Take a look at what I’ll be watching in tonight’s Missouri (2-1) matchup with the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils (what a name).
Scouting report
The Delta Devils enter tonight’s game at 1-1. They lost their season opener 83-44 to Iowa State, then bounced back with a 66-49 win against Mississippi University for Women, which does in fact have a men’s basketball team.
That leaves them scoring an average of 55 points per game and allowing 66.
This next stretch is going to be rough for MSV, after tonight they play Texas, Kansas State, BYU and Utah, so I’d expect the Delta Devils to be 1-6 by Thanksgiving.
The Delta Devils currently sit at No. 364 out of 364 in the KenPom rankings.
Three players are averaging double-digit points through two games for MSV, led by junior guard Arthur Tate (6-foot, 6-inch, 175-pounds) with 12.0 after not playing against Iowa State and coming off the bench in Game 2. Senior guard Donovan Sanders (5-11, 170) has 11.5 and senior forward Alvin Stredic (6-8, 215) has 11.0.
The Delta Devils have used the same starting five both games. Sanders, Stredic, junior guard Antonio Sisk (6-1, 175), senior guard George Ivory III (6-2, 170) and senior forward Walter Hamilton (6-8, 220).
MSV is shooting 45.5 percent from the field as a team and 32.1 percent from 3, but just 47.8 percent at the free-throw line.
Matchups
Look, Missouri has a massive advantage at every spot, so I’m not going to go too much into the matchups.
The biggest one I’m keeping an eye on today is the paint.
The Delta Devils have a 6-10 player (Darrion Salery) and two 6-9 players (Daniel Umoh and Johnathan Pace). All three have played in both games but have combined to play 48 total minutes. They might play more tonight just so Josh Gray/Peyton Marshall/maybe finally Trent Burns(?) aren’t going up against guys under 6-8 all night.
What I'm looking for
Dominance. Easy as that.
The Tigers have had their issues in each second half they’ve played and coach Dennis Gates likes to talk about how every team his guys have faced has been an NCAA Tournament team … this one isn’t.
This is literally the worst team in Division I that had to face the Mississippi University for Women (a DIII team) to win by 17.
There’s room for there to be issues shooting or with technical stuff or whatever else, but this game shouldn’t be within 20 points at any moment past the 10-minute mark of the first half.
Get the freshmen playing time, mess up my rotation tracking even more, have a dunk contest where every player gets a chance, get JV Brown and Danny Stephens out there at the end and let them pull a Sternberger.
Head on over to the Tiger Walk to let me know what you’re looking out for tonight.
