Ky McKeon

I traveled to Columbia, MO to see my alma mater play basketball. Unfortunately, the experience was a bit of a letdown – and not just on the basketball court.

Every significant bar of my college days was closed for the holiday. That was a kick in the nuts.

A second kick in the nuts came while watching the Mizzou Tigers play basketball. What a sad state this program is in. Sure, Mizzou plays “tough” and “gritty”, they scrap and compete. But the Tigers severely lack talent and shooting, two things that help win basketball games.

With Mizzou football playing at Arkansas plus the Thanksgiving holiday, Mizzou Arena had maybe ten students in the crowd. Any presumed home court advantage given by oddsmakers pre-game was a mistake.

There was a fair amount of Wichita State fans in the stands, but their colors blended in with the Mizzou “crowd”.

As expected, this game was a slog the entire way, ending just 61 to 55 in favor of the Shockers, a total of 116 points, well below the pre-game total of 133 set by oddsmakers.

Mizzou didn’t score until nearly three minutes into the contest, which mercifully allowed the 1,000 or so fans to sit following tipoff. That anemic offense was a sign of things to come. The game was a brick-fest, and the halftime score was a measly 26 to 23 in favor of the Shockers.

A few thoughts popped into my head while watching the first half:

-        Why is Kobe Brown running point?

-        Wow, Wichita is sloppier than Mizzou offensively

Mizzou ended the first half 10/31 from field and 0/5 from 3. The Shockers weren’t much better and had nine turnovers to Mizzou’s four. It was one of the worst halves of basketball I have ever watched in person.

The second half started with a bang! Just kidding, it was atrocious just like the first half. Mizzou was crashing the glass with reckless abandon and missing bunnies around the rim. Wichita head coach Isaac Brown picked up a technical for yelling at the refs, allowing Mizzou to tie the game with about 18:00 left to play.

Wichita made a little run, putting it ahead 37-30 with just under 13 minutes to play. Mizzou hadn’t scored in nearly three minutes, which happened a few times that night. It was at this point another thought popped into my head:

-        Mizzou severely lacks a point guard, a general, a playmaker on offense. There is not one player on the roster who can score off the bounce. There are no true attackers. Mizzou’s players’ drives consist of pounding the rock as hard they can, and, when they can’t get past the defender, turning their body and backing down as if posting up from 18-feet out. It’s ugly offense and ineffective.

At the under-8 media timeout, the score was 46-38 Shockers. Mizzou was 31% from the floor. Wichita had 14 turnovers (Mizzou nine). Wichita was 5/10 from the FT line. Mizzou was 6/11.

There was a sequence just after the timeout which served as a microcosm for the entire contest. Wichita stole the ball and had a 4-on-1 going the other way. Instead of scoring, the ball handler threw the pill directly to a Mizzou defender. That Mizzou defender then chucked the ball about 40 feet down the court directly to a Wichita defender. That Wichita defender passed up the floor to his teammate, who then traveled. Sloppy, sloppy, slop slop slop.

At the under-4 timeout it was clear the game was over and had been for a while. Wichita was up ten points, which might as well have been 100 at the rate either team was scoring. The game ended with Mizzou trying to push the 3-point closing spread on a last second long-ball try. Fittingly it missed, and I cashed my Wichita -2.5 ticket.

Mizzou ended the game 2/18 from 3 and 23/66 overall from the field. The two teams combined to shoot 16/33 from the foul line. Reminder: these two teams play Division I basketball.

Wichita led the entire game. Mizzou never had the lead and tied it only twice. It was a thoroughly dominant and underwhelming performance.

Cuonzo Martin was somber post-game. He took pride in the fact his team got into the paint and to rim with relative ease. He was disappointed his squad couldn’t capitalize on easy chances. He was upset about the lack of scoring off Wichita’s 18 turnovers. Cuonzo explained that missing shots took the air out of the Tigers’ tires. They just couldn’t get any momentum going.

Quick, bitter final takes take as a Mizzou fan:

-        The lack of shooting on this roster is a travesty. I cannot understand how 1,000 players transferred this offseason and Mizzou couldn’t recruit one good shooter.

-        Why do we play Jordan Wilmore more than Yaya Keita? Why not develop the 4-star freshman and focus on the future? Wilmore works hard, and he’s enormous (I’m up to his nipple and I’m 6’3”) but his lack of offensive skill clogs the action.

-        Javon Pickett played 35 minutes. Pickett, again, is a hard worker and solid defender. But he is a negative offensively. Mizzou is poor on offense in part because we have Kobe Brown as our point guard and Javon Pickett as our “go-to” scorer. Do we have better options? I don’t know, but it seems we should be getting the young guys some experience and planning for the future.

Mizzou will pull off an ugly win or two in SEC play. It will be a scrappy underdog. But it is hard to believe the Tigers finishing with five or more wins in conference play. An NCAA Tournament bid seems out of reach.

As to Wichita – the Shockers aren’t exactly a world beater either. The Shockers’ guards played with stupidity. Multiple times WSU had numbers on a fast break and multiple times it turned the ball over and forced a bad shot. Brown, like Martin, hangs his hat on toughness and defense, but it will take more than that for the Shockers to get back to the Dance.

Check out a clip from Cuonzo's Martin’s post-game presser on our Instagram (@3MW_CBB)