The host Tigers’ 10 threes were a slap-you–in-the-face introduction to conference play for Mizzou
The Missouri Tigers tipped off SEC play facing the No. 2 Auburn Tigers on the road, looking for a second upset over a top five team this season on Saturday on The Plains. Auburn put an end to that conversation, utilizing airtight defense and efficient shooting from downtown for an emphatic 84-68 victory, putting Missouri to 11-3 on the season.
Johni Broome, Auburn’s star power forward who came into the game averaging over 18 points and 12 rebounds a game, was extremely active for the blue-and-orange Tigers early, involving himself in all of Auburn’s first eleven points. Broome finished the game with 24 points, shooting 9-13 from the field.
Tamar Bates and Mark Mitchell, the headlining stars for Missouri, mirrored Broome’s fortunes, picking up all of Missouri’s first 11 points themselves. Bates’ success came in transition while Mitchell’s came off the drive, but Mitchell’s usual game of physicality was matched by Auburn’s front court. After scoring the first 11 points of the game, however, the duo picked up only three more points for the rest of the game.
The gameplan for head coach Dennis Gates was simple in structure but hardly simple in execution— get one of the least turnover-prone teams in the country to play sloppy basketball and capitalize in transition.
Missouri’s early struggles culminated from their inability to cover Auburn players on the perimeter when ball carriers were on the drive. Kickout plays for three-pointers were aplenty, which was paramount to Auburn holding a healthy seven to 11-point lead in the game for the majority of the first half.
The lead stretched out to 14 after a logo three-pointer fell for Auburn, marking their sixth made three-pointer of the half. The Tigers came into the game with the top-ranked offense according to KenPom, and it was clear to see why with the efficiency they ran their offense.
If it wasn’t Broome on the inside posting up it was the plethora of shooters Auburn had who could shoot from virtually anywhere on the court. On the other hand, Missouri had just one made three in the first half. An offensive philosophy absent of three-point shooting had worked previously for the Tigers, but when Auburn was shooting it like they were it was pretty hard for Gates’ crew to keep up.
Despite leading by as many as 16, a late surge by Missouri made it a 45-33 deficit at halftime. This was impressive considering Mizzou shot a season low 43% from the field in the first half. Unfortunately, Auburn got off to a 12-1 run to begin the second half which ballooned their lead to 23.
Broome found himself three points below his season average of 18 with 18 minutes to go in the second half, signaling a poor job of containment of the Wooden Award hopeful.
Down 57-34, the game seemed out of reach for Missouri early in the second half with a raucous sellout crowd at Neville Arena loudly making their presence heard. Missouri’s offensive struggles were highlighted by the fact they didn’t have a single player in double digits until there was less than eight minutes remaining in the game. The black & gold also only compiled 10 points in the first 10 minutes of the second half which didn’t help match Auburn’s national championship caliber offense.
Mizzou usually excels in getting to the line and shooting free throws, but Auburn beat them in that area, too, making more free throws at a higher rate with a slightly lesser quantity. The lack of aggression from Mizzou seemed to stem from the length Auburn possessed in the defensive post with Broome and Dylan Cardwell.
Missouri’s offensive struggles throughout the game were finally met with offensive success thanks to the introduction of Jacob Crews, who became the first Missouri player to hit two threes after nailing his first two shots from deep. Marques Warrick joined in as a refreshing addition with a team-high 19 points. The bench’s impact was felt the whole game with them accounting for 47 of the Tigers’ 68 points.
Mizzou also typically excels in winning the points off of turnovers battle, and it was alos not the case Saturday night, as Auburn picked up 22 points off of turnovers to Missouri’s 15.
When down by as much as they were, Gates salvaged the final 10 minutes of the game by giving players such as T.O. Barrett, Marcus Allen, and Annor Boateng hefty minutes. Interestingly enough, the Tiger offense became more efficient with the less experienced group, which if anything should give Gates more confidence to give them more valuable minutes in this grueling slate of conference games.
With Missouri failing to eclipse the 75-point mark for the first time this season, they were taken off the list of just four teams to score more than 75 in every game this season. Missouri shot 38% from the field in the game, a season low with a 30% three-point percentage (mostly thanks to a late flurry of threes from Warrick and Crews).
Up Next, Missouri will host the LSU Tigers at home on Tuesday, January 7 at 8 PM CST on SEC Network.