. Still, the Tigers steered clear of the upset thanks to the effort of veterans Javon Pickett and Kobe Brown.
Pickett, the sole senior on the roster, led the Tigers with 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting, along with five rebounds and three assists. He had a crucial steal late. Brown scored nine of his 10 points in the final frame. He also had nine rebounds and two assists. UMass transfer Ronnie DeGray III had a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds.
“I thought our guys put on a good performance,” Mizzou coach Cuonzo Martin said. “Got a little stagnant there in the second half, but I thought we found a way to win the game, especially being shorthanded.”
There were a lot of unknowns heading into this matchup because of the Tigers’ roster turnover, with Brown and Pickett the only two players returning who saw minutes in the rotation last season. Martin elected to go with a lineup of Amari Davis, Pickett, Jarron “Boogie” Coleman, Brown and Jordan Wilmore to start the game. Freshman Yaya Keita was the first sub into the game, coming in early for Wilmore.
The Tigers only had nine players to work with in this one, as Kansas State transfer DaJuan Gordon and freshmen Kaleb Brown and Trevin Brazile were ruled out, Gordon for one game because of NCAA rules and the others because of illness. Martin had already played every available player less than 12 minutes into the contest.
“Not having a guy that’s a defensive stopper, and probably one of your better guys driving the ball and making plays, and arguably your best offensive rebounder at the guard position, so you have to make the adjustments,” Martin said of playing without Gordon. “But again, no excuses, I thought our guys stepped up.”
It took Mizzou some time to find a groove as the team allowed the Chippewas to go on an 8-0 run at one point and missed all six of its first shot attempts from beyond the arc.
But then the Tigers came alive, making all three of their next tries from deep. DeGray hit one in the corner, Coleman hit another and Amari Davis followed to put them up 22-19 at the 9:14 mark. They didn’t trail for the rest of the way in the half and entered the break with a 16-point lead.
“We kind of started slow on defense,” Davis said. “But as the game went on we started getting stops and started picking our energy up on defense and that created our offense.”
Mizzou’s advantage didn’t hold for long though. Central Michigan went on a 21-6 run to open the second frame to trim the lead to 54-50 with 12:11 left. From there, it was way too close for comfort.
Martin and company pulled out the win, but there were a lot of concerns. It’s clear that this team is going to take some time to mesh.
The Tigers don’t play their second game of the season until Monday, Nov. 19, when they take on the Kansas City Roos at 7 p.m. in Mizzou Arena.
This story was originally published November 9, 2021 at 9:14 PM.
