Mizzou basketball bounces back in win over South Carolina: Recap and takeaways

Missouri men’s basketball couldn’t do much right in its previous outing against Mississippi State. The Tigers did something MU head coach Dennis Gates said all season couldn’t happen: They had a negative assist-to-turnover ratio.

The Tigers aren’t a great rebounding team, so that ratio has been key for a squad that has to pick up possessions in other ways. Against South Carolina on Tuesday, the Tigers needed to fix that stat, especially with a road matchup at Tennessee looming.

Gates’ bunch did just that. The Tigers finished the game with 17 assists against 10 turnovers, which led to an 83-74 victory in Mizzou Arena. The win moved the Tigers to 18-6 on the season and 6-5 in SEC play.

“We want to stay as solid as possible, but also disciplined in what we do,” Gates said after the game. “And then that, by nature, allows us to get some of those turnovers because guys are in the right spot.”

The win wasn’t pretty. The Tigers had major trouble on defense against a South Carolina team that now sits at 1-10 in SEC games, 8-16 overall.

Throughout the game it seemed as if Missouri had chances to turn it into the blowout victory that many expected. But due to a combination of untimely cold offense and the Tigers having trouble stopping the Gamecocks, that didn’t happen until late, when South Carolina unraveled and the Tigers were finally able to take advantage.

“We focused on the small things, South Carolina (was) able to make shots,” Gates said. “I thought our ability to do the right things (followed by) South Carolina’s ability to make shots dove into a little frustration in our personalities that wasn’t normally there, but that’s what February is about.”

Kobe Brown led the Tigers with 19 points. He also had eight rebounds and six assists to lead Missouri in those categories as well.

According to Gates, he wasn’t happy with how Brown started the game and thought he passed up some shots he should have taken. The coach challenged his top forward, and Brown improved.

“He and I shared words, some that my mom wouldn’t be proud of hearing,” Gates said. “But he responded. He responded in a way that I thought a top-50 player in the country should respond.”

Here are other takeaways from the action...

Better shooting

After an ice-cold night at Mississippi State, Missouri wanted to prove it could shoot the ball again. The Tigers decided to take the fight to South Carolina right from the opening tip, when Noah Carter got the ball to Nick Honor, who threw the lob back to Carter for a dunk.

Carter had the first six points of the night for the Tigers, including the first three-pointer. Missouri ended up getting six more of those before the half was through, more than the Tigers did the entire game against Mississippi State.

D’Moi Hodge was especially hot from deep in the first half. He led the Tigers with 12 points at halftime, all of them coming on three-pointers.

Mo Diarra and Aidan Shaw also chipped in with a three each. Missouri hit 41% of its attempts from deep range during the first half, and the Tigers shot 48.4% overall in that time.

It would have been an even better half for the Tigers had they been able to get stops early. The Gamecocks, though, had little trouble getting to the basket and took the lead multiple times.

South Carolina star GG Jackson did not start the game but made his presence known once he got in, immediately drilling a three-pointer that tied the score. Toward the end of the half, Missouri was able to get stops, forcing four Gamecock turnovers in the final 2:53 and taking a 42-37 lead to the locker room.

The Tigers finished 12-of-25 from three, and 50.9% from the field.

Lineup notes

After an incident where he made his displeasure with his current situation known via an Instagram live video, South Carolina’s GG Jackson did not start Tuesday’s game. He did play, however, and was a major force in the game, finishing with 23 points.

Missouri was once again without Tre Gomillion, who has missed time with a groin injury. Ronnie DeGray III was out again with a knee injury.

Gates said this week that he was going to exercise caution with both Gomillion and DeGray and did not want to rush them back and risk further injury.

Missouri’s Isiaih Mosley also did not play. He was available and was sitting on the bench but never entered the game.

Mosley missed significant time earlier in the season for personal reasons that were never made public.

“Isiaih and I had a conversation before the game,” Gates explained to reporters of the Tuesday absence. “And we both felt that it was great to just, you know, take this one off.”

The Tigers will be back in action on Saturday, on the road against Tennessee. That game is scheduled for a 5 p.m. start and will be aired on the SEC Network.

The Star has partnered with the Columbia Daily Tribune for coverage of Missouri Tigers athletics.

This story was originally published February 7, 2023 at 11:14 PM with the headline "Mizzou basketball bounces back in win over South Carolina: Recap and takeaways."