Last Year
NW Missouri State: 12-15
| NW Mo. St. |
Opp |
|
| Points Per Minute |
1.73 | 1.71 |
| Points Per Possession (PPP) |
1.03 | 1.02 |
| Points Per Shot (PPS) |
1.23 | 1.28 |
| 2-PT FG% | 48.7% | 51.8% |
| 3-PT FG% | 32.8% | 34.7% |
| FT% | 72.2% | 72.1% |
| True Shooting % | 53.2% | 55.8% |
| NW Mo. St. | Opp | |
| Assists/Gm | 13.6 | 14.8 |
| Steals/Gm | 8.6 | 7.5 |
| Turnovers/Gm | 13.6 | 17.3 |
| Ball Control Index (Assists + Steals) / TO |
1.62 | 1.29 |
| NW Mo. St. | Opp | |
| Expected Offensive Rebounds | 324 | 300 |
| Offensive Rebounds | 284 | 289 |
| Difference | -40 | -11 |
Once again, as a refresher...
Mizzou: 31-7
| MU | Opp |
|
| Points Per Minute |
2.04 | 1.69 |
| Points Per Possession (PPP) |
1.14 | 0.95 |
| Points Per Shot (PPS) |
1.30 | 1.20 |
| 2-PT FG% | 52.7% | 46.8% |
| 3-PT FG% | 35.3% | 30.3% |
| FT% | 67.2% | 67.4% |
| True Shooting % | 56.1% | 50.9% |
| MU | Opp | |
| Assists/Gm | 18.4 | 11.9 |
| Steals/Gm | 10.2 | 6.2 |
| Turnovers/Gm | 11.8 | 18.3 |
| Ball Control Index (Assists + Steals) / TO |
2.42 | 0.99 |
| MU | Opp | |
| Expected Offensive Rebounds | 491 | 490 |
| Offensive Rebounds | 486 | 484 |
| Difference | -5 | -6 |
Need a non-numbers primer? Check out this official release:
Northwest Missouri State and new head men's basketball coach Ben McCollum will open the 2009-10 season with an exhibition game against Big 12 Tournament Champion Missouri at 7 p.m. Nov. 13, inside Mizzou Arena in Columbia.
McCollum was announced as head coach in late March. He replaced Steve Tappmeyer, who retired following 21 years of service. The Bearcats were the 2008 MIAA Tournament Champions and won the regular season crown in 2007. The program has competed in the NCAA tournament eight times in the last 10 seasons with Elite Eight appearances in 2002 and 2004.
...McCollum has introduced seven new players and returns three starters in junior forward Elijah Allen (13.1 ppg) and senior guards Mike Larsen (7.8 ppg) and Edriss Floyd (7.1 ppg).
Northwest will begin its regular season slate with six consecutive home games starting with Manhattan Christian Nov. 16. Benedictine (Nov. 19), Baker (Nov. 24), Graceland (Nov.28), Emporia State (Dec. 2) and Washburn (Dec. 5) are included in the homestand.
Yeah, LOTS of new players.
| Player | AdjGS/Gm* | GmSc/Min | 2008-09 Line |
| Elijah Allen (6'4, 195, Jr.) | 12.6 | 0.48 | 26.4 MPG, 13.1 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 1.0 APG, 1.8 TOPG |
| Mike Larsen (6'2, 170, Sr.) | 9.0 | 0.31 | 28.9 MPG, 7.8 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 3.7 APG, 2.0 SPG, 2.2 TOPG |
| Edriss Floyd (6'1, 175, Sr.) | 5.8 | 0.21 | 27.6 MPG, 7.1 PPG, 2.4 RPG, 2.2 APG, 1.2 SPG, 1.7 TOPG |
| Kyle Haake (6'2, 185, So.) | 1.5 | 0.10 | 15.0 MPG, 2.9 PPG, 1.5 RPG |
| Jake Petersen (6'0, 150!, So.) | 1.3 | 0.11 | 11.7 MPG, 2.1 PPG |
| Jake Reinders (6'9, 190, So.) | 2.2 | 0.25 | 8.8 MPG, 1.8 PPG, 1.6 RPG |
| Nick Mikle (6'4, 185, So.) | -1.2 | -0.26 | 4.8 MPG, 0.3 PPG |
| Girod Adams (5'10, 180, Sr.) | Newbie | ||
| DeShaun Cooper (5'8, 160, Fr.) | Newbie | ||
| Jonathan Nutt (5'9, 160, Fr.) | Newbie | ||
| Bryston Williams (5'10, 170, Fr.) | Newbie | ||
| Arunus Simanavicius (6'7, 210, Jr.) | Newbie | ||
| Maciej Ustarbowski (6'7, 200, Jr.) | Newbie | ||
| Clint Hamilton (6'6, 200, Jr.) | Newbie |
* AdjGS = a take-off of the Game Score metric (definition here) accepted by a lot of basketball stat nerds. It does the same thing my previous measure of choice did (it takes points, assists, rebounds (offensive & defensive), steals, blocks, turnovers and fouls into account to determine an individual's "score" for a given game), only the formula is more used and accepted. The "adjustment" in Adjusted Game Score is simply matching the total game scores to the total points scored in the game, thereby redistributing the game's points scored to those who had the biggest impact on the game itself, instead of just how many balls a player put through a basket.
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NMSU's (relative) strengths: Well, they've certainly got depth at the guard position, no? And Elijah Allen seems like a pretty well-rounded player. One problem: it almost looks like Allen will have to play power forward or something, because...
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NMSU's weaknesses: ...holy CRAP, this is the smallest team Missouri will ever face in any sort of basketball competition. One guy (ONE) over 200 pounds...and he's 210. One guy over 6'7...and he's 190 pounds.
Keys to the Game
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Show Up. Sorry, but it's still true. Northwest has traditionally had a pretty solid team for their level, but they were a bit down last year, they're breaking in a new coach...and they're still not at the D1 level. Mizzou's bigs will be in the rare position of being MUCH bigger than their opponent, and even more important than that, J.T. Tiller, Zaire Taylor, and the Mizzou backcourt will be able to physically dominate their backcourt opposition. This might not end up 96-33, but it should still be a bit of a laugher.
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Don't foul. First of all, it's always a good recommendation not to foul too much in an exhibition--no need to make the game last forever. That said, Mizzou is so much bigger than Northwest, a Bearcat will probably go flying anytime there's a collision. Not saying foul trouble will cost Mizzou the game, but it could be annoying. We'll see.
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Tyler Stone. I really liked what I saw from him in limited action last week, and quite frankly I just want to see what he can do again. I don't hold a ton of hope in him getting lots of playing time this year, but from a polish perspective, it does seem that he's ahead of both Steve Moore and John Underwood, and if he wants to work his way into the rotation, now's the time.
Prediction
This, spread out over 40 minutes: