Advertisement
basketball Edit

Post-Game Report: Davis shoots Mizzou past Ole Miss for first road win

Missouri's first four road games of the season followed a similar pattern. The Tigers got down early, went down big and never closed the gap. They trailed all of those games by at least 15 points at halftime and lost them by an averaged of 32.5 points.

But playing at short-handed Ole Miss on Tuesday, it was the Tigers who landed the first punch. Midway through the first half, the Tigers scored six points in a row to claim the lead. The Rebels responded with a pair of buckets, but Missouri then held the home team without a field goal for more than six minutes. Even Ole Miss head coach Kermit Davis calling all four of his team's timeouts before the break couldn't stem the momentum, as the Tigers finished the first half on a 17-4 run.

This time, Missouri was the team leading by 15 at the break. And this time, the Tigers would cruise to victory. Missouri played its most complete game of the season, shooting a season-high 62.7 percent on the offensive end while holding Ole Miss to 34.4 percent from the field, the second-lowest mark the Tigers have allowed all season.

The end result was a 78-53 win, Missouri's largest road victory since a 2019 win at Georgia and just the program's second ever victorious trip to Oxford.

"We put together 40 minutes today," point guard Boogie Coleman said. "... It’s great building for us, and knowing that we let one get away last week, it was good to be able to come back and get this one on the road.”

Here are five things we learned from the game.

GET THE INSIDE SCOOP EVERY DAY WITH YOUR PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION!

Advertisement
Missouri's Amari Davis led the Tigers with 19 points on a perfect 10-10 from the field as the team routed Ole Miss 78-53.
Missouri's Amari Davis led the Tigers with 19 points on a perfect 10-10 from the field as the team routed Ole Miss 78-53. (Megan Fox)

1. The simple fact that Missouri didn't trail by double-digits in the first 10 minutes represented progress. The Tigers had played themselves out of their first four road games quickly, allowing the home crowds to get into the game and forcing their offense to try to chase points. Coleman said that starting better was a major point of emphasis entering Tuesday.

“It’s been a huge emphasis to get out to great starts, and just get the juice going for our team," he said.

The difference at Ole Miss, according to both head coach Cuonzo Martin and his players, was largely mental. Martin said his team "played with edge." Shooting guard Amari Davis, who led all scorers with 23 points, said the coaches who were on the floor during pregame warmups made it a point to remind the team to come out swinging.

The results spoke for themselves.

"Everyone was locked in," Davis said, "everyone was focused on their assignment, and it showed."

2. Coleman credited the fast start to Missouri's defense. The defensive performance was arguably the Tigers' best of the season.

Ole Miss started the game by making three of its first 10 shots. At halftime, the Rebels had shot 8-31. They made just six of 22 three-pointers and turned the ball over 13 times. Missouri recorded as many blocks (five) as Ole Miss had made free throws.

Martin, long a defense-first head coach, has not been shy about saying his team hasn't been up to par on that side of the ball this season. Entering Tuesday, the Tigers were allowing an average of 83.6 points per game against high-major competition. The defense showed signs of improvement against Texas A&M, as Missouri held the Aggies scoreless for nearly nine minutes to start the game, but faltered late as Texas A&M made nine of its last 12 shots.

"The better we become as a defense, the better we’ll become as a team," Martin said. "Because the offensive part will take care of itself. I just think this is probably my first time in coaching where I have a team that really didn’t have a defensive DNA. Just so many new guys, just understanding, we have to do this in order for us to be successful"

Martin said the improved defense at Ole Miss didn't result from any sudden schematic changes. He simply chalked it up to players taking more pride in that side of the ball.

"Same stuff I’ve been saying," Martin said. "I've always preached defense, so that part is understood. But just sometimes you have to go through it. Not that you want to go through it, but you think it’s easier than what you thought. My granny used to always say that’s wet paint over there, but you’re still going to touch it and see if it’s wet paint. So sometimes you’ve got to go through painful lessons."

3. On the offensive end, Missouri got to the rim at will against Ole Miss' zone defense. The Tigers' greatest weakness all season has been their three-point shooting, or lack thereof. They entered Tuesday ranked No. 355 out of 358 Division I teams in three-point percentage. So, against the Rebels, they simply avoided taking shots from behind the arc. Missouri's seven three-point attempts represented its fewest in a game since Feb. 15, 2014.

The strategy worked. Missouri shot 63.6 percent from two-point range and scored 38 points in the paint. They made four of seven three-pointers. The team's overall field goal percentage was its best since a win over Wagner on Nov. 13, 2017.

"We didn’t have many wide open looks, so we weren't forcing them up," Coleman explained. "So we just continued to attack. And the way they played defense, they were closing out wild, and they didn’t really have any help, so we knew that driving down, getting to the rim was going to be a strength tonight, and that’s what led to the victory.”

Each of Missouri's past two games have represented the team's fewest three-point attempts under Martin. Martin hasn't been telling players not to shoot threes, he said, especially open looks. But he's encouraged them not to settle for shots from the perimeter, to prioritize driving the ball whenever possible.

"The three-point shot, for us, while we were growing into whatever team we were trying to grow into, I thought it was an easy shot," Martin said. "Let’s just take this shot as opposed to doing the next thing. The next thing is sometimes the hard thing. We call it 'one more.' So that’s one more pass, one more spacing to get away, one more hard drive, one more hard cut for the next guy, then you’ll get the best shot. And it doesn’t always work out that way, but I feel like we’ve been growing into that.”

4. Missouri's transfer guards led the way. Both Coleman and Davis enjoyed career games.

Davis scored a game-high and Missouri career-high 23 points. He never missed, making all 10 of his field goal attempts and both of his free throws. Davis' performance tied a Missouri record for most field goal attempts in a game without a misfire. The last Tiger player to go 10-10 in a single game was Jeff Warren on March 4, 1992. It's been nearly a decade since any SEC player accomplished the feat, the last being Florida's Erik Murphy on Nov. 14, 2012.

Davis had been inconsistent of late, scoring two or fewer points in three of Missouri's past six games. But he was able to find holes in Ole Miss' zone defense and get his patented mid-range game going.

"It was just being aggressive in the ball screens, attacking the bigs, making them make a choice, whether to stop the ball or get back," Davis said. "They didn’t stop the ball, so that was my chance to shoot my mid-range shot, and I was making it tonight.”

While some coaches might not love Davis' shot selection, which largely consisted of two-point jumpers, Martin said Davis always has the green light to shoot from the mid-range.

"The old coaches, they would always say that shot right inside the three-point line, that’s a bad shot," Martin said. "That’s a great shot for him. Because that’s his three-point shot. And if he doesn't have that, he’s going to one dribble pull up you. He can make that shot, and we’ll take that from him any day of the week.”

Coleman didn't shoot as well as Davis, making three of nine field goals, but he did virtually everything else well. The Ball State transfer grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds. He also dished seven assists, which tied his most of the season, while turning the ball over just twice in 33 minutes.

Martin said he challenged Coleman, a stout point guard listed at 205 pounds, to be more active on the glass. Coleman's contributions helped Missouri dominate the rebounding margin against Ole Miss 40-26.

“I’ve been trying to focus on rebounding for our team, knowing that we’re not the biggest team," Coleman said. "And I’ve most times got an advantage with my man, because I guard point guards, they most likely get back, so I’m like a free man to go rebound. So I’m just trying to come help the bigs, knowing that they’re battling down there, trying to block out."

5. Three days after Missouri squandered a 12-point halftime lead, the Tigers weren't about to do it again. Ole Miss pulled within 10 points when freshman guard Daeshun Ruffin knocked down a tough three-pointer with just under eight minutes to play. The shot instilled a bit of energy into the home crowd. But Missouri wouldn't allow the flicker of hope to get any oxygen.

On its next possession after the made three, Missouri went inside to Kobe Brown. The Tigers' leading scorer was quiet offensively for much of the night, but on that trip he scored through two defenders. On the next possession, he drew a foul and made two free throws. The consecutive scores sparked a 15-0 Missouri run that left the final result in no doubt.

Martin harped on his team's lack of consistency and focus late in the loss to Texas A&M. He said Tuesday's late run represented growth in those areas.

"When we get punched in the mouth, sometimes we do stuff that we don’t normally do, or we shy away from the stuff that we do," said Davis. "So our leaders on the team, they did a good job of telling us stay aggressive, don’t let off the gas, don’t let them get back in the game, and that’s what we did to close out the game.”

Missouri's Boogie Coleman grabbed 13 rebounds and dished seven assists from the point guard position against Ole Miss.
Missouri's Boogie Coleman grabbed 13 rebounds and dished seven assists from the point guard position against Ole Miss. (Megan Fox)

Star of the Game: Davis showed the scoring ability that attracted Missouri to him during the offseason. He's now the first Tiger player aside from Brown to score 20 or more points in a game this season. That was key for Missouri, as Ole Miss prioritized defending Missouri's post players and Davis made them pay.

Room for Improvement: It feels nit-picky to ask for Missouri to play a better game than this one, but the Tigers continued to be a bit loose with the ball Tuesday. Missouri turned the ball over nine times in the first half and 14 times for the game. Giveaways were an issue in both of the team's past two losses, as the Tigers turned the ball over a combined 40 times against Arkansas and Texas A&M. However, Missouri did a better job taking care of the ball as this game progressed, turning it over just two times in the final 17 minutes.

What it means: Saturday's game, during which Missouri squandered an opportunity to take a commanding lead when Texas A&M struggled early and ultimately lost despite leading for more than 35 minutes, felt like it had the potential to send the team into a spiral. Coleman and Javon Pickett were both visibly dejected when meeting with reporters afterward. But Tuesday's triumph proves that this team is still bought in. The performance also showed that, if Missouri is able to avoid falling too far behind early on and marries a good offensive performance with strong defense, it can compete with almost anyone in the SEC.

Next up: Missouri will face another road test on Saturday. The Tigers will travel to Alabama for the second meeting of the season between the two teams. Missouri upset the Crimson Tide 92-86 in Columbia on Jan. 8. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m.

Quotable: “We’ve taken some painful lumps. ... Hopefully those tough blowout, 20-, 30-point games are long gone.” -- Cuonzo Martin


Talk about this story and more in The Tigers' Lair

Make sure you're caught up on all the Tiger news and headlines

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for video and live streaming coverage

Follow our entire staff on Twitter

Advertisement