random thoughts from last night's game

Posted on: January 26, 2022 at 08:09:56 CT

In terms of strictly effort, that was a tremendous performance by MU. They were vastly outmatched and undermanned, but they played harder and battled harder than I can recall an MU team doing for such a sustained period really without any lapses. Keep in mind this team goes 7 deep max. Anything beyond the top 7 of our rotation is essentially bodies that contribute no production, and we almost never give meaningful minutes to anyone outside that top 7. Granted they can rest on the offensive end, but in terms of defending and battling on the boards MU gave sustained max effort last night and really deserved to win the game.

Auburn ended up taking 18 more shots than the Tigers due to their size advantage and simply killing us on the offensive glass. That ended up being the difference in the game, but it wasn’t for lack of effort or poor fundamental approach. Our defense caused Auburn to miss a huge amount of shots, and their size and superior depth allowed them to collect a lot of those misses and get second chances.

The game, like most Cuonzo coached contests, was actually lost on the offensive end for MU. Kobe scored back to back baskets with 16 minutes remaining in the second half for MU to take a slim 1 pt lead. They were able to lock Auburn down for an extended period of time from there…..but MU made a fast break transition layup by Coleman and slop putback off an offensive rebound by Pickett between the 16 minute mark and 4 minute mark. We went 12 minutes of gametime without our half court offense generating anything. We switched to Kobe being the primary ball handler and for possession after possession 4 other guys literally stood motionless the entire time watching him try and create and waiting for kickouts. We basically ran no offense for almost half of the second half.

Our inability to protect the rim during opponent second half comebacks is frustrating, opposing guards simply get shots at the rim from half court sets over and over. This is a pretty limited roster and it would be one thing if we just physically didn’t have the capacity to protect the rim, but we have someone who is a borderline elite weakside shot blocker as a freshman who is always on the bench when that occurs.

Coleman is going to be an effective player when he gets moved to the wing, even at the SEC level. And Davis will be a capable and consistent SEC caliber scorer playing in a more structured offense that takes advantage of some of his skills. Those two transfers, in the right future scenario, will end up being valuable additions. I thought both of them unquestionably battled very hard. And the same goes for Degray, he will be a nice bench piece even to a quality SEC team (if we could get him to stop shooting so many 3s). Gordon seems to have considerably regressed, I’m not seeing it with him any longer but maybe in a more defined role he would be more effective. I don’t see much difference between him and Duece Bello at this point.

Its unfortunate we don’t have any pg options, because I’m highly confident if Coleman was playing on the wing and Kobe was playing on the blocks we win that game. It really took away from both their games having to assuming ball handling and creating duties, and neither are really very good at it. I will say this, he isn’t quite as athletic obviously, but Kobe is turning into a poor man’s version of a young Charles Barkley. He is that versatile. But it really kills us offensively that he spends so much time on the perimeter and away from the basket.

The long offensive draught aside, as I’m sure will be rehashed over and over that was really a rather indefensible coaching decision to just allow the final possession to play out, we approached that like it was tied or we had the lead. There is just no mathematical or tactical way our approach was going to work in that scenario. It’s a shame to have that kind of effort game lost on a boneheaded tactical error that didn’t even give us a chance to try and overcome it.

Very enjoyable (low scoring) game and the crowd was great. I think in general we had a great gameplan and obviously pushed Auburn way out of their comfort zone and dictated the pace and style to them all night. That Johnson dude seems to always kill us, he gets ****ed off and turns into a min-Hulk out there and has another gear we can’t match. But that and-1 at the end was a garbage call and they really made it difficult for Coleman to do anything to defend him down the stretch.

Here is the thing…while it isn’t realistic to expect the same level of consistent effort you bring against the #1 ranked team at home to each game, our complete collapses and mail in jobs in rivalry games this year become harder to defend when you realize that this roster does have a path to compete against high caliber opponents. If you can beat Bama, blow out Ole Miss on the road, control the game and give yourself a chance at the end against a #1 ranked 19-1 team….then you have no business being completely outclassed by UMKC and Liberty and looking like a JV squad against ku, Illinois, and Arkansas. That both are happening in the same season is a very clear indication of a poorly coached program that really has no identity or consistent game over game strategy or structure.

Edited by FIJItiger at 09:03:13 on 01/26/22