The Duke transfer picked up his eighth 15+ point outing of the season as the Tigers rode early shooting efficiency to victory that will certainly count in March.
The Missouri Tigers (13-3, 2-1 Southeastern) looked for their second straight win in conference play against the Vanderbilt Commodores (13-3, 1-2 Southeastern), in a game that seemed slated to have huge implications for March. The Tigers fended off several comeback bids from the Commodores to hang on for a 75-66 victory, their 13th consecutive at home.
“Our guys played with some resolve and resilience,” head coach Dennis Gates said. “Which ultimately led to us coming out with the victory.
The Tigers started the game five-of-five from the field and a staggering four-of-four from three-point land. This hot start immediately boosted them to a 14-2 lead inside the first five minutes. This start set the tone for the game which was further established by similar runs throughout from the Tigers and the Commodores in response to each other.
Heading into the game Vanderbilt possessed eerily similar numbers to Mizzou in three-pointers made, steals, and points on a per game basis. The similarity in numbers is a good explanation for both these teams’ post-season aspirations being in similar spots, as both were labeled in the “Last Four In” in Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology.
The marquee man for the Commodores was Jason Edwards, who banged up his knee against Mississippi State that forced him to post his first ever collegiate game without a point. However, he was listed as probable the night before the game and looked his usual self in the early going. Edwards is one of the top facilitators of play in the SEC, averaging over 17 points a game. Edwards exceeded his average in this game picking up 20 points.
After their disastrous start, Vanderbilt found success through spacing which organically created driving lanes for players like Edwards to pounce on or to kick out to a shooter on the perimeter.
Mark Mitchell’s good outing began after converting his first three field goal attempts and picking up eight points in the first ten minutes of the game. His success resulted from efficient ball movement on the perimeter giving him clean lanes to the basket. Mitchell’s efficiency from the charity stripe has been a point of improvement for him this season, as his innate ability to draw fouls is neutralized by his inability to hit free throws at a consistent rate. Mitchell accumulated 19 points and shot seven-of-nine from the free throw line, one of his best marks of the season.
“Any team we go against I am trying to attack, we obviously knew [Vandy] was a little undersized,” Mitchell said. “They’re a really good team, they wall up and play physical.”
Unfortunately Mitchell’s usual free throw struggles seemed to be handed off to the usually reliable Anthony Robinson II, an 85% shooter on the season, was just 5-9 from the free-throw line. Robinson wasn’t the only player who struggled from the free throw line with the Tigers shooting 68%, one of their worst percentages of the season.
A Trent Pierce three-pointer off of a hard working rebound from Robinson put the Tigers up 17 with just over four minutes remaining in the half, with swarming defense leading to efficient offense. However, a late surge of inefficiency from Mizzou opened the door slightly ajar for the Commodores as they found themselves down by just nine at halftime.
The starters were hot hands from beyond the arc in the first half shooting six-of-seven but the bench—which has usually been a valuable asset to Gates’ group—shot one-of-nine from the three-point line in that same time period. The culprits were unusual with Caleb Grill, Jacob Crews, and Marques Warrick missing relatively open looks on the regular despite distance shooting being focal points of their games.
For every reaction from Mizzou there was an opposite reaction from Vanderbilt, as they would just not allow the Tigers to put this game out of reach. Mizzou’s herculean advantage in the field goal percentage department was erased seven minutes into the second half, highlighting their sudden inefficiency woes.
An over four minute hiatus of scoring didn’t do anything to help curtail Vandy’s momentum, as they underwent a 9-0 run during the drought to bring the game back to within three, its closest margin since Mizzou went up 3-0 on the first possession of the game. Caleb Grill shot himself out of a slump and took Mizzou out of the drought with a three-pointer, after starting zero-for-five from the three-point line.
The turning point in this game came with around eight minutes left after two consecutive long distance threes from Tamar Bates and Grill respectively extended the Tiger lead back to what it was at halftime. At least it would have been a turning point, had the Tigers not committed multiple offensive fouls creating empty possessions.
“I believe we’re a resilient team,” Robinson said. “We’re gonna stay together and the connectivity we have the trust we have in each other plays a big part in staying connected in those moments.”
Vanderbilt responded with an 8-0 run continuing to exude a “bend but don’t break” mentality in this game, constantly flirting with the lead. To this run Missouri responded with a 5-0 run of their own but Vanderbilt continued to get tough buckets to keep the Tigers in danger of losing. In the end however, tough defensive possessions from the Tigers and key missed shots from the Commodores, allowed the Tigers to survive.
“We stopped their second chance points and kept them off the free-throw line late,” Gates said. “We went zone and it kept us out of rotation, whoever was in the middle was able to rebound efficiently.”
Statistically, the Tigers shot 49% from the field while the Commodores shot 40%. Mizzou shot 41.7% from three-point land to Vandy’s 44.4% and outrebounded the visitors 33 to 29. Both teams turned the ball over 14 times and scored 19 points off of each others turnovers.
The Tigers will now gear up for a second consecutive road nightmare, as they will head to Gainesville to take on the No. 8 Florida Gators on Tuesday, January 14th at 8 PM CST.