MBB Preview and Live Thread: Mizzou holds home-opener against SEMO

First Half

Mark Mitchell rejects a poster attempt at the rim, then finishes with a sweet layup at the other end for the first points of the game. Two possessions later, Shawn Phillips Jr. rejects a layup off the glass, and Anthony Robinson II sticks a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession. 5-0 Tigers with just over two minutes gone.
Mizzou leads 10-0 at the under-16 timeout. The Tigers have attacked the basket relentlessly so far, as Robinson II’s 3-pointer is the only attempt from beyond the arc so far. However, Jevon Porter already has two fouls, which is a little much at this juncture of the game.
Mizzou leads 19-12 with 12:30 left in the first half. SEMO has gone on a nice scoring run here, as the Redhawks have forced some MU turnovers and moved well in the halfcourt. The Tigers have logged a few defensive breakdowns over the past couple of minutes.
SEMO’s offense heated up with seven consecutive made field goal attempts, cutting the Mizzou lead to five, before Anthony Robinson converted a layup and drew the foul heading into the under-12. Tigers lead 25-18 with 10:20 left in the half, and Robinson will attempt the and-one after the break.
Mizzou leads 34-27 with 7:49 remaining in the half. SEMO has shot it well, going 11-19 from the field and 4-7 from three, to keep this one close so far.
SEMO leads 40-37 at the under-four timeout. Mizzou is playing fundamentally unsound defense, and the Redhawks are capitalizing. The Tigers also keep turning the ball over on offense — there’ve been a lot of layup and dunk attempts that’ve been knocked out of a white jersey’s hand. Oh, and Mizzou is 3-of-10 from the charity stripe. Not ideal!
SEMO leads 48-46 with 61 seconds left in the half. Porter gifted SEMO two points by shoving a Redhawk during a dead ball, which earned him a technical foul. 3-pointers from Luke Northweather, Jayden Stone and Jacob Crews have kept Mizzou afloat late in this first half.
HALFTIME: SEMO 51, Mizzou 46. This was the kind of half that earns sprints in practice. The Tigers have committed nine turnovers, are 3-of-10 from the free-throw line and look porous defensively. Rotations have been late, and SEMO jerseys are getting to the basket pretty easily on dribble drives. This is all overshadowing the fact that Mizzou is a blistering 19-of-30 from the field on offense.

Second Half

Pregame Updates

Mizzou vs SEMO

When | 7:00 p.m. CT

Where | Mizzou Arena; Columbia, MO

TV | SECN+

Radio | Tiger Radio Network

Twitter | @MizzouHoops

Kenpom prediction | Mizzou -19

ESPN win probability | 98.9% chance

The Starters

Mizzou (0-0)

G: Anthony Robinson II (JR, 9.0 PPG in 24-25)

G: Sebastian Mack (JR, 9.6 PPG in 24-25 at UCLA)

F: Jevon Porter (SR, 12.5 PPG in 24-25 at Pepperdine)

F: Mark Mitchell (SR, 13.9 PPG in 24-25)

C: Shawn Phillips, Jr. (SR, 5.4 PPG in 24-25 at Arizona State)

Notable Sixth Man: Jayden Stone (SR, 20.8 in 23-24 at Detroit Mercy)

SEMO (0-1)

F: Brendan Terry (SR, 11.2 PPG in 24-25)

G: Luke Almodovar (JR, 20.0 PPG in 24-25 at Saint Francis)

G: Troy Cole Jr (SR, 5.8 PPG in 24-25)

G: BJ Ward (JR, 8.4 PPG in 24-25)

G: Braxton Stacker (SR, 8.9 PPG in 24-25)

Notable Sixth Man: Marqueas Bell (JR, 3.4 PPG in 24-25)

Note: these starting lineups are projected.

Get to know the SEMO Redhawks

From Sam Snelling’s preseason preview:

“Based in Cape Girardeau, the Redhawks have been playing Division I basketball since 1991 and have done so in the Ohio Valley Conference the entire time. It’s not an illustrious historical record, but their school mascot was the Indians until changing to the Redhawks in 2005, for obvious reasons. Prior to the name change, SEMO had just one NCAA Tournament appearance under their belt, that came in 2000 under Gary Garner. But success was fleeting and Garner was fired 6 seasons later. In 2009, a few coaches later, the school hired Dickey Nutt to be their coach and Nutt did pretty well. He never got them over the hump so the school tried Rick Ray who did about as well as he did at Mississippi State …. Enter Brad Korn.”

In 2022-2023, Korn even took a team full of “local kids and overlooked regional recruits” to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in school history. It’s been an up-and-down road for the Redhawks who are looking to build off of its success from last season.

Also included in the season preview is a note about how this team is compiled over “local kids and overlooked regional recruits.” Korn has built up the roster over the years with this theme in mind, even making the tournament in 2022-2023.

The Redhawks lost two of their leading scores after last season, but retained the next four. However, Brendan Terry, a forward, is the only double digit scorer (11.2) left after roster turnover. I think he’ll be the biggest player to watch from SEMO not only because of his production last year, but also his contribution in the Redhawks first game against SLU. In a rough 92-67 beating, Terry recorded 14 points, 2 rebounds and 2 steals.

SEMO still maintains production from B.J. Ward who shot 37.6% from outside last year and impact player Braxton Stacker improved his shooting percentage over 14 percent between his sophomore and junior year. Terry, Ward and Stacker were all named OVC players to watch. Last year, Terry was received Second-Team All-OVC Accolades.

The Redhawks also added a handful of transfers including Luke Almodvar from NAIA St. Francis who collected 8 points and 2 steals in his first appearance with SEMO. The group also added Landren Blocker from Lousiana Tech as well as Blaize Sagna who hails from Stetson.

SEMO is 0-9 all-time against the Missouri Tigers.

3 Keys to the Game

Start fast

A main obstacle to avoid is the over-confidence of being comfortable at home. The Tigers will need to set the tone early and start fast and jump out to an early lead to make sure the Redhawks can’t find their footing. With the crowd and home court advantage behind Mizzou they should break away early and effectively.

Limit turnovers

Against Howard this was the Tigers biggest vice, allowing 16 turnovers over the course of the game. Gates attributed this to the rust of it being first game jitters.

In his Thursday presser, Gates said:

“We turned the ball over. It put us in a great learning environment, a great situation to figure out how to dig ourselves out of it …. Early on, I thought, you look at Shawn Phillips’ numbers, he had five or six turnovers. He was just dribbling the ball too much and not allowing it to be moved. And I want him to be maybe a step closer in his post feeding opportunities versus a step off the block, and our players have got to understand and put him in the right situations. We’ve got to be able to meet every pass, play in a fundamental triple threat position, and those things will limit [the issues.]”

The Redhawks are a known scrappy basketball team and the Tigers will need to settle in quick to avoid letting the passionate road team fight their way back into it.

Free Throws. Yes, they’re free.

Heading into the first game this wasn’t something I was quite worried about given the team’s success from the line in the exhibition against Kansas State. However, on the road the Tigers couldn’t execute, going a measly 10-21 via free throws. While the Howard Bison never came within five points of the Tigers, the missed free throws seemed like an omen coming back to bite them when the going got tough. Being at home Mizzou should be able to have an extra level of concentration to get them back in the groove with free throws.

Injury Report

Dennis Gates announced that the team will still be without Trent Pierce, Annor Boateng and Trent Burns.

Pierce practiced with the team on Tuesday and Wednesday; however, Gates kept him out of practice on Thursday and announced he will not play against SEMO. The details of his injury have still not been revealed.

Annor Boateng is also dealing with an undisclosed injury, but according to Gates he is day-to-day.

Burns has foot surgery in the offseason and will be out for an undetermined amount of time. The original timeline had him set to miss the first four weeks of non-conference play.

Game Prediction

My prediction: Mizzou 93, SEMO 65

I expect SEMO to have a rough experience on the road and fall in similar fashion to how they did against SLU. I think Mizzou’s fast-paced offense will be enough to conquer a scrappy Redhawks team, but the Tigers will need to be fast and smart right out of the gate. I also believe that Mizzou will look to shake off the rust in a few areas after Howard. However, they’ll also look to capitalize against another mid-major with players like Shawn Phillips Jr. and Jayden Stone wanting to keep up the momentum. I’d expect the home-opener to end with a raucous crowd watching their team move to 2-0 on the season.

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