Post-Game Report: Mizzou routs NAIA foe Paul Quinn
Paul Quinn College has an enrollment of 551 students. Thirteen of them came from Dallas to Columbia on Monday night to face Missouri in basketball. They did not fare particularly well.
The home-standing Tigers beat the visiting Tigers 91-59, using a 22-4 run in the middle of the first half to take control.
The specifics aren't all that important because Paul Quinn is an NAIA school that had lost its previous three games against Division One opponents Tarleton State, Texas-Rio Grande Valley and Southeastern Louisiana by an average of 20.3 points.
"Wins are hard to come because you never know when you're going to get your next one," head coach Cuonzo Martin said. "You always want to applaud them and appreciate them."
Kobe Brown nearly had a double-double by halftime (nine points, 10 rebounds, five assists), Javon Pickett broke out of a recent offensive hibernation to score 12, DaJuan Gordon made four three-pointers and Missouri coasted in the second half for a 32-point win.
Brown was a ridiculous plus-45 in his 34 minutes on the floor and confirmed he had never had 23 rebounds in a game at any level before tonight.
"My teammates were telling me the whole time," Brown said. "They were saying you need this much more to get this and that or keep staying on the boards.
"I'm definitely surprised. I never thought I'd get that many."
FIVE THINGS WE THINK
1. How much do we care that Mizzou got outscored for the bulk of the second half? It's tough to be too hard on a team that couldn't possibly have been up for a game against an NAIA school, much less the second half after they were up 23 at the break. But should there ever be a 14-minute stretch where Missouri is outscored by 2.5% of the Paul Quinn College student body? Not really.
2. Where were the young guys? We didn't see Sean Durogordon until 4:59 remained and Kaleb Brown until 36 seconds later. Jordan Wilmore didn't play a minute (Martin said he was available but "just some things I need to see him get better (at)." If they don't play extended minutes in this game, when exactly are they playing? Martin said it was "just a feel" for why the freshmen didn't play earlier.
"Sean did some good things, but I think Kaleb has a chance to get in the rotation," Martin said.
3. Missouri still can't shoot very well. The Tigers were 4/19 from three-point range in the first half. Why, you ask, are they taking 19 three-pointers in a half against an NAIA school? Fair question. The pace slowed in the second half when the Tigers made four of ten from beyond the arc. Mizzou did shoot 46% from the floor overall.
"I think we learned we all can shoot," Gordon said. "We haven’t been making shots at all."
"Anytime the ball goes in you develop a level of confidence," Martin said.
4. At least we found out for sure why Missouri played this game. Martin said Missouri had three or four potential opponents it was looking at over the summer "We just chose to play these guys because of a relationship."
Paul Quinn head coach Brandon Espinosa is also the director of Drive Nation, a Dallas-based AAU program that plays on the Nike EYBL circuit.
5. Did Missouri find some point guard help? Boogie Coleman made a layup with a little more than 13 minutes remaining in the second half. It was the first basket by either of the Tigers' primary point guards coming into the game. Coleman ended the night with nine points, three assists and three turnovers. Freshman Anton Brookshire scored three points and committed four fouls in 16 minutes.
But Amari Davis, who came in as a shooting guard, played plenty of point on Tuesday.
"Amari being at the point guard position can get out and push it, but he also can get downhill and make plays," Martin said. "His ability to get downhill and make a pullup he's one of the best I've seen at that age as far as making pullups. He can get in the lane and he's aggressive.
"He just puts so much pressure on you, you want to get him the ball and let him make plays."
Star of the Game: Brown looked for much of the night as if he could record the second triple-double in Missouri history. He ended the night with 20 points, 23 rebounds and six assists. He is the first Tiger to get 20 boards in a game since Curtis Berry did it against Kansas in January of 1979. Only six Tigers have ever had more rebounds in a game. The last Tiger to have more than 23 rebounds was Booker Brown against Detroit in December of 1966.
"He's our best player," DaJuan Gordon said in the night's biggest understatement.
Room for Improvement: This team is still far more the team that played the first six games than the one that ran Paul Quinn College out of the gym on Monday. We're not putting any stock in anything we saw in this one. If Missouri can do something similar on Thursday night at Liberty we can maybe talk about improvement. Also, in the six minutes Kobe Brown wasn't on the court, Missouri was outscored somehow by 13 points. He might be important.
What it means: Nothing. Literally nothing.
Next up: Missouri will travel to Lynchburg, VA to face Liberty on Thursday night. The Flames are 3-3 overall coming off a 73-61 win over Maryland Eastern-Shore. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Quotable: “It's been real fun. Some of the guys they've been teaching me certain plays at the guard spot and they've been helping me out passing to the right guy, making the right cut. It felt good sometimes I got into the paint tonight and I was able to kick it out to open guys so they could make shots.” -- Amari Davis on playing point guard
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