Mizzou-Georgia: Statistical Back-Patting (with nicknames!)

Hooray, us!

• When you look at the gameflow, realize that it was with 10:59 left when Keith Ramsey quashed the breakaway layup by Zac Swansey with a fantastic block.  Georgia led 46-45.   Over the next eight minutes, Mizzou outscored Georgia 26-13.  Keith Ramsey = The Human Momentum Swing.
• Georgia outrebounded Mizzou by 8 (38-30) on the stat sheet, but compared to what was expected based on %'s, it was really only about a 3-board advantage for the bigger Bulldogs.  Compare that to a +13 advantage for Mizzou in the turnover battle, and you see that Mizzou played to its strength better than the Dawgs played to theirs.
• Mizzou's other advantage, strangely enough: free throws.  Not only did they take more (27-16), but they made a higher percentage (67%-50%).  That resulted in a higher Points Per Shot average for Mizzou despite a vastly different FG%.
• UGa managed to average over a point per possession, which is really hard to do when you're turning the ball over 23 times.  When Mizzou's defense didn't come up with the ball, UGa got a pretty makeable shot.  Then again, it seems any shot is makeable for Terrance Woodbury (27 points on 13 FG attempts).

EqPts = a take-off of the Net Equivalent Points idea discussed last week.  Taking points, assists, rebounds (offensive & defensive), steals, blocks, turnovers and fouls into account, the team's points are re-distributed to figure out who had the biggest impact on the game itself, instead of just how many balls a player put through a basket.  I can go into detail on the formula if anybody asks, but for now just know that that was the intent.

• Zaire Taylor: "Hello, world!"  Just an outstanding game from him today, especially in the last couple of minutes.
• And yet, Taylor got smoked in per-minute stats by Keith Ramsey, who officially became my favorite Tiger today.  Blocks on consecutive break-out layups...a couple nice steals, 2-for-2 from the field, two offensive rebounds...dude fills up the stat sheet in every way possible.  He's not very thick, but he's offering a bit of hope for Tiger fans worried about what happens next year when DeMarre and Leo are gone.
• As I mentioned in the comments thread, Ramsey has turned into a 6'9 version of J.T. Tiller, who also had a very Tiller-like game today.  Tiller and Ramsey only combined for 14 points, so they're obviously not candidates for showing up on the ESPN ticker or anything, but...5 offensive rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals between the two of them.
• Miguel Paul continues to experience some severe growing pains, and Marcus Denmon looked out of rhythm today, but Kimmie English stepped up and nailed a couple big-time 3's in the second half.  Oh yeah, and Matt Lawrence, the Grey Goose himself, ended up making three of six 3's, including a late dagger.

Versus 'Real' Teams to Date
(Mizzou: 3-2)

• Five games against "real" teams (Xavier, USC, Cal, Illinois, Georgia), 101 forced turnovers.  I'll take that.
• Mizzou is certainly getting outrebounded by "real" teams, but only by a 1.4-per-game clip in terms of expected rebounds, which is quite nice.  Could be a lot worse in the end.
• Thanks to today's game, Mizzou is now making a higher percentage of free throws than their opponents.  How in the hell that happens, I have no idea.
• With a lot of newbies on the court, I'm very happy with Mizzou's 11.6 turnovers per game average.  I expected worse, and it's been a very pleasant surprise...especially considering seniors DeMarre and Leo have accounted for almost half of them (27 of 58).  The newbies have only accounted for 25 turnovers (11 from Miguel Paul).

• I've been as big a Laurence Bowers proponent as there is, but as long as Keith Ramsey continues to play like he has, then Ramsey's minutes aren't available--Justin Safford, on the other hand, better be careful, else he will lose some of his minutes.
• On a per-minute basis, it appears the most productive starting lineup would be Taylor, Tiller, English, Lyons and Carroll (with Ramsey just barely on the outside looking in--I'm not counting Bowers here because he's only played 10 minutes).  The Grey Goose has acquitted himself pretty well recently, but English still contributes more to the box score.

Nicknames

I guess we're officially done with football season and on to basketball season, as the nicknames are forming quickly.  So here's your pre-conference season primer:

Matt Lawrence: The Grey Goose

Kim English: Mr. Courvoissier

Zaire Taylor: Kanye