Notebook: Basketball team uses break to scout itself

It’s been a quiet week at Mizzou Arena. The Missouri basketball team is currently on day seven of an 11-day break between games, with its next contest coming Tuesday against Xavier. The players have used that time to prepare for finals off the court. On it, the emphasis has been on introspection.

Senior point guard Jordan Geist said the team has watched a lot of film in an effort to understand the strengths, weaknesses and tendencies that might pop up on opponents’ scouting reports.

“We watched a lot of film, breaking down a lot of stuff, focusing on what other teams are going to see when they watch our film and try to better ourselves,” Geist said. “This is really one of our last times to focus in on that and have some time to really try to get better at some little things.”

Head coach Cuonzo Martin said the feedback is especially beneficial to newcomers, of which Missouri has plenty. Three true freshmen, Javon Pickett, Torrence Watson and Xavier Pinson, are playing more than 15 minutes per game. Sophomore guard Mark Smith is in his first season with the team after transferring from Illinois, and K.J. Santos, a University of Illinois-Chicago transfer, missed the first eight games of the season due to a foot injury.

“Often times you perceive something as a strength as an individual, and that’s not always the case,” Martin said. “And you can hear that coming from a coaching staff, but then when you hear it from somebody else, it becomes a reality of what I need to work on.”

One of Martin’s takeaways from the week off has been that the team needs to improve its rebounding, especially on the defensive end of the floor. The Tigers average 35.2 rebound per game, which ranks No. 192 nationally. Several different players said defensive rebounding has been a point of emphasis during practice in the past week. Last Friday, Oral Roberts pulled down 14 offensive rebounds.

“I think we can be better at rebounding than what we are,” Martin said. “I think K.J. will help that from the standpoint of having another body.”

Martin said sophomore forward Jeremiah Tilmon, in particular, has been a focal point during the week off. Tilmon leads the team in rebounding at 6.2 per game, but he’s played only 24.1 minutes a game this season, in large part due to his well-chronicled foul troubles. Martin said one of the themes he’s heard from opposing coaches this season is that they single out Tilmon more than any other individual when defending Missouri. His presence in a ball screen makes opponents leery of switching for fear of offering Tilmon a mismatch, and he often draws double-teams in the low post.

Martin said Tilmon’s main area of improvement needs to be consistency.

“That’s one thing I talk to Jeremiah about: We have to be able to count on your production every night,” Martin said. “It’s almost as if it’s a moving target.”

More specifically, one thing Tilmon said he’s worked on of late is not conceding ground to a defender when he posts up near the basket.

“I’ve been watching on film, I’ll post up, but the second the player bumps me, I’ll jump out to go get the ball then lose like three feet of ground,” Tilmon said. “So lately in practice I’ve just been working on burying and keeping my post.”

This break comes at a good time for Missouri not just because of finals week, but because the schedule suddenly more difficult, starting Tuesday. After Missouri plays Xavier, it will seek its first win since 2012 against Illinois in the annual, neutral site Braggin’ Rights matchup. A game against Morehead State offers a brief reprieve, then the team will begin SEC play.

Martin said the next two games will teach him a lot about his young team. He called playing quality opponents “the best lessons” for his players.

Tilmon tries laughing off fouls

Tilmon has still struggled with fouls at times this season, but his foul rate is at least down from a season ago. The forward averaged 7.5 fouls per 40 minutes as a freshman. This year, that rate is down to 5.2 fouls per 40 minutes.

One reason for the improvement, he believes, is a change in attitude. Last season, he would often let foul calls frustrate him, and he’d either lose his aggressiveness or quickly commit another foul as a result. This season, he still sometimes feels frustrated after being whistled for a foul, but he seeks to mask that frustration with a smile.

“Last year, every time I got a foul I was running up to the ref, trying to ask him what happened, and this that and the other. Bad body language,” Tilmon said. “But this year, if I get a foul I try to make sure I don’t have a facial expression. If anything, I just laugh.”

Tilmon said his father doesn’t like to see his son laughing on the floor, but he believes it’s helped him stay on the floor longer, so he plans to keep doing it.

“I just laugh instead of showing off my frustration or letting the other players know I’m frustrated. I just smile. That way they just see the pretty teeth.”

Martin wants more tempo

Through its first nine games of the season, Missouri has operated at a plodding pace. The Tigers rank No. 342 out of 353 Division I teams in tempo, according to Ken Pomeroy’s ratings. That pace could help the at times offensively-challenged Tigers keep games competitive, but it also makes turnovers, the Achilles heel of this year’s team so far, more costly.

Asked Friday if he’d like to see his team push the pace a bit more, Martin said yes — but only if the right opportunities present themselves.

“We talk about it a lot of time in practice, and that’s our guards getting up and down the floor,” Martin said. “But also you have to be smart in situations to be able to give Jeremiah a chance. Give him a chance to score the ball.”

More than tempo or number of possessions, Martin said he is mainly concerned about the offense getting good shots. Sometimes those present themselves in transition. If a good shot is not available quickly, though, he doesn’t want his guards to push the pace.

“We have to get good shots,” Martin said. “It’s one thing to run fast and turn the ball over and give yourself a chance to win the game. ... But I’d like to get out and run more, yes.”

Geist's back 'getting better'

Martin said one benefit of this break from competition is that it has given Geist a chance to rehab his sore back. Geist injured his back during the Paradise Jam tournament in mid November, and while he hasn’t missed any game action, he didn’t participate in practices for more than a week.

Martin said Geist is "better." He's now back on the floor for the majority of practice, but Martin will still hold him out of certain portions. The feisty senior doesn’t appreciate being held off the court.

“If I seen any ounce of a step slow, I’ll just take him out of practice,” Martin said. “He’ll try to fight to compete in practice, but I think you have to be at a high level in practice to compete. If not, just grab a seat.”

Guess’ status unclear

Freshman reserve Christian Guess missed Missouri’s game against Oral Roberts due to academic ineligibility. Guess dropped one of the classes from his schedule, and as a result he wasn’t enrolled in enough hours to compete. With the fall semester ending Friday, Guess should, theoretically, be able to regain eligibility by enrolling in 12 or more credit hours for the spring semester, but Martin gave a cryptic response when asked about Guess’ status. He simply said it’s “up in the air.”

Guess has played just seven minutes this season, all in a loss to Kansas State on Nov. 19.