Mizzou didn’t blink vs. Kentucky. That’s major growth from last year ... and two weeks ago
.JPG "Missouri’s Tre Gomillion screams after a basket during the second half against Kentucky on Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2022, in Columbia, Mo. Missouri won 89-75.")
Oscar Tshiebwe and Aidan Shaw stood just about nose to nose, a basketball lodged between them. And by God, neither would loosen their grip. The whistle had long ago echoed, by the way, but here was a Missouri freshman off the bench locked into a battle of who would blink first with the reigning national player of the year.
It wasn’t the freshman.
Wasn’t Missouri, either.
That would be notable on most days, but it’s particularly notable for this team, on this day, because of a recent history. Which we’ll get to.
The headline first: The held-ball sequence that spilled into the Missouri bench didn’t alone prompt or set the proverbial tone for an 89-75 win against No. 19 Kentucky on Wednesday at Mizzou Arena.
Instead, it publicized in front of a sold-out Mizzou Arena the antithesis of what the Tigers displayed the last time they were inside their home venue.
They weren’t afraid of Kentucky, and that’s not meant purely in the literal sense, but rather that they were unbothered by a moment that so recently swallowed them whole. It was only 18 days ago we sat here, observing a Mizzou team not only overmatched by Kansas but overwhelmed by the opportunity that playing Kansas provided — to prove its unbeaten start against a soft schedule was no fluke. To prove a one-season about-face had some merit.
The Tigers replied that day with more questions than answers, but their statement has come more emphatically in the ensuing response. The moment got the best of them 18 days ago.
It brought out the best in them on Wednesday.
A significant change.
And a trend.
“Guys were able to get lost in the fight,” Mizzou coach Dennis Gates said. “They didn’t care what the scoreboard said. They didn’t care (about) the moment. Kentucky had some great runs; they did a great job. But I don’t think our guys blinked one bit.”
It’s important to note the game didn’t absorb the appearance of an upset. It didn’t have the feel of a team winning its 1-out-of-10 turn.
Missouri bossed the game from the opening tip, securing a 15-5 lead inside an energized arena that hosted something more resembling the volume of dinner parties a year ago. Senior forward Kobe Brown played like the best player on a court that included Tshiebwe, whose credentials have already been introduced.
And suddenly, at game’s end, we were running out of reasons to doubt what we’re seeing. After all, when Missouri started 9-0, we still had legitimate inquiries.
Yeah, but can they do it against better competition?
After the first answer was a no — and a resounding no — we moved on. But then a neutral site win against UCF and another neutral site win against nationally-ranked Illinois, and we had another inquiry.
Yeah, but can they do it against teams with size and length?
Well, we’re running out of the yeah-buts here.
It’s as though we keep looking for signs this turnaround has some legs, that it can survive the lows and still produce the highs afterward. If that search is still coming up empty, you’re looking in the wrong places.
Kentucky star freshman Cason Wallace all but shrugged his shoulders after the loss, simply chalking it up that, hey, maybe Missouri is just a good team.
Or as his coach, Hall of Famer John Calipari, said: “Missouri would’ve beat a whole lot of teams the way they played tonight.”
Missouri has soundly beaten back-to-back top-20 teams. It will be rightfully-ranked the next time it takes the court, at No. 9 Arkansas next week. The Tigers will be — and should be — an underdog in Fayetteville. They were an underdog against Kentucky, too.
The initial year of a coaching change is often judged by simple improvement. But what has separated Missouri — and this is before the turn of the New Year — is that improvement has so evidently come within the season.
The Tigers’ defense is night-and-day better than it was even a month ago. Their coach is more opportunistic with the way he implements his defenses, too, for what it’s worth.
The Tigers might have a way to beat someone besides just shooting lights out — though it certainly helps when they do shoot lights out, like a 49.1% shooting night. When Kentucky showed just a smidgen of a run in the second half, Missouri turned not to its offense but to a zone defense as the primary silencer.
Never blinked, as Gates put it.
Missouri has already matched last season’s win total of 12, with an entire SEC Conference schedule still on the docket, absent the opening win Wednesday.
Confidence is a hell of a thing at any level, but particularly in the aftermath of an offseason defined by its abrupt change.
The changes are still coming.
In results.
This story was originally published December 28, 2022 at 10:44 PM.