The Mizzou Tigers took care of business at home, bringing down the Alabama State University Hornets by a score of 85-77. While the game wasn’t complete in all areas, it did put the Tigers back in the win column after an 0-2 week.
Jacob Crews also earned his first career start with Mizzou.
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While a bit apprehensive to celebrate the accomplishment, Gates did not hold back the praise.
“He earned it, man, he earned it,” Gates said. “But don’t let him fool you. It mattered that he heard his name last in that starting lineup, and it gave him some some real good energy.”
Anthony Robinson II led the offense as they established momentum right out of the gate. The guard opened the game with a jumper in the lane before Jacob Crews exploded for four three pointers only eight minutes in.
“I thought Jacob Crews, with his first start of the season, was able to come out and give us a spark,” Gates said. “I thought Anthony Robinson II benefited a little bit more with his aggressiveness and obviously the gravity that Crews sort of made the defense react to.”
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Playing more “aggressive”, Robinson finished the night with 19 points, five assists and two steals. It was the junior’s second-highest scoring performance this season and he found himself back in double digits for the first time in five games.
“To be honest, I’m really not trying to change anything,” Robinson II said. “Just getting back to myself, getting to the free throw line, and that’s who I am. So just always putting pressure on defense and, you know, hunting paint touches, that’s who I am. So the game’s just gonna come to me.”
At first, the Hornets stuck around. Later, they looked like they were searching for a missing puzzle piece as they went four and a half minutes without a single bucket.
When the offense was clicking, it seemed impossible to stop. Mizzou took advantage in the lane, drawing fouls and creating thirty points in the paint. Additionally, they had a varied shot selection filtered with good backdoor looks and cuts. Then, the offense would go dry and soon an 18 point lead had minimized to 13 at half.
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The second half opened stagnant, however, and the streakiness continued.
Missouri head coach Dennis Gates ultimately had to call a timeout nearly seven minutes into the second half after ASU was able to claw back to within nine points of the Tigers. The defense simply did not have an answer for Asjon Anderson and his twenty-plus points.
The Tigers were getting beat badly from deep, as the Hornets connected for 13 three’s over the course of the game.
Postgame Gates asked the media if anyone had watched all of Alabama State’s film. Nodding heads with resounding no’s, Gates had high praise about the opposition.
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“They have done a great job in the portal, trying to find those guys that can make shots from deep when a play is broken,” Gates said. “When you look at what this team did at UAB at the beginning of the season, Air Force, and then at New Mexico, they showed signs of the same exact characteristics of making tough shots under 10 seconds, five to 10 feet behind the three point line. So for me, I’m not shocked. Maybe for you guys, you are shocked. Even with high hands and even with contests, it was consistent with what they’ve done all year. So being able to just execute that game plan and stay out of rotation, the zone is what helped on that run. Specifically because we stayed out of rotation, we were able to be there on shooters versus long close outs on shooters. We’re able to give up twos and at that point fan out to the three point shooters. And that’s what allowed us to go on that run.”
Likewise, on the offensive side of the ball, the team was still without a solution. The field goal success rate dropped as the Tigers shot north of 70 percent in the first half, but were nearly fifteen percent less successful and couldn’t get the same amount of shots off in the closing half. Only seven threes were attempted over the course of the latter half. After connecting for four threes in the first half, Jacob Crews slashed his that in half.
Another harmful bout for Mizzou was the amount of turnovers committed, as the group misplayed the ball 11 times. The Hornets were only able to muster up three points off turnovers, a facet not fully taken advantage of that could have flipped the game on its head.
The sloppiness eleven games into the season did not go unnoticed.
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In a game where Mizzou was predicted to win by plus-twenty, an eight-point victory doesn’t provide much hope to walk away with. However, it was a needed victory as they head into a Braggin’ Rights game after a lackluster week against other power opponents.
“We would like to be undefeated,” Gates said. “But understand you’re not going to win every game, so winning the lessons, being able to understand what you need to continue to get better at is great.”
Before Illinois, the Tigers will face another SWAC opponent, Bethune-Cookman, on Sunday afternoon at 1pm at Mizzou Arena.
