Missouri puts its best foot forward

With 8:47 to play on Tuesday night, Missouri was leading Xavier 62-33. The Musketeers had scored 33 points in 31 minutes while Jeremiah Tilmon and Mark Smith alone had combined for 30. It was definitely the best the Tigers had played all season. It looked, for a long time, like the best they are capable of playing.

Just don't suggest that to Cuonzo Martin.

"I thought we did a good job. I didn’t think we did a great job, that stretch for four or five minutes there," Martin said after the 71-56 win. "I just thought guys were caught up with the winning the amount of points we were winning by rather than finishing the game."

Sure, Mizzou was outscored 23-9 in those last eight minutes. There were some fouls and a few turnovers. But the game had long been in hand by that point. Still, the Tigers were focused as much on the negative as the positive after their best game of the season.

"I think we still have some areas to improve on, especially finishing games," senior Kevin Puryear said. "That should have been probably a 25, 30 point game. Turnovers toward the end, missed layups, fouling."

The Tigers were better than their season average in shooting percentage, rebounding margin, steals, blocks and turnovers. They were, as Puryear said "all over the place" defensively for the majority of the game. Mizzou forced a shot clock violation on Xavier's first possession and didn't let up until they were up by 29 points. This isn't a Xavier team like Chris Mack's last few outfits, but nobody had led the Musketeers by more than 19 at any point this season. And yet..

"We're just trying to get better every game," Mark Smith said. "Hopefully we can keep getting better than that."

If Mizzou can be better than it was for the first 31 minutes on Tuesday, we may need to reevaluate what we've been thinking about this season. After losses to Iowa State, Kansas State and Temple, Missouri looked like a team that would struggle to keep its head above water in the Southeastern Conference and have to scratch and claw to finish the season at .500.

But since then, the Tigers have won four in a row. They have beaten UCF, a likely NCAA Tournament team, and Xavier, which should be in the conversation. They're clearly playing their best basketball of the season.

Up next is Illinois in the Braggin' Rights game. It is cliche to say you throw the records out the window, but of late it doesn't seem to matter if Illinois is any good; the Illini still win that game. But even riding a two-game winning streak, Brad Underwood's team is just 4-7 with the annual border battle in St. Louis looming.

After that, the Tigers will host Morehead State in a final pre-SEC tuneup. Worst case scenario, Mizzou should enter league play at 8-4. A win on Saturday would put the Tigers 9-3 to finish the non-conference slate.

Mizzou gets seven games against South Carolina, Georgia, Ole Miss and Texas A&M. Those were the bottom four teams in the SEC's preseason poll. The Gamecocks are under .500, the Aggies are right at it and Georgia is 6-4. Ole Miss is 8-2, but the only win of any note has been over Baylor.

In other words, there are wins to be had in a conference that isn't looking quite as strong as it did two months ago.

Missouri has a big man in Jeremiah Tilmon that can be dominant and is starting to figure that out. They have two seasoned seniors in the starting lineup in Kevin Puryear and Jordan Geist. They have a transfer who has a new lease on life in his new location in Mark Smith. They have three freshmen guards who are starting to come into their own. The pieces are there to make this season quite a bit more interesting than we thought it would be two weeks ago.

It's still premature to start talking about the NCAA Tournament. To do that, Missouri's going to need at least nine or ten wins in SEC play. And for a team that has been consistently inconsistent and at times downright bad, that might be a goal a little too lofty.

But Missouri should finish .500 at a minimum. It should be in contention for a postseason bid, even if it's not the big one. The Tigers should be playing games that mean something in February as they look to extend this season beyond the SEC Tournament.

They just have to replicate the first 30 minutes against Xavier a few more times.

"We can be better," Jeremiah Tilmon said. "We threw the first punch tonight."