Stats that stood out against Kentucky
How dominant has Kobe Brown been?
There was a National Player of the Year competing in Wednesday’s game between Mizzou and No. 16 Kentucky. But he wasn’t the best player on Norm Stewart Court that night.
Kobe Brown was. The senior forward hung 30 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals against the Wildcats, leading the Tigers to an 89-75 victory in the team’s first SEC matchup of the season. His 30 points were the most scored by any individual player against Kentucky this season. It wasn’t just impressive that Brown exploded against such a good team. It was impressive because he’d just done so a game earlier.
Last week, Brown posted career highs of 31 points and eight assists to go along with five rebounds and four steals in a 93-71 win over No. 16 Illinois in the Braggin’ Rights game. According to Jeff Borzello of ESPN, Brown is just the third NCAA Division I player in the last 25 seasons with back-to-back 30-point games in wins against ranked opponents.
Brown is just the 10th player in program history to drop 30 points in back-to-back games. The 89 points Mizzou scored against the Wildcats, of which Brown had more than a third, were the most ever by an SEC school against Kentucky under head coach John Calipari.
Calipari wasn’t surprised by the Huntsville, Ala. native’s big night.
“He was difficult last year for us to stop,” Calipari said. “And what he's added is, now you've got to space out on him because he can make 3s. And, look, Missouri would have beat a whole lot of teams the way they played tonight. And they beat us pretty good.”
While his stats were slightly better against the Fighting Illini, Brown’s performance against the Wildcats on Wednesday was more meaningful. The longest-tenured Tiger and current face of the team played one of the best games of his career on his home floor in front of a sell-out crowd of 15,061 and delivered Missouri its third-ever victory against Kentucky in the first SEC game of the year.
He’ll have an opportunity to score 30 points in a win against a ranked opponent again when the Tigers take on No. 9 Arkansas on the road next week. Former Davidson guard and current Golden State Warriors all-star Stephen Curry is the only player whose done so in three consecutive games, accomplishing the feat in the 2008 NCAA tournament.
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