Mizzou’s Isiaih Mosley is finally ‘getting comfortable.’ That’s bad news for the SEC

Missouri coach Dennis Gates told reporters this week Isiaih Mosley said, “I’m ready.”

It was an indication he’d play beyond the previous-season-high 23 minutes he saw in a game against Houston Christian. That was the case as he played 33 minutes Saturday in the Tigers’ 85-64 loss against No. 4 Alabama.

What he did with those minutes was prove he has the potential to be Missouri’s best player on any given night, even on a team with forward Kobe Brown.

“They celebrate him,” Gates said. “He celebrates them.”

Missouri was missing its best player Saturday. Kobe Brown was sidelined as he nursed the ankle he rolled late in the win over Arkansas.

Gates had to fill Brown’s shoes, which were just added to the Oscar Robertson Trophy watch list this past week. Aidan Shaw started in Brown’s place, but the best player on the floor Saturday was Mosley.

Still, there was one detriment to his season-high minutes total.

“I think I played him too many minutes tonight,” Gates said. “There’s a level of conditioning it takes to log minutes like that.”

Even an unconditioned Mosley proved he’s still one of the better players in the SEC. He made plays out of nothing.

What looked like a turnover became a bucket. The offense flowed with Mosley in it, and it looked like it missed his ability to create. Mosley led all Tigers with 19 points on 9-for-18 shooting from the floor.

The Tigers created good looks; the shots just didn’t fall. MU was 1-for-20 from three-point range until the 10:19 mark in the second half when Mosley hit his first three.

That three inspired a 7-0 run for MU. A 20-point deficit became just 13 and the crowd was back in the game. Alabama quickly pushed that lead back to 17, evidence that would support something Gates said postgame: There isn’t a team in America playing better college basketball than the Crimson Tide.

“It was just one of those days,” guard Nick Honor added, answering a question about MU’s layup woes.

But Mosley performed at the level many expected when the season began. He emerged as a high-level creator on offense and player who can just find a way with the ball in his hands.

After missing a handful of nonconference games due to personal reasons, Mosley seems ready to take a more fixed spot in the Tigers’ lineup. With Brown most likely returning, too, Mosley becomes another scoring option for a Missouri team that’s one of the best in the nation in several offensive categories.

“He knows how to get a bucket whenever he wants to,” Honor said.

Mosley didn’t have many three-pointers drop, but neither did the rest of the Tigers. Sometimes shots just don’t fall, and they didn’t for Missouri Saturday. Even in a team-wide funk, Mosley willed 19 points out of his offensive game.

Alabama coach Nate Oats said his team anticipated Mosley’s aggressive play once it knew Brown was out for the game, and thus the Crimson Tide began preparing for Mosley’s aggressiveness.

Oats praised Mosley’s play and said MU’s offensive system is perfect for the transfer guard.

“It’s pretty impressive shooting, to be honest,” Oats said. “He’s going to take tough shots, but he can make tough shots.”

Gates didn’t outwardly say he was frustrated with the officials, but he did wonder aloud how Mosley, who draws fouls at a high rate, didn’t have any free throw attempts Saturday.

But even that couldn’t take away from how Mosley created offense in various ways.

“He’s one of the best players in the country at drawing fouls, and he had zero foul shots,” Gates said. “For a guy like that, to be able to play off the bounce, play off the dribble, it’s a weapon. I think how his team has responded to him is a tremendous quality to have.”

Gates mentioned Friday how it was important for the team to put Mosley’s personal privacy ahead of any basketball aspects. The team has had his back through the first half of the season.

Now that he’s ready, Mosley is going to be a fixture in Missouri’s lineup. The next step is to get Mosley up to speed; once he’s at that level, Mosley can give Missouri something not many other teams in America have.

“You can see him getting comfortable each and every day,” Honor said. “This team, we’re a family. So when Kobe is out and we all have to step up, we do that.”

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

This story was originally published January 22, 2023 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Mizzou’s Isiaih Mosley is finally ‘getting comfortable.’ That’s bad news for the SEC."