Post-Game Report: Mizzou struggles but survives against NIU
Entering Thursday night's game against Northern Illinois, Jordan Wilmore had scored seven points in 43 career minutes at Missouri. The 7-foot-3 center get the Tigers' scoring--little of it as there was--started with a dunk against the Huskies. By the end of the night he'd thrown down three more on his way to an 11-point, six-rebound performance in a career-high 23 minutes that paced the Tigers to a 53-37 win.
"Really happy for Jordan and how he played because he puts the time in," head coach Cuonzo Martin said. "I think the biggest thing for Jordan is believing in Jordan and understand he’s 7-3, he’s a presence, his physicality, just the confidence."
Martin has talked about finding ways to get Wilmore situationally. The Huskies presented a matchup that Missouri's coach didn't necessarily think was favorable going in. Martin said Wilmore and Yaya Keita can play more in games where the opposition has a traditional big man. NIU's only starter over 6-foot-7 is listed as a guard and the tallest player on their roster is 6-foot-9, some six inches shorter than Wilmore. But still, Wilmore put up career-bests in every important statistical category, including three blocked shots.
"I just gotta keep working, keep pushing," Wilmore said. "I mean, definitely, in the offseason I've focused on losing weight. So, just got to keep working on that and just keep working on my game."
Physically, there's no question Wilmore has the tools to be an important piece for the Tigers. Simply by virtue of being 7-foot-3, there are things he can do on a basketball court that most humans can't--say, like dunk four times in a game. But it's the mental part of the game that the sophomore is still trying to master.
"I think mainly it was just a mind thing," Wilmore said. "Like, I just had to believe myself, so I think it's definitely going to boost my confidence. I think even furthermore, most of the games, I think definitely I just know what I could do so I just gotta keep it up."
"I think it’s just Jordan understanding that I can be just as good as any big guy. You have to believe, you have to put a tremendous amount of hours into it, exhausting hours, you got to be consumed with it," Martin said. "He understands he’s a physical presence but he has to fall in love with it. I think he’s probably 75% there. Once he gets to 100% he’ll be a special talent."
FIVE THINGS WE THINK
1. Don't minimize the fact that Missouri won a game. Yes, it was ugly and it's likely going to take a lot more than 54 points to win most of the rest of them. The Huskies did some serious damage to the Mizzou Arena rims, but not the nets, shooting just 24.1% on the evening. Missouri deserves some credit for continuing to play tough defense when it wasn't shooting the ball well, but it's going to have to shoot better to beat most teams on its schedule. Still, this is a team coming off a loss to UMKC. You don't minimize wins because they aren't guaranteed.
"It’s the same stuff that my mom used to tell me," Martin said. "She’d say the stove was hot but I’ll still touch it. I tell those guys that the shot isn’t falling, you have to defend, rebound and play hard. You have to learn the hard way so it was a painful lesson, but again, hopefully we learn from it."
2. Kobe Brown is going to do a little bit of everything for this team. With Boogie Coleman recovering from a mild ankle injury suffered on Monday, Brown ran the point much of the night. He helped keep Missouri afloat in a brutal offensive first half with six points. He ended up with a team-high 13 plus 12 rebounds, six assists, four blocked shots and a steal. On most nights, Martin said he'd like to see Brown have to do a little less.
"When he’s running the point, he’s at the four, he’s taking the ball, that’s a lot but not a lot of practice time to get him adjusted," Martin said. "I want him to settle in and not get consumed with six or seven different things, just to play and flow and allow other guys to carry some of that weight so he doesn’t have to."
On this night, he had to. Fortunately for Missouri, he did.
3. The defense needs to be acknowledged. Three days after offering up little resistance as UMKC hung 80 on the Tigers, the effort on that end of the floor was much better. It was spearheaded by Amari Davis and Dajuan Gordon. The pair combined for just three points (all by Gordon) on 1-for-12 shooting, but they were still a net positive when compared with the opposition. NIU guards Trendon Hankerson and Keshawn Williams combined for 15 points on 4-for-27 from the floor, mostly thanks to being chased around the court by Gordon and Davis all night.
"Exceptional defensive job with the team but mainly Dajuan and Amari just embracing the challenge on Hankerson because he’s an elite level scorer," Martin said. "I thought our guys did a great job really getting in his legs, I thought he had two or three open looks but didn’t get them to go late.
4. Wilmore had a game that most people probably never thought he'd have. Is he going to be an all-conference player? No. As the year goes on, he may not match this night much if ever. But he has transformed his body and put in the work to be a big contributor in the third game of his sophomore season and he deserves credit for it. Missouri probably won't fare very well on most nights when he's the team's second-leading scorer, but he was putting the ball in the basket when not many of his teammates were.
5. This team has a ways to go to back up Martin's claim it has a lot of good shooters. The Tigers were just 2-for-14 from three-point range and are now shooting just 27.3% (15-for-55) through three games. No individual has made more than five threes or is shooting better than 38.5%. Martin chuckled when he was reminded about his claim last week that this was a good shooting team.
"I think the guys can shoot the ball," he said. "I don’t think we’re getting as many clean threes. I think we’re settling for threes but that goes back to somebody has to drive in the lane and be aggressive, get that jump stop, pitch the ball, just like when Boogie got that layup, Javon (Pickett) drove in the lane, jump stopped, pitched the ball. At the end of the first half Boogie drove in the lane, hit Amari, he missed the three in the corner. It was a good shot. We have to get that. Everybody wants to shoot and that’s okay but who’s going to do that dirty work to get in the lane and get his nose dirty, get somebody else a shot? That’s what it comes down to."
Star of the Game: It's tempting to give it to Wilmore, but Brown gets the nod here for his stat-stuffing night. He played a balanced game in all facets and was the steadying force for a Tiger team that spent much of the night looking like it could lose its second consecutive guarantee game.
Room for Improvement: Offense. Like all of it. Martin said his players aren't selfish, but they have to do more driving and creating for their teammates and less hunting shots. Missouri isn't likely to win many games shooting 40% from the floor or scoring 54 points. Thankfully they ran into a team that was even worse in both of those categories.
What it means: Not much. Missouri won. It wasn't pretty, but they won. The tough part of a brutal non-conference schedule starts this weekend. Other than Paul Quinn College and Eastern Illinois, there may not be any more non-conference victories if the Tigers don't start playing a lot better.
Next up: Missouri leaves for the Jacksonville Classic this weekend. The Tigers will face SMU on Sunday night at 8 p.m. and then either Loyola-Marymount or Florida State on Monday.
Quotable: “He's 7-3. He intimidates people down there. So him just posting up gets people open. He's been tremendous today, career-high, and just him being out there change the whole game. It's a big body out there. Rebounds, layups, everything." -- Dajuan Gordon on Jordan Wilmore.
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