Tigers answer Martin's challenge, win with toughness
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After Missouri suffered a second consecutive uncompetitive road loss at Texas A&M on Tuesday, Cuonzo Martin hinted at his displeasure with his team’s toughness. Behind closed doors, players said, he was more direct, challenging his team to be the aggressor. Junior forward Mitchell Smith said the team had some of its most intense practices of the year the past few days, the type where “you had to be up on your guy; if you’re back, you’re going to be in trouble.”
Returning home Saturday, the Tigers answered Martin’s challenge. Missouri actually shot worse from the perimeter than it did against the Aggies, turned the ball over nearly as many times and didn’t have its second- and third-leading scorers on the floor as Mark Smith and Jeremiah Tilmon didn’t play. But the Tigers dominated the glass and withstood several late Arkansas runs in a 83-79 overtime victory. Center Reed Nikko said the difference boiled down to aggression.
“I think it was just about playing aggressively,” Nikko said. “For whatever reason, I think we came out of the gates and I think we played aggressively from the start, and I think that’s why we were getting downhill.”
Following Tuesday’s loss, Martin especially took issue with his team’s rebounding performance. Texas A&M beat Missouri on the glass 45 to 27 and scored 20 second-chance points off 23 offensive boards. Speaking to reporters Friday, Martin said that margin simply came down to effort.
Facing an Arkansas team that ranks last in the nation among high-major schools in rebounding rate, Missouri knew it could have an edge in the rebounding column if it played with more intensity than in College Station. The Tigers out-rebounded the Razorbacks 52 to 35, with a 16-11 edge on the offensive boards. Arkansas coach Eric Musselman said his team got “annihilated on the backboards.”
“If you look at Arkansas’ team, not to say they’re small, they don’t have guys 6-10, 6-11 like most teams in this league might have,” Martin explained. “So they’ve been giving up some (rebounds) offensively, and it’s just a matter of rebounding balls, keeping balls alive. And I thought Mitch and Reed did a great job.”
Mitchell Smith and Nikko led the way with 11 rebounds apiece. Nikko also added 11 points for his first career double-double. Smith reiterated Martin’s stance that the difference between the rebounding performance from Tuesday to Saturday came down to grit.
“Coach Martin bases toughness off how many rebounds you get,” Smith said. “It doesn’t matter about points; you get plus-10 rebounds, you’re out there playing hard, you’re playing tough. ... I feel like when we play aggressive like that and crash the boards hard, it just kind of eases the pressure off everybody else.”
Missouri’s offense, which had scored 54 points or fewer in three of its past four games, also benefited from a more earnest approach. Missouri continued its three-point shooting woes, making just three of 16 attempts from behind the arc, but the Tigers settled for fewer perimeter looks. They attempted 44 two-point shots, scored 38 points in the paint and took advantage of the whistle-happy officiating by attempting 44 free throws. (Arkansas got called for 32 fouls in the game, Missouri for 27.)
Martin said the emphasis on attacking the rim was born partially out of necessity, since Arkansas leads the nation in three-point defense. But that turned out to be a “blessing.” Xavier Pinson did most of Missouri’s damage as a driver, getting to the free throw line 13 times en route to a career-high 24 points.
“If you look at Arkansas statistically, they’re one of the better teams at defending the three,” Martin said. “So when you defend the three, you extend out. So you have to drive the ball. You have to take advantage. Don’t settle for threes. It was probably a blessing for us, so we couldn’t settle.”
Missouri led by as many as nine points in the second half and by seven with less than nine minutes to play, but Arkansas used a 9-0 run to take the lead with 5:44 left. From there, the two teams traded blows. The Razorbacks took a three-point lead with 2:24 left, then Pinson and Javon Pickett teamed up to score five unanswered points. Arkansas tied the game on a Desi Sills and-one layup with 33 seconds remaining, but Sills missed a chance to put his team in the lead on the ensuing free throw. A disjointed Missouri possession led to a shot clock violation and gave Arkansas one last chance, but Jalen Harris’ buzzer-beater was too long.
In overtime, Missouri once again threw the first punch and Arkansas could never recover. The Tigers started the period on a 9-2 run, but the most important play might have come on the defensive end. Mitchell Smith absorbed a shove from Arkansas junior Mason Jones and fell to the floor, resulting in an offensive foul — Jones’ fifth. The SEC’s leading scorer, who entered Saturday averaging 20.7 points per game, had been on a tear lately, scoring 104 points across his past three games, but Missouri held Jones to just 17 points on 3-14 shooting.
Once again, Martin said the key to doing so was simply toughness.
“I just think defense is pride,” Martin said. “I think that’s just what’s in you as an individual player. It doesn’t matter what the scouting report is, you don’t allow a guy to score the ball like that. But more importantly, on the floor, Javon did a good job of embracing that challenge. … I thought we did a great job of making his catches tough, making his shots tough, making him put the ball on the floor, especially from a scouting report standpoint, and making him make the extra play and go over top of you.”
Even though Missouri snapped its two-game losing streak Saturday, Nikko said he expects practice to remain just as intense. The victory showed the Tigers that, even on an off shooting night, they can compete with toughness and grit. Now the key will be maintaining that edge.
“Even on games when we have played like this, he’s going to continue to challenge us,” Nikko said of Martin. “He’s an aggressive coach, he wants that, so I think that’s probably the key word for this game, just having that aggression from start to finish.”