It was only an exhibition, but Missouri basketball was back in action Friday night, beating Division II Central Missouri 80-56 in a sloppy, turnover-filled game. The Tigers’ regular season will start Wednesday against Incarnate Word.
####Javon Pickett might be the key to this team’s success####
Pickett talked about gaining weight and adding muscle in the offseason, and it showed on Friday. The sophomore started the second half with 7 straight points, including a dunk and a finish through contact for an and-1. The run woke Missouri up after a sluggish first half that it ended losing by a point. Missouri didn’t trail for the rest of the game after Pickett’s first second-half basket.
“We made the necessary adjustments in the second half,” coach Cuonzo Martin said. “I think the biggest thing in the second half was just being aggressive, being assertive, being in more of attack mode. I thought we settled for some threes, but I thought we were more aggressive.”
####Martin wants Jeremiah Tilmon to be the focal point of the offense####
Tilmon had a quiet game, posting 9 points and 3 rebounds in 19 minutes. There were times when the junior went several possessions without touching the ball, with most of the offense running through the perimeter. Martin wants that to change in the regular season.
“The worst thing about [the game] was that we didn’t do a good job of getting Jeremiah the ball,” Martin said. “We have to do a good job with that, but on the flip side for him, if he doesn’t get the ball, [he has to] continue to do a great job of rebounding the ball.”
Tilmon didn’t want to blame his teammates for not getting the ball in his hands.
“They felt like they had good open shot shots,” he said. “They got confidence in shooting the ball, then that’s just them. They [are] working on it, so I’m not expecting them to miss it.”
####Whether turnovers will be a problem again is yet to be determined####
Missouri averaged 14.3 turnovers per game in conference play last season, the third-worst mark in the Southeastern Conference. In the first half, that problem persisted. The Tigers turned the ball over 11 times. They tightened up in the second, however, only losing the ball twice.
“We just really settled in,” Martin said. “And for guys, [they learned] don’t try to be a playmaker. Make the right play. I think that’s the most important thing, and for the most part in the second half, we kept the ball in the point guards’ hands outside of them making a pass where the other guy can shoot or straight-line drive.”
####Dru Smith is as complete as advertised####
Martin talked all training camp about how Smith could do it all on the court: shoot, pass, play defense, rebound, whatever the team needed. That’s pretty much what Smith provided in his first action in a Tiger uniform. The redshirt junior scored 8 points on 4-6 shooting while tacking on seven assists and six steals.
“I don’t think I’m really a volume guy by any means,” Smith said. “I don’t think there’s gonna be very many games where you see me take a lot of shots. I think I’m just trying to get guys involved, hit guys when they’re open and just try to have an impact on the game, whether that’s offensively, defensively or just in general.”
_Edited by Emily Leiker | eleiker@themaneater.com_