I am an emotionally unstable fan. This applies to all teams I support, whether it be the Missouri Tigers, the St. Louis Rams or my sister’s JV volleyball team. This can lead to outbursts and overreactions over the smallest of plays, which is why I’ve always shied away from tennis.
When the Mizzou men’s basketball team lost to the Missouri-Kansas City Roos on Friday night, I nearly Googled former UCLA coach Ben Howland’s contact information.
Unexpected losses happen to even the best teams, but to lose to UMKC, at home, at the first game of the year? The first game of Kim Anderson’s Mizzou head coaching career? I was beside myself.
Fortunately, Sunday evening’s win against Valparaiso calmed me momentarily.
By no way was it a pretty win or game. There was again terrible 3-point shooting and a poor field goal percentage. There were multiple awkward moments of a Mizzou player receiving a pass and appearing to have no idea of what to do with the ball.
Mizzou can address and fix those issues. Many have extensively talked about the youth and inexperience of the team, which plays a huge factor in developing a cohesive and functional offense. That said, multiple times in the second half of the Valpo game, I saw Mizzou players make an extra pass or drive and draw defenders to create a kick-out opportunity.
Fans saw these situations as frequently as a road win during Frank Haith’s three years as head coach.
The defense, which Anderson wants to make a staple of his teams, looked strong in both games, holding both opponents to shooting less than a 40 percent from the field. In theory, the defense should only improve as the season goes on, and perhaps it really can become a staple as Anderson wishes.
Holding opponents to under 40 percent shooting can only do so much for you, though, when you’re shooting under 40 percent on your end. Regardless of how well the defense plays, the Tigers will struggle to win games until the offense starts to play well.
The success of the offense will rely on sophomore point guard Wes Clark and his ability to get the Tigers into their offensive sets. Clark needs to play with more awareness, as he has shown a tendency to over-dribble, as well as not look to shoot as many threes.
Despite his negative assist-to-turnover ratio Sunday, Clark scored well, going 2-3 from distance and finishing with 16 points.
It’s a luxury to have a point guard who can score, but if the Tigers want to maintain success, Clark will have to accept a secondary scoring role and leave the bulk of the scoring to the rest of the starting lineup. Freshman forward Montaque Gill-Caesar has shown glimpses of how good he can be, even leading the Tigers in scoring in Friday’s loss to UMKC.
If sophomore forward Johnathan Williams III and junior forward Ryan Rosburg can get their touches and establish a post presence, then the Tigers might actually have something on offense.
I’m not promising a Final Four contender. I expect we will see plenty of more growing pains as the Tigers and their coach try to understand each other. I’m just saying, have patience and trust that the talent and potential of this team will, at some point, present themselves.
