Stats that stood out against Iowa State
Tigers' offense built on trust
With Mizzou’s second possession of the second half in the team’s game against Iowa State on Saturday, senior guard Isiaih Mosley received a ball screen from senior forward Kobe Brown at the top of the key. Cyclones senior center Osun Osunniyi switched onto Mosley, who drove right by him and got deep into the paint.
ISU senior forward Tre King rotated to the lane to prevent Mosley from getting a clear look at the basket. Instead of trying for a layup, Mosley kicked the ball out to the right corner, where Brown had relocated. Brown had a decent look to pull up from 3, but swung the ball up to the right wing, where senior point guard Nick Honor was left alone. Honor canned the triple to put Mizzou up 47-32.
The Cyclones answered with a jumpshot at the other end of the court. The Tigers’ next possession was choppy, having to inbound the ball three times. Honor received a pass on the right wing again. Iowa State switched to a 1-3-1 zone, cornering the 5-foot-10 guard but not applying any pressure on him. Honor took six dribbles, contemplating his next move.
With no hand in his face, Honor chose to rise up and splashed the 3-pointer from nearly 30 feet away.
About three minutes later, Honor shot from the same distance on the left side, the ball rimming out this time. It wasn't nearly as good of a look as the two that preceded it, with a defender closing out on Honor. But Missouri head coach Dennis Gates didn’t mind it. Honor was hot, he was allowed a heat check.
“It's one of our core values, is trust,” Gates said. “I trust these guys and they trust me. I want them to play with their instincts. They know that I want them to take risks. They know that. Basketball cannot be played mistake-free. You're gonna make mistakes, but how do you respond? I want our guys to continue to play our brand, our style. When we got stagnant, we stopped doing those things.”
The team's trust has led Mizzou to one of its strongest performances of the year on offense. Honor was 4-7 from beyond the arc. The team as a whole went 14-30, the fifth time this year it’s shot better than 45% from deep. The 78 points the Tigers scored against the Cyclones was the most Iowa State had given up in regulation in any game this season.
MU is now No. 3 in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency rating, scoring 119.1 points per 100 possessions. The team ranks in the top 50 in the nation in 2-point field goal percentage, free throw percentage, turnover percentage and adjusted tempo.
Gates and his players put their trust in each other when the shots weren’t falling earlier this month. Now that they are, the trust seems even stronger.
“If they make the shot, I'll say, 'Good shot.' But it's not without the risk. If they miss it, they'll be the first ones to say, 'My bad, onto the next play,'” Gates said. “It starts with me. And if I'm over there not trusting them to do certain things or in the huddles, then what am I standing for? I'm being a hypocrite. I want them to actually go do it.”
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