Following Missouri’s 69-61 season-opening loss Friday to Missouri-Kansas City, coach Kim Anderson said he was looking forward to the next day and helping his “work-in-progress” team learn from the loss. He said his team didn’t practice hard physically on Saturday, but did a lot mentally.
“Yesterday was a long day,” Anderson, who called Friday’s loss “an embarrassment,” said. “We had a lot to do, a lot to prepare for. I was really proud of the way we responded.”
Mizzou’s offense responded slowly, shooting 25 percent from the field in the first half against Valparaiso. But a second-half surge helped the Tigers defeat the visiting Crusaders 56-41 Sunday at the Mizzou Arena.
“(Friday) was pretty tough, but we got through it,” sophomore forward Johnathan Williams III said. “We just tried to come out today and have a better game.”
A crowd of 5,300 witnessed the Tigers’ first victory of the season, and the first win of the Anderson era at Mizzou.
Valparaiso head coach Bryce Drew watched Mizzou’s loss to UMKC on Friday, and addressed it right off the bat following Sunday’s game.
“I think the game they played a couple days ago was not indicative of the team that they have or will be,” Drew said. “Today, I think they returned a little more to who they are.”
The Tigers did show similarities to their play Friday. They matched their first half three-pointer statistics from Friday with a two-for-10 clip in the first half once again on Sunday. Mizzou finished the game going four-for-seventeen from three-point range.
Crusaders freshman guard Tevonn Walker took the ball with three seconds left in the first half and got a layup to roll in at the buzzer. The basket gave the Crusaders a 25-24 halftime lead.
But as Columbia temperatures dropped with the sunset outside the arena, things heated up in the second half for the Tiger offense. Mizzou came out of halftime and went on a 17-to-four run for ten minutes to regain the lead.
Williams III said the team found its rhythm in the second half, but not just on the offensive side.
“We just tried to get stops,” said Williams III, who had six rebounds and ten points. “If you get stops, that’s how you win games, but you also have to score the ball too. That’s what we did — try to get stops, and convert on the other end.”
The Tigers held a 53 percent shooting clip in the second half, when they outscored Valparaiso 32-18. Much of this came against a zone defense implemented by the Crusaders in the second half. The Tigers struggled against UMKC’s zone just two nights ago.
“We tried to pack it in,” Drew said of his zone defense’s play. “We tried to contest jump shots. I was happy with what we did. They just made the shots at the end of the (shot) clock.”
Sophomore guard Wes Clark said it was the patience the offense exhibited Sunday in the second half that helped them defeat the zone.
“We took our time, looked to the short corners — that was one of the main emphases Friday that we didn’t do,” Clark said. “We found openings in the defense and contributed.”
Clark led Mizzou with 16 points. The six-foot guard also recorded six rebounds.
The Tigers face off against Oral Roberts Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Mizzou Arena. It will be the team’s final action before heading to Hawaii for the EA Sports Maui Classic the following week.
