With the dawn of a new defensive era on the gridiron, Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz and his new defensive coordinator Steve Wilks started using new language to talk about forcing turnovers.
“We’re going to start calling it ‘ball disruption,’” Drinkwitz said.
Missouri basketball coach Cuonzo Martin and the No. 18 Missouri men’s basketball team (13-3, 6-3 SEC) must have watched Drinkwitz’s presser prior to facing No. 10 Alabama (15-5, 10-1 SEC). The Tigers’ defense zoomed around the court at a frantic pace, disrupting the ball and blocking shots in a way they hadn’t before in a 68-65 victory.
Alabama coach Nate Oats and his team sliced and diced opponents on the offensive end throughout conference play en route to a perfect SEC record. The 84.2 points per game average in SEC play brought the Crimson Tide to national prominence in quick fashion.
Missouri’s rock-solid defense helped them allow the third-lowest field goal percentage in the SEC, but it takes a little bit more to stop an offensive freight train loaded with All-SEC level talent.
“[Defense] is important every night, but when you have a team like that, whenever they have five guys out there that can make plays and guys that can beat you off the dribble and also knock down open threes, it’s tough and you have to be locked in and solid as a team defensively,” Missouri guard Dru Smith said.
The Tigers counteracted Alabama’s offensive success with aggressive effort on the perimeter and in the paint. Every player who stepped out onto the court on Saturday afternoon had at least one moment of brilliance on defense, which the Tigers needed against an offensive juggernaut like the Crimson Tide.
Missouri’s defense finished with nine blocks, its highest total since December 2015, and 11 steals, tied for a season-high with the season opener against Oral Roberts. But immeasurable qualities such as hustle, great defense on the drive and excellent one-on-one defense hold equal weight to the measurable statistics.
“We’re not going to play a passive game where we sit back and allow those guys to move it,” Martin said. “The more you allow them to move the ball around and dribble penetrate then they would’ve had 85 points. You gotta be assertive, you gotta be aggressive, you gotta get into the ball and force those guys to make one on one plays the whole night.”
Missouri guard Mark Smith made a grand return to the starting lineup after a two-game stint as a reserve with a career-high five steals, four of which came in the first 15 minutes of action. The senior guard looked like an NFL defensive back getting into the passing lane to cut off drive-and-kick playmaking that has propelled the Crimson Tide to the top of the conference.
The hustle Mark Smith displayed proved to be a catalyst in the game as everyone piggybacked on his hustle and laid their bodies on the line for the game.
“I feel like that kinda set the tone for everybody else,” Missouri forward Mitchell Smith said. “When we see one guy playing hard, everybody else follows. We’re just playing hard, balls to the wall the whole game.
The backcourt defense Mark Smith provided alongside guard Xavier Pinson, who recorded four steals of his own assisted Missouri’s interior defense. The frontcourt also had its way against the smaller Alabama frontcourt and allowed only 47.8% field goal percentage on layups.
“Them doing that helps us a lot because it sometimes gives us breaks or frees up spots for us,” Missouri forward Kobe Brown said.
Missouri looked to have the game locked up at the final media timeout as forward Jeremiah Tilmon sank two free throws to make it a 13-point game with 3:37 remaining. However, once the Tigers’ offense went cold, the Crimson Tide began to heat up.
But they were not able to finish their comeback effort, as Mitchell Smith nearly shattered the backboard with an emphatic block that completely decimated Alabama’s perfect conference record.
Smith’s block culminated the preceding 39:54 of scrappy defense, as Dru Smith’s perfect help defense against the taller Jones allowed Mitchell Smith to recover after he had a matchup miscommunication with Pinson.
Dru Smith’s defense won’t show up in the stat sheet alongside Mitchell Smith’s game-saving block, but his effort joins the canon of several hustle plays that propelled Missouri to the upset.
“You gotta play until it says ‘0:00’ across the board because we’re gonna keep punching and we’re gonna keep fighting all night,” Mitchell Smith said. “We’re just a bunch of gritty-type dudes, and it starts at the top and it ends at the bottom.”
_Edited by Kyle Pinnell | kpinnell@themaneater.com _
