TCU freshman guard Mike Miles initiated what appeared to be the turning point with just over seven minutes to go. He hit a tough layup, immediately stole the ball and found fellow guard RJ Nembhard for three, which kick-started a scoring run that had TCU up by 12 and ended the game.
At least it would have if Xavier Pinson didn’t have something to say about it.
In the closing minutes of regulation, the Chicago native became incapable of missing a shot.
Pinson’s scoring outburst culminated with less than four seconds to go, when he got the ball and fired what he hoped would be the game-tying three for No. 12 Missouri, completing an improbable comeback.
He drained it. And the 25% capacity crowd could’ve been mistaken for a sellout.
“I gotta make the shot,” Pinson said. “That’s really it. If I get a shot, I gotta make it.”
Missouri went on to win in overtime. Pinson made eight of his 13 threes in the game, including three during Missouri’s comeback, two in the final 30 seconds of regulation and one in overtime, willing the Tigers to a 102-98 win.
“We showed a lot of grit today,” forward Jeremiah Tilmon said. “That’s something coach [Cuonzo] Martin always emphasizes. We talk about that before the game, with situations like this, what are we gonna do? Are we gonna fold, are we gonna keep playing, are we gonna give up or what? And we just all came together.”
***
Pinson and Tilmon, who took advantage of TCU’s “meh” attitude toward double-teaming him and couldn’t be stopped in the paint, combined for 69 of Missouri’s 102 points.
“I was surprised,” Tilmon said. “They didn’t double, so we just kept doing what we was doing. I mean, I don’t wanna get doubled, of course, but I was expecting it at some point.”
What was Missouri doing? Running an offensive strategy that essentially boiled down to “Get the ball to Tilmon and pray.” The big man accounted for 11 of Missouri’s first 15 points and became unguardable down low.
He would have scored more, but free throws became an issue for Tilmon again. Tilmon only made seven of his 15 attempts from the foul line, including a few and-ones that he couldn’t convert.
Missouri started to struggle when Martin dipped into his bench, which accounted for only five points. That number pales in comparison to the Horned Frogs’ 20, as TCU led a much more balanced attack that nearly earned it a stunning upset win.
TCU had scored 51, 46 and 49 points in its previous three games, all losses, before its trip to Mizzou Arena. It surpassed each of those totals with over 16 and a half minutes to go in the second half.
“I don’t think we did a great job defending, but you have to give credit where it’s due,” Martin said. “They have two guards, Miles is a freshman and Nemhard, there’s two good guards that can get to the rim.”
It seemed like TCU was scoring at will at the bucket, even over Tilmon’s seemingly menacing help defense. Miles was especially dominant, coming up with that layup, steal and dish that sparked TCU’s run. With everyone in the Mizzou Arena crowd turning their attention to Missouri’s offensive end of the court, Miles had other plans.
“We didn’t do a great job defending, one-on-one defense,” Martin said. “No excuses at all.”
A few TCU buckets later, Martin called timeout down 82-70 and looked to fire up his players.
“In a nutshell, the same stuff we always talk about, man,” Martin said when asked what he told the team during the timeout. “I never understood why teams would give up in situations like that, because what’s the worst thing that happens, you lose the game. So why not try to win the basketball game?”
All of a sudden, Tilmon started to hit his free throws. He still missed a couple, sure, but he got to the line and put up a few points. The Tigers started to pick up a couple much-needed stops, too.
Eventually, Pinson launched a deep three-pointer, drilled it and drew a foul. He converted the four-point play to bring Missouri to within four and gave the sideline, the fans and himself a renewed sense of, “Hey, we can win this thing.”
“It gave us as a group a lot of momentum, a lot of confidence, and it gave the crowd a lot of confidence,” Pinson said. “Of course, we capitalized off it so I’m just proud of my guys.”
With under two minutes to go and the game within striking distance, Missouri started to catch fire.
Mark Smith, who came off the bench for the first time all season and had struggled throughout the night, pulled from three. Bang. A little over a minute later, Pinson had a contested look at the top of the key. Bang. And with four seconds left, Pinson caught a kick-out pass from Kobe Brown and fired away.
_Bang._
“If I got space or if I got my feet set or whatever, it’s going up,” Pinson said. “As you can see, I have the Kobe’s on, so it’s just a Mamba Mentality.”
***
After the game, when Martin sat down with the media and gave his opening statement. He touched on Pinson and Tilmon, the driving forces on the offensive side of the ball, but he also named a team MVP. And it wasn’t Pinson or Tilmon.
“I’m happy for Tilly, you know, a career high, happy for X, X always can score the ball, but to have 36, that’s a lot of points and I’m happy for him,” Martin said. “But I said to the guys, my MVP would be Kobe Brown.”
Brown pulled in 13 rebounds, five on the offensive glass, but even those impressive numbers don’t tell the entire story. Brown constantly outworked TCU defenders for those loose balls, jumping in every direction to corral them.
“[My mentality was] to get every one I could,” Brown said. “I felt like I wasn’t getting boxed out too much, so when I saw that, I just knew I had to make the extra effort and chase down the balls that didn’t come my way, and just do what I could to get my teammates second chances.”
Brown’s biggest rebound came immediately before Pinson tied the game. He chased down an errant Dru Smith three-pointer and subsequent Tilmon follow-up attempt, caught the ball and fired it to Pinson on the right wing, all in one motion.
“The defensive play before that, I saw the score, saw we were down three,” Brown said. “I knew we needed a three, so when Till missed the tip-in, I was looking around and couldn’t find someone, then I heard X calling me, so I just turned around, gave him the ball and he knocked it down. Big-time play.”
***
As Martin left the court for the final time today, a lone stadium worker who was sweeping the bleachers spotted him heading to the locker room.
“Hey, Cuonzo,” the stadium worker said. “Great game!”
“Thank you!” Martin said, with a wave.
Martin continued to walk toward the locker room with a smile on his face. The fourth-year coach will never admit it, but this win felt particularly sweet due to how it ended.
And among the fan base, well, one fan tweeted, “WE ARE THE BEST TEAM IN THE SEC,” less than one hour after tweeting, “We are the most fraudulent basketball team I have ever seen.”
That’s about how this afternoon went for Missouri.
The Tigers will escape the weekend at 11-3, as they head into another difficult two-game stretch against Kentucky — if that game gets played, due to COVID-19 within the Wildcats’ program — and SEC-leading Alabama.
_Edited by Hope Davis | hdavis@themaneater.com_