Stats that stood out against Texas A&M
Honor steps up in East's absence
When Sean East II was ruled out with an injury ahead of Wednesday’s game between Mizzou and Texas A&M, the Tigers knew somebody would need to take on their leading scorer’s role in the rotation.
Nick Honor accepted the mantle, finishing the 79-60 loss to the Aggies with 19 points. Texas A&M head coach Buzz Williams, calling East and Honor by their jersey numbers of 55 and 10, respectively, noticed the role change from the graduate senior guard.
“I think as 55 has improved, 55 has become more of a primary ball-handler and 10 has become more of a spacer,” Williams said. “And so I think 10, tonight, had to go back to being a primary ball guard.”
Honor typically takes 20% of Missouri’s shots when on the floor, which ranks sixth among the team’s players according to KenPom. But with East unavailable, Honor sought out his looks significantly more. The 5-foot-10 guard played all but 34 seconds in the contest, shooting 8-16 from the field, accounting for 25% of the Tigers’ shot attempts.
The 19 points Honor scored were the most since he matched that total against Temple on Nov. 18, 2021, while he still played for Clemson. And while he might not take as many 3-pointers as head coach Dennis Gates would like, the Orlando, Fla. native is still leading the team with 52 triples made, connecting at a 40.0% clip from beyond the arc which ranks in the top 250 among NCAA Division I players.
“I really just wanted to win,” Honor said. “I know Coach has been getting on me since I've been here about being aggressive. He actually got a little frustrated with me last practice about that. But I just want to stay aggressive. I mean, I put the work in. So I feel like every time I shoot, I feel like it's going in, so just staying aggressive with that. At the end of the day, it doesn't really mean anything if you don't win. But we're battling day in and day out. And we're gonna get our win real soon.”
If East remains out, Missouri will need Honor to continue pushing them on the offensive end. And even when East returns, it would help the rest of the team for Honor to stay aggressive.
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