Kevin Puryear wasted little time getting to the point. Two sentences into his first response to reporters following Missouri’s 72-60 loss at Arkansas, Puryear brought up the turnovers.
“It’s pretty much same old song,” Puryear said. “It’s kind of getting exhausting to talk about.”
Missouri has struggled with turnovers for the last two seasons, since Cuonzo Martin took over as head coach. Entering Wednesday’s matchup against an Arkansas team that brands its game as the “fastest 40 minutes” in basketball, taking care of the basketball seemed an obvious emphasis. Yet Missouri committed 24 turnovers, one off its season high. Arkansas scored 27 points off those turnovers, and as a result the Tigers saw an early 14-2 lead all but disappear by halftime.
Turnovers are just part of the “same old song” — the familiar flaws that always seem to play a role in Missouri’s losses. The other common theme has been foul trouble for center Jeremiah Tilmon. In the second half Wednesday, Tilmon recorded zero points and four fouls in 10 minutes. The Tigers kept the game interesting until the final media timeout, but Tilmon’s fifth foul seemed to seal their fate. Arkansas finished the game on a 12-1 run once Tilmon exited the game for good.
Martin, like Puryear, immediately addressed the turnovers in his postgame press conference. He said “meeting the pass” was a priority in the team’s preparation — he said the phrase was “one of the first things we had on our board” — but he felt his players failed to meet passes once Arkansas turned on its pressure. Most of Arkansas’ 13 steals came on intercepted passes.
“You gotta be strong with the ball,” Martin said. “You gotta meet the pass. The passer’s gotta be sound with his decision-making. It’s tough. Especially in a road environment, you’ve gotta give yourself a chance to win games.”
For the first eight minutes, Missouri looked like it would have more than a chance to escape Bud Walton Arena with a win. Thanks in large part to Arkansas making just one of its first 12 field goal attempts, Missouri led by a dozen points at the under-12-minute media timeout in the first half. To that point, everything appeared to be going according to script for the Tigers — Tilmon was out-playing Arkansas center Daniel Gafford, and the Razorbacks had yet to record a steal.
Arkansas got back into the game, in part, Martin said, because it switched to a lineup that featured four guards and sped up the tempo. But moreso, the Razorbacks simply started making shots. After every made basket, they set up former Missouri coach Mike Anderson’s vaunted full-court press. That press forced the majority of the Tiger turnovers.
“I thought we had a lot of poise (early),” Puryear said. “We didn’t really let their pressure rattle us. We didn’t let them speed us up, because that’s really what they try to do. I thought we played at our speed, and then as the game went on, got sped up, turned the ball over, careless mistakes that eventually killed us.”
The turnover problem was widespread. Seven of the 10 Tiger players who saw the court committed more than one. Starting point guard Jordan Geist had five giveaways, while Xavier Pinson, his backup, had four. Missouri’s record is now 2-6 this season when it commits more turnovers than its opponent.
Meanwhile, after his strong start, Tilmon also committed four turnovers. Most of those coincided with fouls. Tasked with guarding Gafford, Tilmon appeared foul-conscious on the defensive end, at times throwing his hands straight into the air and standing still when Gafford caught a pass. But three of Tilmon’s five fouls came on the offensive end — two on illegal screens, and one when he tried to drive to the basket and knocked Gafford to the ground. His final foul came on an illegal screen less than a minute after he checked back into the game.
Martin attributed Tilmon’s offensive fouling to a desire to match Gafford’s production. Gafford finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
“He was up against obviously a very talented player in Gafford, and it can’t be a personal matchup,” Martin said of Tilmon. “It’s Arkansas against Mizzou. And I think that’s the next step for him, just really playing basketball, and it’s not about a one-on-one matchup between me and you. It’s just about playing the game.”
Tilmon’s fouling habits and turnovers aren’t new problems. Tilmon has now fouled out of four of Missouri’s past six games. Addressing the media on Tuesday, Martin laughed as he said that Arkansas pressed more against opponents who have struggled with turnovers in the past, his point being that turnovers have been an obvious weakness for the Tigers. When those two issues coincide, the result is predictable.
“I thought tonight’s loss was definitely self-inflicted. We were fully capable of winning this game,” Puryear said. “Turning the ball over 24 times won’t get you there, especially on the road.”
TURNING POINT: Even though Arkansas led for the final 17:41, Missouri kept the score close for the majority of the second half. But when Tilmon got called for his fifth foul with 3:32 remaining, it seemed to take the wind out of the team’s sails. On the following Arkansas possession, Isaiah Joe hit a three, then Missouri turned the ball over on two straight trips, resulting in a Reggie Chaney layup and another Joe three.
IT WAS OVER WHEN: Joe’s final three put Arkansas up 11 with 2:28 remaining.
CAUSE FOR OPTIMISM: Arkansas took the lead for good fewer than three minutes into the second half, and for the next 15 or so minutes, it felt like Arkansas would pull away any minute. But Missouri hung tough, hitting several huge shots to keep the deficit between six points and one point for most of the half. Much of that had to do with Mark Smith, who was absolutely massive Wednesday. Smith hit six three-pointers and finished with a career-high 22 points. Realistically, considering they turned the ball over 24 times, the Tigers kept the game close for longer than they should have, and that’s mainly thanks to Smith.
CAUSE FOR CONCERN: In the final two minutes, a bigger concern instantly supplanted Missouri’s turnovers and Tilmon’s foul rate. Smith fell to the ground and rolled around in pain, clutching his left leg. After the game, Martin didn’t offer a sure-fire diagnosis, but he said he thought Smith sprained his ankle. Starting small forward Javon Pickett was also limited due to injury Wednesday. Martin said Pickett got hit in the back during the first half, tried to play through it, but could not. If either player has to miss playing time moving forward, especially Smith, the Tigers will have a big hole in their lineup.
STOCK UP: Xavier Pinson. The freshman was clearly in Martin’s doghouse entering the game, having not playing at all against Texas A&M. He didn’t enter Wednesday’s matchup until late in the first half, after walk-on Ronnie Suggs picked up his second foul. Pinson committed a few head-scratching turnovers, but for the most part, he made Missouri’s offense more dynamic when he was on the floor. He finished with eight points and two assists in 21 minutes.
STOCK DOWN: Torrence Watson. Even with Missouri’s starting wingman, Pickett, clearly bothered by an injury, Watson played just eight minutes. He was victimized by the Arkansas press, turning the ball over on two bad passes. The former top-100 recruit has pretty much become an afterthought at this point.
UP NEXT: Missouri (10-7, KenPom No. 78) will return home for a matchup against LSU (15-3, KenPom No. 23) at 5 p.m. on Saturday.
