Officiating was the hot topic of discussion among Mizzou fans after the Tigers’ 77-75 loss to Florida on Saturday. Head coach Cuonzo Martin danced around criticizing the officials despite being visibly frustrated, especially with standout freshman center Jeremiah Tilmon’s disqualification after playing a total of eight minutes.

Martin was asked again Monday about the officiating and his hesitance to show more emotion during the game.

“One thing is that I’m not a guy — whether you use the word swearing, cursing or cussing out an official — I’m not doing that to another man,” Martin said. “Because he’s a man first, and he’s doing a job. If I can’t talk to you how I need to talk to you, we live to fight another day because if you’re officiating the game the way you’re supposed to officiate, then I shouldn’t have to say certain things for you to change what you’re doing because that’s your job to do. And you’re hired by this league to do your job. I’m not going to demean another man just to get a call because I am teaching young men what it looks like to be a man and how you act and how you’re seen. It’s tough, yeah, it’s tough. Imagine how tough it is for me to restrain sometimes, but I have to do that.”

Tilmon has fouled out of four games already this season, including Missouri’s past two games against South Carolina and Florida. He’s only played in three games this year where he didn’t pick up at least three fouls, and he admitted Monday that it can make him tentative when he picks up one or two early in the game.

Martin said he and his staff must continue to do a better job of pulling Tilmon out after his first or second foul to avoid getting another cheap one. He also wants to make a conscious effort to push Tilmon to stay aggressive on both ends of the floor.

Nothing new for MPJ

Martin said Tuesday that Michael Porter Jr. has not reached the point in his rehab process where he can practice with the team.

“He hasn’t done anything with the team, no,” Martin said. “He’s probably working out, shooting shots, I mean, I’m not on Instagram and Snapchat and all those, but I imagine he’s getting a few shots up here and there, but no practicing, no bangin’ with the team, nothing at all.”

Porter spoke with reporters for the first time last week since before his injury occurred on Nov. 10, and though he didn’t rule out a possible return this season, he didn’t guarantee it either.

Barnett on a roll

Senior swingman Jordan Barnett has been Mizzou’s best player by a large margin through the first half of the season, averaging 15.9 points and 6.1 rebounds per contest while shooting 49 percent from the floor and 43 percent from behind the arc. Barnett has scored at least 15 points in 10 straight games, and he poured in a career-high 28 Saturday against Florida. After struggling with his shooting stroke last season, Barnett has seen his numbers — and his confidence — skyrocket early this year.

“I think it’s more so that I’m just getting good looks,” Barnett said. “I’m just shooting when I feel like I’m open, and I’m shooting when I feel like that it might go in. I feel like my aggression hasn’t really changed from last year, like I said I’m just getting more good looks and with a pretty high level of confidence, and the shooting percentage is going up, so I guess it makes it look better.”

Maten on the mind

Georgia forward Yante Maten might be the best big man in the SEC, and Missouri will get a firsthand look at him Wednesday night when the Bulldogs come to town. The senior from Pontiac, Michigan, who spurned Indiana, Michigan and Michigan State to play for the Bulldogs, is averaging 20 points, 9.4 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.2 blocks a game this season.

Tilmon will be the primary defender on Maten early on, and junior forward Kevin Puryear had some advice on how to guard the Bulldogs’ bullying big man.

“It’s really just to meet him (in the lane) early,” Puryear said. “You can’t let him establish position on the low block or else it’s going to be a long night for you. But I’m not worried about it; I know Jeremiah’s going to play hard; I know he’s going to compete at a high level. I think when you guard a player like that it’s really going to take a team effort, and we know that, so we’re going to prepare as such.”

Focus on the finish

Both players and Martin have lamented Missouri’s tendency to allow opponents back into games in the final minutes, and it has cost the Tigers against No. 2 West Virginia and Florida, and it nearly cost them against Stephen F. Austin. Puryear offered some thoughts on why he thinks that happens and what the Tigers can do going forward to close teams out in the second half.

“We have to continue playing at a high level and not play to maintain a lead,” Puryear said. “As hard as that is to do, I think we just need to continue making winning plays down the stretch. We got up 12 in the first half (against Florida) and kind of got away from it, trying to make 1-on-1 plays instead of moving the ball. So we just have to stick to our principles and what got us that lead in the first place. Stick to that and stick to our game plan throughout the whole game, and I think that things will turn around for us when we do that.”

Barnett added: “Just try to get better shots than what we have been, and try not to turn the ball over down the stretch. That’s honestly a big part of it, and then not having huge defensive lapses and finishing on the other end with rebounds. There’s a lot of things that go into it that we just haven’t been able to do at a high level when it comes down to crunch time. So there’s a lot of things that should be corrected at that time, but if we can just be good at two out of the four, we could’ve won some of the games that we’ve given away in the last two or three minutes.”