Missouri men’s basketball redshirt senior guard Dru Smith nearly undid his heroic night — a 17-point, nine-assist, six-steal performance in a 72-70 victory over Florida — with three crucial mistakes on one errant shot with 18 seconds remaining.
Crucial Mistake No. 1: After Florida junior guard Tyree Appleby knocked down two shots at the charity stripe to make it a one-possession game, the Tigers ran a dud of an offensive set. Missouri players looked like their feet were bolted to the Exactech Arena hardwood. Dru Smith caught the ball at the free-throw line, was flocked by three Gators and hucked up an off-balance jump shot that missed the basket completely.
Crucial Mistake No. 2: On the shot in question, Missouri senior forward Jeremiah Tilmon, who was operating with four fouls, attempted to strip Florida junior big man Colin Castleton of his defensive rebound. Tilmon’s effort proved unsuccessful as he hacked Castleton and fouled out.
Crucial Mistake No. 3: Because of Missouri’s foul trouble, Florida found itself in the double-bonus for the final few minutes of the second half. As a result of Tilmon’s foul, the Gators received a free pass for two free throws courtesy of Missouri, and they made good use of their shots to tie the game.
Missouri junior guard Xavier Pinson dribbled down the court and called a timeout. Florida completed a comeback 8-0 run in just over two minutes. On the bench, Missouri coach Cuonzo Martin tracked down Dru Smith, who he selected to take the final shot despite the fiasco just seconds earlier.
“I just said, ‘Man, come on. Be the guy you’re supposed to be,’” Martin said.
Dru Smith played like the guy he was supposed to be all night until the ill-advised heave with 18 seconds remaining. In the Tigers’ prior matchup against the Gators on Jan. 11, 2020, he produced six assists and five steals in 36 minutes of play.
On Wednesday, Dru Smith matched that stat line in the first half alone.
The SEC steals per game leader interrupted Florida’s offense, getting a hand on the ball whenever it came within his reach. Dru Smith read passes with the anticipation of a Pro Bowl cornerback, reading the eyes of Florida’s guards and darting into the passing lanes to snatch passes. He also tiptoed behind his opponents to flick it out of their hands while driving.
Smith set the tone for Missouri’s rabid first-half defense, which forced 15 turnovers and neutralized Florida’s offense even though the Gators shot 54.5%.
“I’d say that’s what’s expected from me every night,” Smith said. “If I don’t do that, then it’ll look like I think I’m not playing hard. I’m just trying to make sure that I’m trying to lock in defensively.”
Dru Smith’s defensive effort revived the Missouri offense which opened the game flat as Florida opened Wednesday’s proceedings on a 7-0 run. Once Dru Smith got into a defensive rhythm, the offense followed suit by working its way back into the game in short order with Dru Smith’s playmaking.
Missouri kept Florida’s defense in a constant state of flux as they never had time to set up a proper defensive scheme. Dru Smith had no issues finding his backcourt teammates in Pinson and senior guard Mark Smith with plenty of room behind the arc as half of Missouri’s 36 points came off turnovers.
“It’s easy to run when you get live-ball turnovers,” Dru Smith said. “I thought we did a good job of getting those turnovers, getting those stops and getting out in transition, especially in the first half.”
Dru Smith and Missouri couldn’t replicate their defensive performance in the second half. Florida continued to shoot the lights out, upping their shooting percentage to 61.9% and only committing three second-half turnovers. The second-half lead melted away like it had so many times before as Florida built momentum throughout the half, culminating in the aforementioned 8-0 run to tie the game.
The redshirt senior guard was out there for most of it and played effectively on offense with eight points and three dimes in the final 19 minutes of the game, but it wasn’t enough to compete with Castleton and sophomore guard Tre Mann, who each scored in double figures in the second half.
That brings us back to the final possession. On the inbound play, Dru Smith caught the ball and got a screen, which opened up a baseline drive.
The play looked open, but much like the previous possession, three Gators swarmed Missouri’s ball handler.
But instead of forcing a fadeaway, Dru Smith stayed composed and went up and underneath the hoop, levitating for a second before laying it off the backboard with 0.7 seconds on the game clock.
Martin, and the entire team, had seen the cool and collected leader all season, and when the team needed to secure a vital win for the Tigers’ NCAA tournament seeding, he paid off their trust in a major way.
“Dru is our leader,” redshirt senior forward Mitchell Smith said. “ He’s the most calm guy and nothing really flusters Dru. At the end of the day, I got the most trust in him.”
