The pessimist in me says we turned the ball over on 31% of the time and only escaped with a 4 point win because the Tigers shot 3-23 from three. We only managed .92 points per possession and a 45.5% eFG.
But the optimist in me says we overcame a 31% turnover percentage, on the road, while battling a team that tried to play football against us for the half, while adjusting to refereeing that went from not calling anything in the first half to calling guys for breathing on each other in the second. Oh and not to mention the worst intentional foul of all time.
Kansas was virtually Texas like in their defensive execution yesterday, holding a team that scored 1.08 PPP in Big 12 play to just .87. Beyond having a poor time shooting jumpers, Missouri barely got any clean looks inside the arc either and it seemed that whenever they scored in the half court it was due to extreme effort, working to get off a not very clean look. KU's defensive rebounding was back to normal as well, limiting Missouri to offensive rebounds on only 23% of their misses. Worth noting is their offensive rebounding was great as well (thanks Marcus and TRob!), as Kansas got second looks on a remarkable 45% of their misses.
Also worth noting is that Kansas shot 20-28 from the line, and our guys who will get the ball at the end of the game, either due to trying to run out the clock or getting the big possessions at the end, all had good days: Marcus was 7-8, Tyrel was 4-5, and Tyshawn was 4-4. Only Brady had a "bad" day, going 0-2. Still, one of the bigger roadblocks to Kansas winning a national title is getting cleared bit by bit lately.
- Let's all bow down to Thomas Robinson a bit. In just 17 minutes of play he had 15 points and 13 rebounds (7 offensive). And he got his points effectively, going 6-8. He absolutely tore up the Missouri front line and honestly I think he might be the best rebounder in the country outside of Kenneth Faried. Also, just for fun, if TRob had played a "normal" amount of minutes, say 30, his line would have been 26 points and 23 rebounds. That's not too shabby.
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Marcus Morris had 21 and 10, and though he was a bit inefficient (7 of 15 from two), his play in the first half helped us build the lead a bit and hold off Missouri when they made their run. He turned it over 5 times, which is frustrating, but for some reason the team went away from him a bit in this game. To be honest I think having him isolate against a guy is going to be a great offense for us in the tournament.
- Again, he didn't do anything terribly spectacular (save his alley oop), but Elijah played a nice steady game. He didn't turn the ball over once. Now, a lot of that is because he didn't really go for the spectacular play much, but you need both and it's nice to see him turn the corner a bit. 4 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists with no turnovers is just fine for me, especially when you factor in him somehow becoming the first person ever to learn how to play defense midseason.
- Tyshawn played ok. Not great, but not terrible. This is a broken record right now, but I hope he shoots about 1,000 floaters and 1,000 pull up jumpers per day this summer. If he does he will be a beast next year. But as is I was pleasantly surprised to see him turn it over once, dish out 3 assists, play some good defense, and be a reliable free throw shooter.
- Tyrel had 11 points, was 2-4 from two and had one of Kansas's two threes in the game, a backbreaker towards the end of the game. He also had 4 rebounds and 2 steals.
- Brady Morningstar had 7 rebounds. Weird.
| Team | Split | PTS | FGM | FGA | FG% | 2PM | 2PA | 2PT% | 3PM | 3PA | 3PT% | FTM | FTA | FT% | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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KU | Game Final | 70 | 24 | 55 | 43.6 | 22 | 48 | 45.8 | 2 | 7 | 28.6 | 20 | 28 | 71.4 | 16 | 33 | 49 | 14 | 5 | 0 | 24 | 26 |
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Mizzou | Game Final | 66 | 17 | 58 | 29.3 | 14 | 35 | 40.0 | 3 | 23 | 13.0 | 29 | 35 | 82.9 | 10 | 19 | 29 | 9 | 13 | 3 | 12 | 25 |
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KU | 1st Half | 32 | 13 | 28 | 46.4 | 12 | 23 | 52.1 | 1 | 5 | 20.0 | 5 | 5 | 100.0 | 5 | 15 | 20 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 12 |
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Mizzou | 1st Half | 31 | 8 | 27 | 29.6 | 7 | 17 | 41.1 | 1 | 10 | 10.0 | 14 | 16 | 87.5 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 8 | 8 |
|
KU | 2nd Half | 38 | 11 | 27 | 40.7 | 10 | 25 | 40.0 | 1 | 2 | 50.0 | 15 | 23 | 65.2 | 11 | 18 | 29 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 14 |
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Mizzou | 2nd Half | 35 | 9 | 31 | 29.0 | 7 | 18 | 38.8 | 2 | 13 | 15.4 | 15 | 19 | 78.9 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 17 |
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KU | Offense Avg | 82 | 29 | 57 | 51.8 | 22 | 38 | 57.7 | 7 | 18 | 39.4 | 15 | 23 | 67.5 | 11 | 26 | 38 | 18 | 8 | 4 | 13 | 17 |
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Mizzou | Offense Avg | 81 | 29 | 63 | 46.4 | 21 | 43 | 50.7 | 7 | 20 | 36.9 | 15 | 21 | 73.2 | 12 | 23 | 35 | 16 | 9 | 5 | 12 | 20 |
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KU | Defense Avg | 64 | 22 | 57 | 39.3 | 16 | 38 | 44.5 | 5 | 19 | 29.0 | 13 | 18 | 72.6 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 14 | 19 |
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Mizzou | Defense Avg | 70 | 24 | 57 | 43.3 | 19 | 40 | 47.4 | 5 | 16 | 33.5 | 14 | 22 | 67.8 | 13 | 24 | 37 | 13 | 5 | 2 | 18 | 18 |