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Dreadful shooting ruins Porter's return

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ST. LOUIS--In a sense, Missouri's 62-60 loss to the Georgia Bulldogs in the second round of the SEC Tournament was about Michael Porter Jr. Because once it was announce he would play, this game was always going to be about Michael Porter Jr.

But really, it was Porter Jr., when asked a question about his younger brother, Jontay, who best summed up what it was really about.

"He had a pretty good game offensively, so I'm proud of him," Porter Jr. said. "I mean, he's the only one who had a really good offensive game. We played, to me, about as bad as we played offensively, besides him, as we have all year."

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In his first game, Michael Porter Jr. attempted 17 shots, seven more than anyone else on the team.
In his first game, Michael Porter Jr. attempted 17 shots, seven more than anyone else on the team. (Jordan Kodner)

Porter finished his first full college game 5-for-17 from the floor with 12 points--the only Tiger in double figures other than Jontay, who scored 20. He had three layups, two three-pointers and a bevy of missed jump shots. Cuonzo Martin said that was largely by design.

"The biggest thing really was trying to put Mike in position where he could catch and shoot as opposed to having to make plays off the dribble, attacking the rim, because that takes time, when you're getting your legs up under you," Martin said. "I thought he did a good job. I thought he did a solid job really just kind of settling in and letting the shot come to him."

What Porter lacks, trying to come back after three-and-a-half months due to back surgery, is the explosiveness and the lift he had before going under the knife.

"When he left the game, he was one of the best players in college basketball," Martin said. "So you don't come back and say, okay, I'm going to fit into a role. His mindset is still the same person. It's just maybe step slow. Instead of 40, maybe 37. It's just all those things."

Martin said he rushed some shots, but didn't take bad ones. In fact, most of the Tigers didn't think they took bad shots. They just didn't make any of the good ones they did take.

"We missed some shots that we typically make. We missed some easy tip-ins and some layups and some open threes," Kassius Robertson said. "I think we had a lot of shots that weren't dropping. They usually do."

"We've just got to be able to make our layups, me personally," Jordan Geist said.

Jontay Porter scored 20 points on just eight shots.  The rest of his teammates provided little assistance.
Jontay Porter scored 20 points on just eight shots. The rest of his teammates provided little assistance. (Jordan Kodner)

Taking away a 9-for-16 combined performance from Jontay Porter and Jeremiah Tilmon, the Tigers were 13-for-48 from the floor.

"It's not so much of what Mike did or didn't do," Martin said. "I mean, Jordan Barnett was 1-8, Kash was 3 for 10. Those guys make shots, they make plays."

Jontay Porter was 4-for-6 from three-point range. The rest of the Tigers were 4-for-19, including a wide open three that would have stolen the Tigers a victory at the buzzer that went long from Robertson. Combine it with a 5-for-27 performance in the Braggin' Rights Game and Mizzou might want to avoid the not-so-friendly confines of the Scottrade Center for the foreseeable future.

For all the anticipation and excitement about the return of Porter Jr., who had played a grand total of two minutes for Missouri before Thursday, the struggles the first time back were not exactly unexpected.

"For his first game back in I don't know how many months, he did a really good job today," Kevin Puryear said.

"I think the great thing for him, he actually went through it," Martin said. "So now we can take a couple days off, regroup, and just put him in different spots where now he understands because I think the energy and all that."

"In that kid's defense, it's awful hard to play your first couple college games," Georgia coach Mark Fox said. "He didn't practice for most of the year, and then he had to come out and play in a high level game. You're probably not going to be real efficient. So I got a lot of respect for him even trying to do what he did today."

So now, Missouri goes back to practice for what's next. They assume it will be the NCAA Tournament when the field is announced on Sunday evening.

"I'm pretty confident, unless there's some mysterious curveball thrown," Puryear said. "I think we have some really quality wins this year that have put us in the situation that we want to be in. I'm pretty confident. Things happen, curveballs can be thrown at any time so I don't want to speak too soon, but with our body of work, I think we put ourselves in pretty good position."

Until then, they wait and they work. And they hope that game two of the Michael Porter Jr. Era will go differently than game one. Because if it doesn't, there won't be a game three.

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