With just under four minutes remaining in Missouri’s matchup with Ole Miss Saturday, Torrence Watson elevated and drained a three-pointer with a hand in his face to turn a two-point deficit into a one-point lead. The following possession, Xavier Pinson knifed into the lane and drew a foul, then stepped to the free throw line and hit two shots to bring his point total to 20.
The two freshmen took over the game just before the end of the first half and continued their hot play into the second, and at that point, with Missouri leading by three points and fewer than three minutes on the clock, it looked as if they would be the story: two freshmen stealing the show on Missouri’s Senior Day.
Instead, a wet spot on the floor started an Ole Miss run. The Rebels finished the game on a 10-2 run and beat Missouri 73-68.
Following Pinson’s two free throws, Rebel forward K.J. Buffen drove and missed a layup, but Ole Miss got the ball back on an offensive rebound. The ball got kicked to Terrence Davis at the top of the key. Watson hustled to close out on Davis, anticipating a three-point attempt. As he tried to plant his foot in front of Davis, Watson slipped and fell to the ground, grimacing in pain. Davis took advantage of the opening to drive toward the basket. He elevated, cocked his right arm back and brought it down for a thunderous dunk through contact from Missouri center Jeremiah Tilmon. Tilmon got called for a foul on the play, Davis made the free throw, and Missouri’s lead was gone.
Ole Miss guard Breein Tyree called the and-one a “huge play” in the game. Missouri coach Cuonzo Martin called it a turning point. Watson accepted the blame for the play, but in all reality, it was simply bad luck.
“It was a wet spot on the floor,” Watson explained. “I tried to close out on him — he’s a really good shooter when he’s got his feet set — and my foot slipped.”
On Missouri’s next possession, Pinson made his worst play from an otherwise stellar performance, throwing an errant pass that led to a fastbreak layup for Devontae Shuler. Tilmon then missed a jumper, Shuler hit another shot, and Missouri suddenly found itself down four.
The Tigers had a chance to tie the game late. Trailing by three points with 22 seconds left, Missouri got the ball, and ran a play that looked like it was intended to create an open three-pointer for Watson. Ole Miss covered him well, and senior point guard Jordan Geist was left to create a shot. Geist mishandled his dribble, recovered and tried to drive, but Bruce Stephens blocked his shot. Davis grabbed the rebound, and the game was decided.
“If (Geist) saw the guy coming up for a shot, he could turn the corner, or he got the guy on the opposite corner,” Martin said of the last play. “Just read how they defend him. … He got fumbled up there, and it just went downhill from there.”
The loss certainly stung for Missouri. It knocked the Tigers from the No. 11 seed in the SEC Tournament, which would have brought a matchup with winless Vanderbilt in the first round of this week’s conference tournament, to the No. 12 spot. It likely extinguished whatever flicker of hope remained that the team could grab an NIT berth. And the team wanted to send Geist and fellow senior Kevin Puryear out as winners in their final game in Mizzou Arena.
In reality, however, this season has been secondary to the future for a while now. Saturday, Watson and Pinson provided reason to hope that in the coming years, Missouri will be playing to improve its NCAA Tournament seeding on this final Saturday of the regular season rather than its placement on Wednesday night of the SEC tournament.
Watson, who earned a starting spot Saturday after three consecutive games scoring in double-figures, started the game hot. He hit a three-pointer for Missouri’s first basket and scored six of the Tigers’ first 11 points of the game. He didn’t just spot up from three-point range, either, instead driving and scoring when Ole Miss defenders sought to take away the three.
“I think a lot of the guys were closing out really hard,” Watson said. “I think the last couple games, I’ve been shooting it really well, so just being conscious that guys are closing out really hard. Being able to get to the basket definitely helped the team.”
Pinson, on the other hand, came into Saturday’s game having struggled of late. He played fewer than 15 minutes in three of the past five contests and averaged three points and 2.4 turnovers per game during that span. Martin turned to him out of desperation against Ole Miss, inserting him as the primary point guard when Geist picked up his third foul with 4:50 remaining in the first half.
Pinson quickly found Tilmon for open baskets on each of the first two possessions afterward. Then, he started doing the scoring, driving to the basket for two layups and hitting a three-pointer later in the first half. He carried the momentum into the second half, scoring on a floater on the team’s first possession after the break and capping the run with a step-back three that brought the home fans to their feet. In the span of about six minutes of game time, Pinson scored or assisted on 19 consecutive Missouri points.
Martin called Saturday Pinson’s best game of his young career. His teammates said they’ve been waiting a while to see a performance like this.
“We’ve really just been waiting on something like that,” Watson said. “We’ve been seeing it in practice. I think everybody on the team knows what he can do. We’ve all seen that he can drive to the basket like that, his handles are crazy, so it’s just really nice to finally see that.”
“He’s definitely capable of doing that,” Puryear said. “He shows glimpses of that in practice every single day.”
Ultimately, the two freshmen weren’t enough against an Ole Miss team desperate to earn an NCAA Tournament bid. But their performance wasn’t lost on Rebel head coach Kermit Davis. Davis called Watson “one of the most improved players” in the SEC and said the trio of him, Pinson and fellow freshman Javon Pickett, who sat out Saturday’s game due to back pain, will be a force as they gain more experience.
"Those three young guards, they're gonna be something in our league," Davis said. "They're Cuonzo's type of guys. They're tough, they play downhill, you can tell they want to be coached, not afraid to be coached. … They've got a bright future here."
Watson acknowledged after the game that this season hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing for he or Pinson. He described his freshman year as a “bumpy road.” But he expressed optimism that the adversity the team has faced, and the extended minutes young players have been forced to play, is beginning to pay off. Even Puryear, one of the seniors being honored Saturday, said he’s excited to see what the future holds.
“This core of freshman that we have, their work ethic is just phenomenal,” Puryear said. “Mizzou fans really have a lot to be excited about.”
TURNING POINT: Davis’ violent dunk and subsequent free-throw completely shifted the momentum of the game. Prior to that, Missouri was on a 5-0 run, which got the home crowd involved, and it looked like the Rebels would have an empty possession when Buffen missed his layup. Pinson’s turnover after the dunk further took the air out of the building, and Missouri couldn’t recover.
IT WAS OVER WHEN: Geist had his shot blocked by Stevens and Davis came down with it. Davis made two free throws to extend Ole Miss’ lead to five points with five seconds to play.
CAUSE FOR OPTIMISM: Three of the four Missouri players that scored in double-figures will be back next season. Pinson, Watson and Tilmon, combined with Pickett, would make a solid core if they play like this all next season. Throw in Dru and Mark Smith and there is reason to believe the team could be back in contention for the Big Dance at this time next year.
CAUSE FOR CONCERN: For the fifth time in conference play, Missouri saw a double-digit lead turn into a loss. On four of those occasions, the Tigers led by more than 10 in the second half. Having more talent and experience on next year’s team won’t matter if Missouri can’t hold onto a lead.
STOCK UP: Xavier Pinson. It’s been an even more up-and-down season for Pinson than most players. He spent an entire game on the bench early in conference play, then played a huge role in a win over Arkansas, then looked like he was back in the doghouse lately. Saturday’s performance showed his rare explosiveness and court vision; now the challenge is gaining consistency.
STOCK DOWN: K.J. Santos. Despite the injury to Pickett, Santos didn’t see the floor for the second game in a row. It’s pretty clear at this point that Martin prefers Puryear and Mitchell Smith at the power forward spot.
UP NEXT: Missouri (14-16, KenPom No. 77) will open the SEC Tournament against Georgia (11-20, KenPom No. 121) just a week after the two teams played on Wednesday. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.
