
The Tigers team captain produced his first leader-like performance of the season, as he dazzled beyond the arc and on the drive.
Head coach Dennis Gates’ team got to experience something they haven’t experienced in just less than a year, a second win in a row. Behind aggressive play in the paint and an offense powered by dunks and pull-up shots from beyond the arc, the Missouri Tigers emerged victorious over the Eastern Washington Eagles, 84-77
A major key to winning basketball games that last year’s group was unable to accomplish is the art of drawing fouls to pick up quick and easy points, and the Tigers did so early against Eastern Washington. In the first half, Missouri had entered the bonus with 12:07 to play in the half, opening up opportunities in the glass. The foul drawing strength persisted throughout the game as the Tigers achieved a similar feat in the second half.
The Eagles silenced the Monday night Mizzou Arena crowd early as they jumped out to a 12-4 lead in the early going, but some fiery basketball from team captain Caleb Grill kickstarted a 17-3 run for Mizzou in return. Grill had entered the game averaging just three points a game, but had eclipsed 10 points before the halfway mark. Grill finished with 33 points on 10-of-13 shooting, a career high.
Andrew Cook was a player to watch for the Eagles headed into this matchup, as he made a living in a variety of places on the court. Cook’s efficiency was of note heading into this game as he had posted a 61% field goal percentage coming in. He upheld that reputation in this tilt as he shot four-of-five in the first half with his only miss being from beyond the arc.
A key defensive matchup in this game was Grill who was essentially glued to Cook the entire game, and while the Eagles were unable to stop Grill on the offensive side Grill was also unable to curtail Cook. Cook’s aggressive cuts to the basket and ambitious defensive play made him effectively the sole tangible threat on the Eagles roster throughout the tilt.
Of note for the Tigers were the omissions of highly-touted freshman Annor Boateng and South Carolina transfer Josh Gray from the team after the first four minutes. The pair were -8 when on the court despite a 12-point halftime lead for the Tigers.
Heading into this game a clear weakness for the Eagles was their size disadvantage in the glass, as their tallest player in the starting lineup Emmett Marquardt is a freshman and 6-foot-9. This is in stark contrast to a Missouri lineup that features five players above that threshold, not including Trent Burns as the 7-foot-5 big man was out another game with an illness.
Early turnovers forced the Tigers to be unable to set up their defense, but when they settled down the Tigers were in a pretty fluid 1-3-1 zone defense, and it worked pretty well at closing driving lanes. Eastern Washington adjusted to this defense in the second half by quickening their ball movement and hitting tight windows within the zone to get open looks.
The Eagles started getting the best of Missouri towards the midway point of the second half, as the Eagles played better team basketball for a stretch. What was once a 15-point Missouri lead got twiddled down to as low as a seven-point one.
The difference in this game was a common theme in games where high-majors play mid-majors, a stark disparity in points off of the bench. The Tigers led that category 50-14 with over 50% of their points coming from their substitutes, while Eastern Washington primarily relied on their starters as they have all season.
The woes kept on building for Missouri as Grill missed all three free throws after he was fouled shooting beyond the arc, and Cook obliged with a smooth bucket cutting to the basket to cut the Tiger lead to six. As the Tigers continued to try to pull away from the Eagles, head coach Dan Monson’s team kept fighting back. A Mason Williams dagger-three brought the score to 70-67 in favor of the Tigers with 6:48 remaining in the game.
The aforementioned point of dominating the glass being a key aspect of the game held true, and that area was shifted in Eastern Washington’s favor as they tied the Tigers in rebounding at 28, worse than the Tigers by four in second chance points, and had more points than the Tigers in the paint by eight.
Apart from Grill, Mark Mitchell stood out for the Tigers as a valuable asset in the paint as he posted 13 points on six-of-10 shooting. Missouri was able to pull away from the Eagles by utilizing the fact that the Eagles were well into double-bonus territory, and drawing fouls for free throws. Grill also hit some big time shots to put the game out of reach, and I don’t think this team wants to know where they would have been without his performance tonight.
The win doesn’t exactly inspire a lot for the Missouri fanbase, as the Eagles were in the game with just under a minute to play and the Tigers played yet another unclean second half. They were outplayed in facets that they shouldn’t have been outplayed in, but escaped thanks to their depth which is an advantage they won’t have later in the season against power-conference foes.
Missouri shot 54.2% from the field to Eastern Washington’s 51.8%, as the Tigers led the free throw battle 22-31 to the Eagles’ 10-12 from the charity stripe. Missouri also shot 55.6% from beyond the arc, a stark contrast to Eastern Washington’s 36%.
The Tigers next tilt is at home on Thursday, November 14 as they play host to the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils at 6:30 PM CST on ESPN/SECN+.
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