Mizzou hoops looks for consistency in home stretch of regular-season
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
There's a reason people say that the madness of March actually begins in February. That's because the final stretch of regular-season games will, undoubtedly, decide a team's NCAA Tournament fate.
The Mizzou men's basketball team is set to embark on a critical stretch to wrap up its regular-season slate. Six games remain and four will come against some of the top talent in the country with a clash against No. 19 Vanderbilt on Wednesday, a pair of games remaining against No. 20 Arkansas and a showdown with a Tennessee squad that's tied for third place in the Southeastern Conference on Feb. 24.
During Tuesday's meeting with local media members, Coach Gates emphasized that the biggest thing his team needs to show in the home stretch is growth.
[We just got to continue to] show the things where we're not self-inflicting, whether it's blowing coverages or turnovers. You got to take care of the basketball," Gates said. "[In February,] there's a lot of jockeying for position in the SEC, so, for us, we have to continue to rebound the basketball, continue to defend possession-by-possession, minimize opponents opportunities the best that we can and then be able to make in-game adjustments. I think that's the most important part. Players are going to make plays and there are some tremendous players in our conference and across the country, so we got to do our job."
You can watch the full press conference with Gates in the video player below.
On the player end, forward Jacob Crews said he believes that the biggest thing this Tiger team needs to show in this home stretch of the regular-season is that they can stay together through tough battles, as that will be critical in March.
"We're going to have a couple road games, where it's going to be really tough against us, but we got home games too and really just executing and protecting home court. You know, we need all the games we can get. It's not going to be easy, we understand that and, you know, we're fine with that. We're prepared for that, you know, and, again, I think it's just sticking together. You know, understanding that it's a game of runs, that we're always going to be in every game, doesn't matter the score, don't always look up there at the score, just play the game, you know, execute the game plan and continue to do what we practice," Crews said.
You can watch the full press conference with the Tiger forward in the video player below.
For Mizzou, finding consistency will be the key to finding success in not only just the postseason, but also in this tough stretch of six games to end the regular-season.
MU has struggled to find consistency from half-to-half throughout the course of the season, as the squad is still looking to put a full 40 minutes together. Take the loss to Texas on Saturday for an example. Although it wasn't the prettiest first half, the Tigers still went bucket-for-bucket with the Longhorns, only trailing by two points at the half. However, out of the locker room, something changed and Texas took over.
Mizzou ended up losing 17 points in a battle of two teams that reside on the bubble of the NCAA Tournament.
"I think when you are at this phase [in the season], it makes itself, it organizes self," Coach Gates said, when asked about how you coach and inspire your team to consistency at this point in the year. "You know who's been the most consistent and you know who's been the least at least consistent, right? I have a team where we've been unfortunate, where majority of our guys have just started with 12 games. We have a 12-game season, where other teams have had their guys for the entire duration of non-conference and they're operating on 25 games. For us, Trent Pierce's first game was 12 games ago. Jayden Stone played some preseason, but 12 games in he's gotten in a rhythm. So, your team grows as consistent as the availability is and the in and out is minimized. We've not had distractions off the court, we've not had anything but injuries impact us and that's what we're working through. So are we behind? Possibly. But have we seen the best version of our team in spurts, so we have to be able now to put 40 straight minutes together of consistent basketball with no panic. When I say that, you know, teams get up and down when the scoring runs happen. I think we've handled, on the road, well being down in the last five minutes, six minutes of a game close to seven or eight points and then working our way back. At home, we got to allow simplicity, allow ourselves to make plays for each other and not home run plays."
Crews said that the he and his team need to really hone in on not living and dying by every play, which is something that he's noticed this season, especially in a loss to the Longhorns where the Tigers attempted their least amount of 3-pointers all season.
"I think it's hit us a couple times, you know, and I've been a victim to it. too. You know, sometimes I get in my head and, there was a clip out there [against Texas] where [Anthony] Robinson had to have my back and he did get me back in the zone, got me back in there to motivate me because it was tough," Crews said. "It was tough not getting threes, you know, it's tough being guarded like that and especially when they're on a run and you're not doing so hot. So, it was good to know that he had my back and I think if we continue to do that there's anything we can get through. I think, you know and I appreciate him for doing that, but that just shows the character of our team. You know, he's on the bench too and, you know, he could have whatever emotions about the run and everything, but he decided to be unselfish and look out for me. So, yeah, I mean, there's been times, you know, where it's been tough. but again, as I shared earlier, we've been in those moments where we were like that, but moments like that got us out of those moments."
The Tigers will test that no-panic mentality on their home court on Wednesday night, when No. 19 Vanderbilt rolls into Columbia. The Commodores are currently in a four-way tie for third place in the SEC, riding a two-game winning streak onto Norm Stewart Court.
Mizzou will look to slow down an offense that is averaging 88.7 points per game, while also contending with a defense that has limited opponents to just 73.8 points per contest.
"They shoot free throws really well, as a unit, they push the ball, they don't allow rim shots through. They're one of the best in the country, you know, not allowing rim shots. So, obviously, we're really good at getting rim shots and I think, you know, that's going to be really where the battle's won is who executes well there. Also, you know, rebound, we got to rebound. I think we're gonna have a really good battle. I mean, depth-on-depth and then aggression-on-aggression, so whoever wants it more," Crews said.
While Coach Gates has rolled with the same starting five for the last few games (T.O Barrett, Jayden Stone, Trent Pierce, Mark Mitchell and Shawn Phillips Jr.), he did see some flashes of life from one of his old starters, on Saturday: guard Anthony Robinson.
The Florida native has been battling through quite a slump over the course of conference action, but find success in some key moments, on Saturday. In fact, he ended up in double-digits in the scoring department, with 11 points, for the first time since Jan. 3.
Crews said, through all the adversity this season, Robinson's still been the same guy for this team.
"He's been a leader the whole year. You know, everybody believes in him, everybody trusts him, his voice echoes, you know, we have his back, just like he has ours. I mean, there's no doubt in my mind he's an all-league guard. I mean, that's just who he is," Crews said. "You know, just got to get his confidence up, you know? I think we saw a little bit of it last game, even though we came up with the loss. A little bit at the end, I told him when he sat back down, I said, 'we need more of that, whatever that was. Like, that's you, you know?' He's always been a leader, he's always been a good person, good kid and, you know, I think he's going to be big for us in this last stretch and then in tournament play. I think he's going to be huge for us. We need him, he's a vocal leader."
Up next - Mizzou will host No. 19 Vanderbilt on Wednesday at 8 p.m.
