The complexion of Missouri’s rematch against Texas A&M Saturday afternoon changed abruptly about 45 minutes before it began. Sophomore center Jeremiah Tilmon took the court in street clothes during pregame warmups and word circulated that, due to a surgery to remove his wisdom teeth, he would not play. The Tigers would be without both their second- and third-leading scorers, as Mark Smith missed his fifth straight game due to an ankle injury.
For just more than a half, it looked like it wouldn’t matter. Missouri led Texas A&M by 12 points with 17:16 to play in the game. But then the Tigers ground to a halt offensively, while on the other end, the team couldn’t stay in front of Aggie guards Wendell Mitchell and T.J. Starks. Texas A&M outscored Missouri 39-19 in the final 15 minutes to pull away for a 68-59 win.
After the game, Missouri head coach Cuonzo Martin said Tilmon had his wisdom teeth extracted at some point after the Tigers traveled to Tennessee (he thought it was Wednesday but seemed unsure). Tilmon didn’t practice all week, but it wasn’t until the pregame shootaround that he was declared out for the game. Asked whether Tilmon was held out due to safety concerns or his level of pain, Martin said “I assume it was pain.”
Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy said Tilmon’s absence immediately changed the game. The Aggies were shorthanded as well — Kennedy said they were down to six scholarship players because forward Josh Nebo, who likely would have guarded Tilmon, missed the game with a sprained MCL.
“It was fortunate for us that Tilmon didn’t play because he’s such a load and a big factor to them,” Kennedy said.
Texas A&M struggled mightily on the offensive end during the first half, and Saturday’s game looked like it was on a track similar to the Jan. 19 matchup between the two teams, when Missouri won by 23 points with Smith and Tilmon on the floor. But the Aggies started shooting better in the second half and upped their intensity, while Missouri let a scoring drought sap its energy on both ends of the floor.
“I just think they started making shots, they got their heads up, they started playing more aggressive,” Martin said. “I think we got passive when shots didn’t fall.”
At the depth of its offensive struggles, Missouri had a 13 minute, 20 second stretch during which it scored just seven points. The Tigers shot 11-of-27 from the field during the final 20 minutes, and perhaps worst of all, they attempted just four free throws during the entire game. That’s the fewest Missouri has attempted in a game since it joined the Southeastern Conference, the previous low coming March 1, 2011 against Nebraska.
Martin said Texas A&M was switching with every player in its lineup on the defensive end in order to put pressure on the Tiger guards and keep them out of the lane. Missouri couldn’t take advantage due to a lack of production from its power forwards. Reed Nikko filled in serviceably for Tilmon and Kevin Puryear contributed seven points and seven rebounds, but K.J. Santos and Mitchell Smith were non-factors. The two combined to score zero points and grab one rebound in 27 minutes.
“They were switching guards on our bigs,” Martin explained. “I mean, K.J., Mitch and Kevin, you feel like there has to be an advantage somewhere. Make them double, put the ball on the rim. If anything, get an offensive rebound. And it didn’t happen.”
Missouri also continued its recent struggles from three-point range. The Tigers made eight of 27 shots from beyond the arc, just under 30 percent. It was the fourth time in the past five games, since Mark Smith left the starting lineup, that Missouri has failed to top 30 percent shooting from three. In the one game it did so, it won.
Martin said Missouri missed Mark Smith not only due to his own shooting ability — his 47.5 percent three-point shooting percentage ranks first in the SEC — but because he spreads defenses out, providing more open looks for other players.
“I just think he was a three-point presence,” Martin said of Mark Smith. “What he did was more spacing than anything, because none of the guys could get shots (Saturday).”
Missouri has been playing shorthanded all season since Jontay Porter went down with a torn ACL and MCL in a preseason scrimmage. It’s been without another key piece the past two-and-a-half weeks, and was without its only reliable post player Saturday. Clearly, the absences of Mark Smith and Tilmon affected the game.
But playing against a similarly shorthanded Texas A&M team that entered Saturday 1-8 in conference play, Missouri still had a chance to win the game. Moreso than injuries, the Tiger players said Saturday’s loss resulted from a lack of fight when shots wouldn’t fall during the second half.
“We didn’t have that much fight in the second half,” freshman Javon Pickett said. “We gotta go out there and continue the same way we played in the first half. We gotta go out there and compete 40 minutes-plus. … We just gotta get better at that.”
TURNING POINT: About five minutes into the second half, Torrence Watson hit his second three of the half to give Missouri an 11-point lead. Then the Tigers slipped into a prolonged offensive funk while Mitchell sparked a run for Texas A&M by driving to the rim on seemingly every possession. Mitchell scored five points in the span of three possessions, then Starks scored on two quick layups. Missouri made just one field goal in the span of more than six minutes, and in that time the Aggies went on a 12-2 run to cut the Tiger lead to a single point.
IT WAS OVER WHEN: Texas A&M answered a Jordan Geist three-pointer with its biggest run of the game, a 13-0 spurt. The dagger came when Puryear missed a layup for Missouri, then Savion Flagg drained a corner three on the other end to put Texas A&M up 10 points with fewer than four minutes to play.
CAUSE FOR OPTIMISM: Missouri’s freshmen continued to play well. Pickett led the team in scoring with 15 points. Watson added 12 and Xavier Pinson had four assists to go along with three points. The trio should benefit from this experience in future seasons. All three played at least 28 minutes.
CAUSE FOR CONCERN: Not only did Missouri’s offense ground to a halt in the second half, but the Tigers went through a stretch in which they couldn’t seem to keep Mitchell and Starks from driving into the lane and getting easy buckets. During the run in which the Aggies cut the Tiger lead from 11 points to one, Texas A&M came away with points on nine out of 11 possessions. Martin said his players “didn’t take a lot of pride” in stopping Texas A&M’s ball-screen offense, and he seemed more upset with that aspect of the performance than the offensive struggles.
STOCK UP: Torrence Watson. Watson has played his best basketball of the season during the past two weeks, and he continued that Saturday. At times, he looked like the Tigers’ most confident scorer. Watson scored in double-digits for the third time in the past four games.
STOCK DOWN: The power forwards, as described above. Puryear played fine, scoring seven points and grabbing seven rebounds. But the two players behind him at the four spot, Santos and Mitchell Smith, contributed nothing. With Tilmon inactive, the lack of an offensive presence in the post put too much pressure on Missouri’s guards.
UP NEXT: Missouri (11-11, KenPom No. 97) will host Arkansas (14-9, KenPom No. 56) at Mizzou Arena on Tuesday. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m.
