Mizzou Basketball Preview & Game Thread: Tigers look to continue undefeated start against MVSU

Nov 20, 2022 - 11:30 PM

Missouri Tigers 83 | Mississippi Valley State 62

FINAL

First Half Notes

• The student section and crowd are noticeably small. That’s little surprise with the looming Thanksgiving holiday and the extended break for MU students, but Columbia fans have shown out.
• MVSU Starters: Danny Washington, Terry Collins, Arecko Gipson, Michael Barber and Alvin Stredic Jr.
• Mizzou Starters: DeAndre Gholston, D’Moi Hodge, Nick Honor, Kobe Brown and Noah Carter
• Tipoff goes to MVSU, and tonight’s game is underway in Columbia.
• MVSU begins the scoring with a basket from its leading scorer Terry Collins.
• Kobe Brown with the first points for the Tigers.
• D’Moi Hodge hits two three-pointers sandwiched around a Nick Honor three-pointer, and Mizzou has jumped out to a five point advantage.
• MVSU, led by Terry Collins’ 10 points are off to a hot start offensively. The Delta Devils only score 52.5 points per game, and they are already up to 12 points in less than five minutes. D’Moi Hodge has countered with nine points of his own on three 3-pointers.
• Terry Collins is a problem for the Tigers. The guard, who averages 16.5 points per game, is up to 16 points in less than seven minutes of action.
• Tre Gomillion walked off the court after a hard fall, but returns quickly.
• The Tigers look sloppy on both ends, which is not something that we’ve seen much thus far. MVSU is played inspired basketball, but it’ll be interesting to see how they play without Collins on the court.
• Whoa, Aidan Shaw got up for a block to deny Barber of a basket, Mizzou has yet to pull away at all. The Tigers have forced nine turnovers, but have also committed eight of their own.
• Nick Honor with a clutch three-pointer. I feel that sentence will be used a lot this season.
• The Tigers have committed six turnovers while forcing just four. Collins is up to 20 points for the Delta Devils and this’ll be a game worth monitoring as the night progresses.
• Mizzou’s man-to-man defense has looked spotty all evening and the Tigers are facing struggles getting past MSVU’s 2-3 defense.
• Kobe Brown’s bobbled dunk attempt may be the epitome of Mizzou so far tonight. The Tigers have had opportunities, but cannot capitalize in a big way. Instead, MVSU is hanging around.
• Mizzou fails to execute an inbounds play following a timeout, closing the half out. This goes down as the most unlikely halftime score of this young season so far, as the Tigers only lead by 3.

Second Half Notes

• Gholston begins the second half scoring for Mizzou.
• Kobe Brown rose to the rim for a slam, and the Tigers force a turnover on the ensuing MVSU possession.
• Turnovers are Mizzou’s bread and butter. The Tigers just turned three consecutive turnovers into six points, including a thunderous slam from Hodge off a feed from Honor to punctuate an 8-0 run.
• Mizzou is out to a nine-point lead and has yet to commit a turnover in the second half.
• Isiaih Mosley knocks down a three-pointer and an offensive foul on Shaw negates what would have been a rim-shattering one-handed slam dunk. The Tigers are out to their largest lead.
• Mosley has 10 of Mizzou’s last 12 points and added a key block on the defensive end as well.
• Shaw rises above the rim for a two-handed dunk and Mizzou is on a 16-3 stretch, led by the hometown Mosley.
• Brown with a block on one end and Mosley hammers home a dunk on the other to send the crowd into a loud celebration. The Tigers have finally found their momentum and are riding it to a 22-point advantage.
• Mosley now leads all Tiger scorers with 18 points. Yes...he did have 0 at halftime.
• Sean East II scored his first points of the night, making it eight Tigers with at least two points.
• A Gholston 3-pointer makes it a 21-point lead. Bench players in for the Tigers.
• Mizzou outscores MVSU 43-25 in the second half to snatch the victory after a much closer than anticipated first half.

Pregame Notes

5 Fan Questions:

1. Who will lead the team in scoring? What about turnovers?
2. How many rebounds will Kobe Brown have?
3. What percentage will the Tigers shoot from the field?
4. What will the halftime score be?
5. How many assists will Nick Honor have?

Lastly, drop your game predictions and MVPs down below!

Albeit against a light schedule, the Missouri Tigers have gotten out to a fast start in the Dennis Gates era. The Tigers are assisting on well over 50% of their made buckets, have forced 19+ turnovers in all four games, and have shot 45% or better from the floor in all of their games. The news faces on this team appear to be meshing well, as Noah Carter, Nick Honor, DeAndre Gholston, D’Moi Hodge and others have been great, in addition to Kobe Brown.

Now, the Tigers continue their trek through a relatively soft non-conference schedule. Mississippi Valley State comes to town searching for their second win of the season. The Delta Devils are consistently a bottom-feeder in the SWAC division, but are looking to change that in 2022-2023.

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Game Info:

When: Sunday, November 20th

Where: Mizzou Arena, Columbia MO

Time: 6:30 CST

TV: SECN+

Spread: -28.5

KenPom Win Probability: 99%

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The Starters

Missouri:

PG: Nick Honor (Grad)
SG: D’Moi Hodge (Grad)
SF: DeAndre Gholston (Grad)
PF: Kobe Brown (SR)
C: Noah Carter (SR)

Mississippi Valley State:

PG: Danny Washington (JR)
SG: Terry Collins (SR)
SF: Arecko Gibson (JR)
PF: Alvin Stredic (JR)
C: Michael Barber (Grad)

(All lineups are projected)

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Get to know MVSU

The Delta Devils are coming off a 2-26 season in which they finished in last place in the SWAC.

In 2022, MVSU is at the bottom, looking to move their way up the conference standings. George Ivory was hired as the new head coach back in March after a successful stint at Arkansas Pine-Bluff. Ivory is an alum of MVSU, having played basketball for four years at the school. During his time, he earned Freshman of the Year, First-Team All-SWAC, SWAC Tournament MVP, and SWAC Player of the Year honors.

Ivory is hoping to bring back some of that success to this program. The Delta Devils began the season by taking on an elite Baylor team, and the 117-53 result was expected. They then hung around with Hawaii until the Rainbow Warriors pulled away in the second half, and then Yale shot the lights out in a 80-51 drubbing of the Delta Devils. Against also win-less Eastern Washington, they led at halftime before being out-scored by 10 points in the second half in a 60-52 loss. On Friday, the Delta Devils picked up their first win of the season, taking down 3-1 Northern Alabama, 76-68.

Those results see MVSU sitting at 362 (out of 363) in the current KenPom rankings.

Senior guard Terry Collins has been the most consistent scorer thus far, averaging 16.4 points per game. MVSU has struggled on both ends of the floor, with an 84.9 offensive efficiency rating and a 111.1 defensive rating (via KenPom.com), both of which are in the bottom ten teams of the country. They also allow opposition to corral 47.1% of their misses. Outside of their free throw rating (39%), which measures how much a team gets to the line, the Delta Devils struggle in every major statistical category.

While this is generally an older roster for Ivory, this team has a lot of work to do on both ends of the floor to become a contender in the SWAC. KenPom currently does not project them to win a game on their schedule.

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3 Keys To The Game

1. Will the Tigers let MVSU hang around?

I’ve mentioned this for other games, and it is an age-old cliche. But, if you let an upset-minded team hang around early on, you play with fire. If the Delta Devils have confidence early on, then they can cling to that throughout the game and keep it close. The Tigers need to hold a double-digit lead before the under 12-timeout. That would rid MVSU of any upset hopes.

2. Will the 3-point line be an issue?

In the only games Mizzou has played a team close, it’s been because of the other team’s hot shooting. Now, Penn and Southern Indiana did some things that likely won’t happen again this season, but bad 3-point defense is a disturbing trend nonetheless. After all, the shot from behind the arc is the greatest equalizer in this sport.

The Delta Devils don’t shoot from deep frequently or at a great clip, so this (knocks on wood) should not be an issue here.

3. Does D’Moi Hodge continue his hot start?

Hodge is fresh off a 30-point performance against Southern Illinois, and has scored at least 9 points in every game so far. If he can continue to be one of the primary scorers on this team, that will bode well for the Tigers. This is the time of year when he needs to settle in and become consistent.

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Game Prediction

Missouri 88 | MVSU 67

This should be a game, like Lindenwood, where the Tigers overwhelm an inferior opponent. MVSU would have to play their A+ game while Mizzou would have to play their worst of the season for this to be a close contest.

Is that entirely possible? For sure. Likely? No.

The diversity of scoring options this Missouri team has has proven to be very difficult for opposing teams to defend. That, combined with their willingness to share the ball, has led to such a hot offensive start for this team. As long as they continue that level of chemistry on offense, they should have no worries in this game.

The big thing to watch in this one will be which bench players can shine when they get their time. Mohamed Diara and Mabor Majak have each played sparingly thus far, but the more early-season minutes they get, the better. Gates would love to have their size available to him later in the season, but he has to be able to trust them first.