Missouri Tigers’ resounding victory over Kentucky impresses John Calipari
Hall of Fame and NCAA Championship winning coach John Calipari knows what a good team looks like, and he saw one Wednesday in the Missouri Tigers.
“Missouri would have beat a whole lot of teams they way they played tonight,” Calipari said.
The Tigers should be satisfied with the one they did defeat by an 89-75 score. The Wildcats entered the game ranked No. 19 while the Tigers were unranked. The teams could switch places by next week with Missouri winning its second straight against a top 25 team.
On Wednesday, Mizzou fell behind 3-2 and that was the only time it trailed. The Tigers won the battle on defense, in transition and from three-point range.
“They’re good,” Calipari said. “When they shoot the way they shot it...”
Mizzou knocked down 40 percent of its three-pointers (10 for 25), while six players made at least one. According to Missouri’s basketball twitter account, the 89 points scored by the Tigers was the most against a Calipari SEC team.
Kobe Brown was challenged by Oscar Tshiebwe on the first possession and missed two shots. The Tigers made their next five, including Brown’s three-pointer to set the game’s tone. Noah Carter’s three-pointer coming out of the first media timeout gave Missouri it’s first double digit lead at 15-5, and the Tigers remained the aggressor all evening.
When Kentucky turned up some defensive pressure and created turnovers on four straight possessions — and the Tigers went scoreless eight trips down the floor — point guard Sean East answered with seven consecutive points.
Order restored, back to the frenzy that Missouri creates on both ends of the floor.
“They shoot the ball really good,” reigning national player of the year Oscar Tshiebwe said. “We got killed on defense.”
Tshiebwe was his usual dominant self in the paint with 19 rebounds to go along with 23 points. But Missouri’s big man, if that’s what you want to call the 6-8 Brown, turned in his second straight remarkable game.
Brown poured in 30, making 4 of 8 threes and adding six rebounds.
“He was difficult for us last year,” Calipari said of Brown. “What he’s added is, now you have to space out for him because he can make threes.”
Brown had six points and missed all three shots from beyond the arc in Missouri’s 27-point loss in Lexington last year. Now he’s a favorite for his second straight SEC Player of the Week honor after winning it for his 31-point performance against Illinois.
The second-half critical juncture came with 12 minutes remaining. Kentucky had cut a 12-point halftime deficit to 9. Then the Missouri lead was at 11 when the Tigers abruptly switched to a zone defense.
“We got turnover, (Missouri) three-pointer, turnover, three-pointer,” Calipari said.
The margin went to 18 in two minutes and ballooned to 21 with four minutes remaining. The mixed defense has been a weapon for the Tigers this season and it worked again.
“We were able to (get) Kentucky off-balance once we changed from man-to-man press to that zone,” Missouri Coach Dennis Gates said.
Kentucky had called a timeout between the three-pointers made by D’Moi Hodge and Brown, and Mizzou players convinced Gates to remain in the zone.
“They make suggestions, I just listen,” Gates said. “They boss me around, I accept it.”
Whatever is happening at Missouri, it’s working. The team’s 12-1 record is the program’s best since starting 14-0 in 2011-12, when the Tigers were a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
They played several mid- and low-majors in the season’s first several weeks, but the Tigers now have handled ranked opponents as well, with another on the horizon. The Tigers’ next game is at Arkansas on Jan. 4.
“They’re being aggressive and doing good stuff,” Calipari said. “I thought this was the game we wanted to play. They did a good job in the end, grinding it out like my teams do. They were good today.”
This story was originally published December 28, 2022 at 10:17 PM.