Missouri men’s basketball opened its 2021 season with a home game against the Central Michigan Chippewas Tuesday night.
Missouri head coach Cuonzo Martin’s team led by 16 at the half, but the Chippewas cut the Tigers’ lead to two before the hosts pulled away late and won 78-68.
Missouri entered the night with three players unavailable: freshman forward Trevon Brazile, freshman guard Kaleb Brown and junior guard DaJuan Gordon.
The only senior on the Missouri team, guard Javon Pickett, led the Tigers in the first half. Tallying 13 points in the first, Pickett scored a majority of his points at the rim, but also showed his willingness and ability to shoot the ball from the three point line.
After a sluggish start in which Missouri only scored 16 points in the opening 10 minutes, Pickett and the three ball began to fall, allowing the Tigers to take control of the game. The Tigers trailed 16-19 midway through the first half, before going on a 29-10 run to take a 45-29 lead into halftime.
While most of Mizzou Arena wasn’t full for the nonconference matchup, one section had nearly perfect attendance: the student section. One of the loudest moments from the student section came during the Tigers’ first-half run. Missouri hit three straight shots, capped off by junior forward Kobe Brown finding junior guard Amari Davis for a basket in transition. Missouri’s first shot in this run fell when redshirt junior guard Jarron Coleman hit a three from the left wing, then Pickett followed with a layup at the rim.
The basket prompted Central Michigan head coach Tony Barbee to call a timeout, and Missouri’s packed student section erupted.
“The fan energy from the student section was tremendous, ” Martin said. “That is what makes great programs.”
The Tiger’s three available transfers played well Tuesday night. Coleman and Davis started, while sophomore forward Ronnie DeGray III came off the bench. All three combined to score 41 of Missouri’s 78 points against the Chippewas.
Coleman finished the game with 14 points, 5 assists and 3 rebounds; Davis finished with 14 points, 2 assists and 4 rebounds; and DeGray finished with a double-double of 13 points and a team-high 12 boards.
“It’s not about making shots, it’s about winning ball games,” Martin said. “It has been really fun to coach them.”
Central Michigan’s 16-4 run early in the second half brought its deficit within four at the under-12 timeout, led by red-hot shooting. Graduate guard Jermaine Jackson Jr., who finished the night 5-10 from the three, finished with a team-high 19 points.
Missouri responded to the Central Michigan comeback with ferocious defense, holding the Chippewas scoreless for over five minutes after the under-12 timeout.
“I know we started slow on defense,” Davis said. “As the game went on, we started getting stops, started picking up our energy where defense created offense.”
Brown failed to score a field goal until 4:36 remaining in the game, when he scored after controlling his own miss.
But Brown contributed in other ways, such as grabbing 9 rebounds, including three on the offensive glass. Brown also converted 5 of his 6 free throws in the final three minutes and shot 6-8 from the line overall.
“He came in and gave us a big spark at the end,” Coleman said when talking about Brown. “I told him to do what he does best.”
Pickett continued his great night with a stretch of big plays late. With the Tigers only up two with just over three minutes remaining in the game, Pickett knocked down a deep three from the left wing. Then a few plays later, he stripped the ball from Central Michigan junior forward Miroslav Stafl before finding Brown, who was fouled and went to the line to put the Tigers up 71-62. Pickett finished the game with 18 points, 5 boards and 3 assists.
The Chippewas attempted to put together a late comeback, but the Tigers finished the game strong at the free-throw line, knocking down 7 of 8 from the stripe in the final three minutes.
“Great win for our guys, for our season,” Martin said. “I thought it was a good performance, especially being short-handed.”
Edited by Kyle Pinnell | kpinnell@themaneater.com
