Despite Saturday’s season-ending 78-63 defeat against Princeton in the Round of 32, Missouri men’s basketball put together an unforgettable season.
Flawless.
On Saturday, Princeton men’s basketball was flawless. Well, it committed nine turnovers, so it was not totally flawless. But the Tigers from New Jersey were pretty close to perfect in the 78-63 domination of Missouri to become just the fourth 15 seed in history to advance to the Sweet 16. Three of them have come in the past three tournaments (Oral Roberts in 2021, Saint Peter’s in 2022).
Princeton out-hustled Missouri. They grabbed 15 more rebounds than the Tigers from Columbia, which included 17 offensive rebounds — the third-most Missouri had given up in a game all season. Proper box outs from the black and gold were few and far in between. Princeton’s command of the glass was surprising, as they were an average rebounding team all season long.
From a Missouri perspective, however, this was not a surprising result. Their season-long offensive rebounding percentage of 25.5% ranked in the bottom half of the country, and it reared its ugly head on Saturday. Out of its 36 missed shots, Missouri grabbed just eight of them for an offensive rebounding percentage of 22.2%, which would have ranked in the low 300s in the nation if it were over in an entire season.
Princeton outshot Missouri. It made six more threes and five more free throws. Senior Ryan Langborg dropped 22 points — 1 point short of his career-high. Sophomore guard Blake Peters set a new career-high with 17 points on five made 3-pointers. On the other hand, Missouri shot just 41% from the field and 27.3% from three, which were usually indicators of a defeat; Missouri was 1-7 when it shot below 41% from the field and 3-6 when it shot 28% from 3 or worse. Those records became 1-8 and 3-7, respectively.
It was one of those games where it felt like the underdog seemed to be doing everything right, and the favorite could not do anything right. The game was reminiscent of UMBC’s colossal 74-54 upset over Virginia in 2018 (although the upset was of far more seismic proportions than this one). Although inferior in talent, the Retrievers dominated the Cavaliers from start to finish in every aspect of the game. Whenever Virginia would put together any semblance of a scoring run, UMBC would respond with one of its own.
Princeton emulated the spirit of UMBC eerily well against Missouri. Princeton continuously got around Missouri’s traps, as the black and gold forced just nine Princeton turnovers. The Princeton Tigers were getting into the paint with little to no resistance up top, and shooters were open frequently, especially in the corners. Princeton did all of the little things right; Missouri struggled to do any of them at all.
Missouri’s recipe for success all season long largely predicated on four things: quick tempo, hot shooting, effective passing and forcing a lot of turnovers. None of that happened on Saturday.
If you’re a Missouri Tigers supporter, it is completely understandable to feel like this season has been tainted, a disappointment, a failure. One disheartening defeat seems to have overridden a season filled with great success. It happened in 1994. It happened in 2012. Now, it feels like 2023 can be added to that list.
However, let’s step back and look at the bigger picture.
Missouri was picked to finish 11th out of 14 SEC teams in the preseason conference media poll. Eighty percent of the roster did not play for Missouri last season, including one who played at the junior college level and one who played at the community college level in 2021-22. The entire coaching staff had changed. All signs pointed to 2022-23 being a rebuilding year in Columbia.
Instead, Missouri hopped aboard a rocketship to a stratosphere few thought was even imaginable. The Tigers took down tournament teams in Illinois, Kentucky, Arkansas, Iowa State, Tennessee (twice) and Mississippi State. They finished with their most regular season wins in a decade, which included numerous sold out home games. They made the SEC tournament semifinals for the first time since joining the conference 10 years ago, then won their first March Madness game since 2010.
Senior forward Kobe Brown put together his best season in Columbia, as he not only led the Tigers in points per game, but also upped his field goal percentage eight percentage points since last season and saw his 3-point shooting percentage skyrocket 25 (!) percentage points on over an attempt more per game. He was also dubbed the SEC’s Scholar Athlete of the Year and made the Academic All-America team for the entirety of Division I college basketball.
This season wasn’t just the Kobe Brown show. In fact, it was far from it. Seven different Tigers scored at least 17 points in a game this season. Missouri had all kinds of different threats on both ends of the floor. Numerous opposing coaches spoke about how difficult it was to prepare for Missouri because of their unpredictability.
Head Coach Dennis Gates was named SEC Coach of the Year by USA Today, and the reasons are understandable. He introduced a fresh style of play that overwhelmed teams with speed and aggressiveness. He instilled eight core values — friendship, love, accountability, trust, discipline, unselfishness, enthusiasm and toughness — that were carried out throughout the entire season. It was clear from the get-go that Gates cared about his players beyond basketball, and that the values he instilled in them will not only help them on the court, but off the court as well. Missouri basketball is in a far better place than it was a year ago in large part because of him.
Pause for a moment. Look at the length of that list of accomplishments! Not many programs in America (if any) could say that they did as much as Missouri did this season. While a disappointing loss certainly stings, the future of Missouri men’s basketball has not looked this bright in a very long time.
“These guys gave me everything that I could ask of them,” Gates said. “That’s what I’m most thankful for.”
Senior guard Tre Gomillion, whose college eligibility is up, echoed a similar sense of accomplishment in the midst of defeat.
“We weren’t supposed to be here,” Gomillion said. “We lost today, but we have a lot to be proud of.”
Edited by Davis Wilson, dwilson@themaneater.comCopy edited by Grace Knight