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

With Mizzou facing off against Georgia tonight, I thought it would be fun to take a look back at a previous battle between the two schools. Below is a post I wrote the day after Mizzou's 83-76 win in Athens in early 2009. It is amazing to look back and realize that, entering conference play, we still really had no idea what we had that year. At least, I certainly didn't.

From 2009:

Player EqPts* EqPts/Min Line
Zaire Taylor 19.94 0.66 17 Pts, 3 Ast, 3 Reb
J.T. Tiller 15.00 0.50 10 Pts, 4 Reb (3 Off), 4 Ast, 3 Stl
Keith Ramsey 12.10 0.81 4 Pts, 4 Reb (2 Off), 2 Stl, 2 Blk
DeMarre Carroll 11.93 0.33 17 Pts, 4 Reb, 2 Stl
Kim English 8.18 0.58 8 Pts
Matt Lawrence 7.67 0.33 10 Pts, 3 Reb
Leo Lyons 4.94 0.20 12 Pts, 6 Reb (2 Off), 4 TO
Marcus Denmon 2.22 0.20 5 Pts
Justin Safford -0.68 -0.17 0 Pts
Miguel Paul -3.07 -0.26 0 Pts

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)

Mizzou Opp
Points Per Minute
1.95 1.82
Points Per Possession (PPP)
1.10 1.03
Points Per Shot (PPS)
1.25 1.35
2-PT FG% 51.2% 48.0%
3-PT FG% 27.5%

43.2%

FT% 65.8% 62.1%
Mizzou Opp
Assists 82 74
Steals 58 25
Turnovers 58 101
(Assists + Steals) / TO 2.41 0.98
Mizzou Opp
Expected Offensive Rebounds 66 60
Offensive Rebounds 69 70
Eq. Rebound Margin +3 +10
  • 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).
Player EqPts* EqPts/Min Line
DeMarre Carroll 15.53 0.52 17.6 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 2.2 SPG, 1.4 APG
J.T. Tiller 14.07 0.55 9.2 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 4.0 APG, 2.4 SPG
Leo Lyons 12.96 0.51 16.0 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 2.8 APG
Zaire Taylor 8.94 0.32 8.2 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 2.2 APG
Keith Ramsey 6.53 0.50 3.4 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 1.2 BPG, 1.2 APG
Marcus Denmon 4.85 0.30 5.4 PPG, 2.0 RPG, 1.0 APG
Kim English 4.50 0.31 7.4 PPG, 1.0 RPG
Matt Lawrence 3.58 0.18 5.4 PPG, 2.2 RPG
Laurence Bowers 3.25 0.65 2.0 PPG, 2.0 RPG
Justin Safford 1.52 0.15 2.0 PPG, 1.4 RPG
Miguel Paul 0.03 0.00
  • 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


And of course...DeMarre Carroll: JYD

Which gives me a reason to post this...