Rhyan Loos remains undefeated. The little girl Mizzou fans first rallied around four years ago once again stood at midcourt while her father delivered a halftime speech midway through a 77-67 Missouri win over Vanderbilt.
Over the last three-and-a-half seasons, Missouri is 45-67 in non-Rally for Rhyan contests. But the Tigers are perfect when playing for a cause.
“Last year, I didn’t really understand how big it was because I was a freshman,” Jeremiah Tilmon said. “But now I do. This is a big deal so I’m glad we got the win.”
As buckets were passed, t-shirts were sold, $55,000 was raised and Brad Loos told the crowd he found out what real toughness was when he was watching his daughter lie in a hospital bed for weeks at a time, Missouri won. And while the result of a basketball game between two teams trying to stay out of the SEC cellar is not even a ripple on what really matters, this one gave people a reason to smile for a little bit on Saturday night.
It’s not been a banner week in Columbia. Seven days ago, these same Tigers wilted in the final two minutes and blew a 14-point lead in an overtime loss to LSU. On Wednesday, they gave up 58 points in the second half to Auburn, which matched the number they scored for the entire game in a 34-point loss that didn’t seem that close.
And the really bad news hadn’t even hit yet. On Thursday morning, Mizzou’s football, baseball and softball teams were slammed with (overly) severe sanctions by the NCAA Committee on Infractions.
The 54 hours between that news and tipoff on Saturday night were filled with anger and venom mostly directed at the governing body of college sports. For a couple hours, at least, the Tigers relieved some of the angst.
It was hardly a thing of beauty. Vanderbilt missed 13 of its first 14 three-pointers. And yet, the Commodores were right there, trailing just 62-57 with less than four minutes left. A Missouri team that had faltered late, that had already blown its share of leads, looked like it might blow one to the only winless team in the conference.
And then Torrence Watson hit the biggest shot of his young career. The freshman from St. Louis took a pass from Jordan Geist with just a couple of seconds on the shot clock and let fly a 25-footer. It splashed through as the buzzer sounded and gave Missouri an eight-point lead. The Tigers led by at least six the rest of the way.
“I knew it was good before it touched my hand,” Watson said. “I talked to (Geist) after and he said he could hear me just calling his name. I knew the shot clock was going down, I was feeling it. He made a great pass and I made the shot.”
“He’s a guy that we recruited to score the ball and I think you’re starting to see some of that,” Martin said. “You don’t allow someone to take your confidence. If you’re on the floor, play the game.
“The only way you get confidence, you put the work in and see the ball go in.”
It did for Watson on Saturday night. He was one of four Tigers in double figures with 12 points in 28 minutes. None were bigger than the late three-pointer. The pass from Geist may have been just his second biggest assist to Watson on the night. In the pre-game locker room, Watson asked Geist for his shirt.
It’s become a tradition for Mizzou players to wear a shirt with the name of a kid battling pediatric cancer at the Rally for Rhyan game. Geist’s shirt had Riley Maher’s name on it. Watson wanted it.
“She’s reached out to me and said she was a big fan,” Watson said. “I knew (about) her for about a year now and my mom has talked to her dad. I was just really happy to be able to meet her and I really wanted to play that game for her.”
Riley was at the game with her father, her grandfather and her two siblings. The family had no idea Watson would be wearing the shirt with her name on it. After the game, Watson made sure to seek out Riley, who will be a freshman at Mizzou next fall.
“Tonight was my first time getting to meet her,” Watson said. “Congratulations to her for making it through cancer. It really meant a lot to me to play for her.”
There were smiles all around Mizzou Arena. For a win, sure. For the end of a terrible week, too. But for more. Much more.
“You want to win at the highest level. Our goal is to be, one day, the last team standing,” Martin said. “But the night really goes to pediatric cancer and supporting that. If you can benefit from that, I think we all win.”
