Through a year-and-a-half, Missouri sophomore Jeremiah Tilmon has shown when he is on the floor he can be a dominant big man in the SEC. He has athleticism to burn and the physical ability to match up with just about anyone in college basketball.
What Tilmon is yet to master is his emotions. And more than anything else, that is why Missouri got pasted 87-63 by No. 3 Tennessee on Tuesday night at Mizzou Arena.
Just more than two minutes into the game, an official stopped play prior to a baseline inbounds to talk to Tilmon and Tennessee big man Kyle Alexander. The Tigers inbounded the ball to Tilmon, who put a forearm into Alexander twice, the second drawing a whistle for an offensive foul. Immediately after the play, Tilmon was called for a technical foul.
“Ref talked to the guys, maybe they were jawing at each other,” Missouri head coach Cuonzo Martin said. “I just turned my head and all of a sudden, I guess he said something to him and he got a technical foul. It was unfortunate.”
Tilmon did not appear to say anything to Alexander or the official. But as the Tennessee big man sat on the floor after the play clapping, Tilmon tossed the ball in his lap and the whistle blew. He went to the bench with 17:45 remaining in the first half and would not come back until the Volunteers opened the second 20 minutes with a 42-31 lead.
Martin has talked often about the sophomore from East St. Louis finding an emotional balance. His passion and intensity are what makes him so good. When he plays without them, he is as invisible as a 6-foot-10, 252-pound man can be on a basketball court. But there is a line; Tilmon crossed it early on Tuesday.
“He’s still young. He’s learning every single day. I’m not really worried about him,” senior Kevin Puryear said. “He’s still, in my eyes, the most dominant center in the league when he puts it all together. Just one of those things you’ve got to learn from. I do think he’s targeted a little bit, but that’s something he has to be ready for at all times and that just comes from growth.”
Missouri battled bravely for the first 11 minutes Tilmon was on the bench. The Tigers raced to a 27-18 lead on the will of Jordan Geist and offensive contributions from Puryear, Xavier Pinson and K.J. Santos, each of whom scored five points in the first 13 minutes. But the Vols are one of the nation’s elite teams this year and even at full strength this was going to be a stiff test for the Tigers. They were not at full strength.
“They came out and they punched us early,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said. “A lot of what you do when you’re game planning, they really work to establish him and I don’t think there’s any question it hurt them.”
Tilmon picked up his third foul 46 seconds into the second half. His fourth came when he ran into a jump shooter 18 feet from the rim. The final blow was an offensive foul called with 6:59 left that sent him to the bench with three points, one rebound and three turnovers in nine minutes.
The Tigers simply don’t have enough to overcome that against most teams in the SEC, and certainly not enough against the league’s best squad. Reed Nikko played 12 first half minutes and the Tigers were outscored by 12 when he was on the floor. Puryear and Santos are undersized when they’re forced to play in the post. And Mitchell Smith has fallen so far out of favor that he didn’t set foot on the court until Tilmon’s fifth foul with the game well out of reach.
“You have guys out there extended minutes that’s not used to playing that many minutes in those situations,” Martin said. “Then all of a sudden they get their head up and they make plays. I didn’t think we defended at the level we needed to. They made shots and changed the game.”
With Missouri’s best big man a non-factor, Alexander had a field day. The senior scored 14 points, but more importantly grabbed 17 rebounds and controlled the paint. The Vols also got contributions from John Fulkerson and outscored the Tigers 40-24 in the paint.
“The guy of the day was definitely Kyle Alexander,” Puryear said. “He changed the whole game for them.”
And the only potential answer Missouri had was sitting on the bench.
“You go back to Tilmon’s fouls,” Barnes said. “That changes what they wanted to do.”
What Missouri can do with Tilmon on the floor is be competitive with most of the teams in the SEC. But without him the Tigers will struggle on most nights. Tilmon is young and Missouri will be patient with his growth. But on nights where it isn’t there, the Tigers simply don’t have enough behind him to absorb the absence. Physically, Tilmon is everything an SEC team wants in the middle. But if his emotions continue to get the best of him, the talent doesn’t matter. Because when Tilmon is watching, it’s usually not pretty.
