Another thin week for Mizzou sports as I believe we only had about three teams participating, and all this weekend as Mizzou was in finals during the week. Come to think of it (and to look at it), it is only men's and women's basketball and wrestling for the next couple of weeks, making my job all the easier. So while I have some free space, don't forget to sign up for the 1ST ANNUAL ROCK M NATION BOWL PICK `EM!! We have a good number of entrees thus far, but I do know we have plenty of regulars who have yet to take the dive. First bowl game is Thursday evening, so you have until then to get them in.
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Men's Basketball:
Just one game this week, and I did not actually get to see it. Not because it was not on television where I am in St. Louis, but because my wife and I had tickets to Wicked at the Fox Theatre. Not a big deal normally, but with the snow Saturday night here, it took us about an hour and a half to get down there...and an hour and a half to get back. Spent more time in the car than we did in the theatre....oh well.
Anyway, Mizzou evidently put some things together and look very good coming off of the little break. Mizzou forced 26 turnovers and allowed McNeese State only SIX assists (a ratio I do not believe I have ever seen before) Something else I had never seen before was the rebounding story. McNeese actually outrebounded Mizzou 36-32 in rebounds which were caught, but Mizzou had EIGHT team rebounds (three on offense and five on defense) and that gave them the overall edge.
Lots of guys scoring in double figures while only playing 20+ minutes is always good. Nick Berardini continues to lead the way in 3 point shooting for the Tigers, pushing his season total to 66.7 percent from beyond the arc. :-) But it is good to see Mizzou hit for 46 percent from 3-point range, as it is a pretty good bet that 11-24 in ANY game should give you a real good chance to win. For the most part, only Keon Lawrence had an off night, playing the most minutes (27) and going 3-11 from the field. Keon has not started the year the way he finished last season and needs to come around just a bit more from a scoring standpoint to give Mizzou better chances of competing come tougher games.
Speaking of helping out when conference season comes, it appears (at least for one game) Marshall Brown parlayed his "come to Jesus speech" from the other night into some production on the floor, hitting 5-9 for 11 points in 17 minutes. Exactly what this team needs, another productive bench player to stretch the depth of the other team out.
Mizzou comes right back tonight against North Carolina A&T before heading to STL this weekend for the Braggin Rights game. I have not put too much time into watching Illinois, but it seems that this game is really important for Mizzou to launch them towards conference season. A win there (and against Miss St. on the road as well) would (at least for me) wash some of the bad taste out of my mouth from the less than stellar efforts earlier in the season and get me excited about the Big XII season. Of course, getting the rest of our fans excited may be another problem entirely.
Women's Basketball:
Ugh...it could really be ugly for this team in another month or so. Mizzou did win their lone game of the week at home against UMKC...in OT. OT was not so much the big deal, but it was the rest of the game.
Mizzou jumped out to an 18-0 lead, and took that lead into the half.
Mizzou pushed the lead to 21 in the 2nd half.
Mizzou led by 15 with 10 minutes to go.
Mizzou led by 13 with less than 3:30 to go.
Mizzou led by 6 with less than a minute to go.
Mizzou led by 3 with :07 to go....and then fouled UMKC...but on a 3 point shot....and she hit...all three.
In the end, freshman Shakara Jones hit a jumper with :05 to go to give Mizzou the 75-73 win over the Roos, who are now 5-6 on the season. Shakara Jones had another double-double with 17 points and 10 boards, and seems to be settling in a little better with some more consistency. Guard Alyssa Hollings led the way for the Tigers with 21 points, but on 6-17 shooting. Jessra Johnson came off the bench to score 20 (with 9 rebounds) in 29 minutes of work to help pace Mizzou. who now sits at 6-4, and will play their annual braggin rights game against Illinois this week, but at home on Wednesday night, before a very strangely placed 11 day break leading into a post Christmas-pre New Years tournament down at UVA where they will start with Marshall.
Wrestling:
More on their 24-10 win later in the Wrestling Wrap-Up on their match vs. the #10 ranked Mocs of UT-C
Random Thoughts:
* Congrats to Mike Spurlock and the Tampa Bay Bucs for breaking their HISTORICAL DEFICIENCY in returning kick offs for TD's. Never in their history (31 years) had it been done. However, I do believe our drought was longer, but I could wrong on the date.
* Damn you Packer fans for selling out the Rams game and making me have to watch it here yesterday. However, the game was decent for a little while and I did get to see Favre break another record
* Checking out the first thought, Tampa Bay wins...our last return had been in 1982.
* My Jets used three QB's in the 1st quarter, but Brad did the worst with a fumble. Nice job to stay close, but Atlanta is going to be TOUGH to overcome for the 2nd to last spot. Nice job Niners taking your game and moving up to the group with 4 wins.
* A win so good it deserves it's own line...way to go Dolphins...way to win one...now you would be stupid to win out and not seal up Darren McFadden, but the door is still open for my Jets.
* Does Rich Rodriguez taking the Michigan job mean I won the prediction contest from earlier in the week?
* So Bob May had to try to get his PGA Tour card through Q-School this past weekend, and came up a shot short. On the year though, May still won almost a quarter of a million dollars...good enough for 189th on the money list. Jeff Overton was 99th on the money list....and still won OVER a million dollars. (Tiger won over 10 million in 16 events, the money per event number is just sick....and Tiger won more this year than TOM WATSON WON IN HIS CAREER)
* The odds are decent that the Rams and Chiefs in 32 games will not win as many games as Mizzou will in 14.