So apparently my 90-48 prediction was a bit too pessimistic...
Mizzou 87, Fairleigh Dickinson 36
| Mizzou |
FDU | |
| Points Per Minute |
2.18 | 0.90 |
| Points Per Possession (PPP) |
1.18 | 0.49 |
| Points Per Shot (PPS) |
1.23 | 0.64 |
| 2-PT FG% | 47.7% | 26.5% |
| 3-PT FG% | 44.4% | 13.6% |
| FT% | 75.0% | 56.3% |
| True Shooting % | 57.0% | 28.6% |
| Mizzou | FDU | |
| Assists | 23 | 7 |
| Steals | 18 | 7 |
| Turnovers | 14 | 26 |
|
Ball Control Index (BCI) (Assists + Steals) / TO |
2.93 | 0.54 |
| Mizzou | FDU | |
| Expected Offensive Rebounds | 14 | 17 |
| Offensive Rebounds | 15 | 15 |
| Difference | +1 | -2 |
Pretty much total domination.
Not really sure what to say about this one. Just about every category saw domination -- shooting, ball-handling, etc. And Mizzou even won the rebounding battle! Barely!
Rebounding.
We'll talk about this a bit in the player stats after the jump, but after an iffy first half of rebounding, Mizzou got its act together, dominating the second half, then getting a nice boost from Tyler Stone and John Underwood, who combined for 9 points and 11 rebounds in 19 minutes. This is still clearly the biggest concern the team has (followed closely by the halfcourt offense that ensues if Mizzou isn't forcing 26 turnovers). But it's probably not to read too much, good or bad, into what unfolds during a 50-point win.
Player stats after the jump.
Player Stats
| Player | AdjGS* | GmSc/Min | Line |
| Kim English | 16.0 | 1.00 | 16 Min, 20 Pts (7-for-14 FG, 4-for-9 3PT), 4 Stl, 3 Reb, 2 Ast |
| Laurence Bowers | 12.2 | 0.68 | 18 Min, 12 Pts (6-for-8 FG), 5 Reb (3 Off), 2 Ast |
| Zaire Taylor | 10.8 | 0.60 | 18 Min, 7 Pts (2-for-6 FG), 7 Stl, 3 Reb, 2 Ast |
| Michael Dixon | 9.8 | 0.49 | 20 Min, 10 Pts (4-for-7 FG, 2-for-3 3PT), 5 Ast, 3 Reb |
| Marcus Denmon | 7.1 | 0.39 | 18 Min, 9 Pts (3-for-7 FG, 3-for-6 3PT), 2 Reb, 2 Ast |
| Justin Safford | 6.6 | 0.37 | 18 Min, 4 Pts (2-for-3 FG), 4 Ast, 3 Reb, 2 Blk |
| Miguel Paul | 6.2 | 0.41 | 15 Min, 7 Pts (3-for-5 FG), 2 Ast |
| Tyler Stone | 5.7 | 0.63 | 9 Min, 6 Pts (3-for-4 FG), 4 Reb |
| J.T. Tiller | 4.5 | 0.28 | 16 Min, 5 Pts (2-for-4 FG), 2 Reb |
| John Underwood | 3.2 | 0.32 | 10 Min, 3 Pts (0-for-3 FG), 7 Reb (3 Off) |
| Keith Ramsey | 2.6 | 0.13 | 20 Min, 2 Pts (0-for-3 FG), 6 Reb |
| Steve Moore | 2.4 | 0.15 | 16 Min, 2 Pts (1-for-3 FG), 3 Blk, 2 Reb, 2 Stl |
| Jarrett Sutton | -2.7 | -0.45 | 6 Min, 0 Pts (0-for-4 FG) |
* 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.
- That's right, Zaire Taylor yoinked seven steals in 18 minutes. Not sure I've ever seen that.
- Actually, instead of going too deep into the bullet points, let's revisit the player-by-player challenges that I issued during the Oral Roberts wrap-up.
The Challenge
As a reminder, I took a look at each Mizzou player and what I needed to see from them during these cupcake games to suggest that team improvement might be on the horizon during Big 12 play.
Zaire Taylor: Shots Per Minute
Versus FDU: 0.33 Shots Per Minute.
Not bad, especially considering he was a little hobbled. He was averaging only 0.22 per minute against "real" opponents, and while FDU certainly doesn't qualify as a real opponent, he still shot at a 50% higher frequency, which is good. Again, lacking one more natural scorer, we have to fill in the gaps with our two best scorers (not named Kim English), Taylor and Laurence Bowers. This was a good start. Somewhere in the 0.30-0.35 range for Taylor suggests that he is shooting more and still focusing primarily on distributing the ball.
J.T. Tiller: Steals Per Minute
Versus FDU 0.06 Steals Per Minute.
Eh. Jesus Tyrannosaurus pretty much took this game off, at least in terms of what shows up in the box score.
Kim English: Defensive Rebounds Per Minute
Versus FDU: 0.17 Defensive Rebounds Per Minute.
It's a start. I'm looking for anything over 0.15 from Kimmeh here, and he got that. He didn't pull down any offensive rebounds, but that's alright -- offensive boards aren't the major problem.
Justin Safford: Rebounds Per Minute
Versus FDU: 0.17 Rebounds Per Minute.
Eh. Not impressed, but it's also at least a slight improvement.
Keith Ramsey: Free Throws Per Field Goal Attempt
Versus FDU: 0.40 FT/FGA.
I want to see 0.40 minimum from Ramsey, so I guess this is a win.
Laurence Bowers: Shots Per Minute
Versus FDU: 0.44 ShPM
Yes! I want to see anything over 0.35 from Bowers, so this is clearly a win. Again, right now he only shoots on fast breaks and when left wide open. He's not much of a penetrator or anything, and it's pretty likely that his percentages will fall if/when he starts to take more shots, but Saturday he was dominant. As was everybody else, I guess.
Marcus Denmon: Free Throws Per Field Goal Attempt
Versus FDU: 0.00 FT/FGA.
Six of Marcus' seven shots were 3-pointers, and since he made three of them, that's not too bad. But he was pretty much a perimeter player only on Saturday, and I still want to see more driving from him.
Mike Dixon: Adjusted Game Score Per Minute
Versus FDU: 0.49 AdjGS/Min.
Miguel Paul had a pretty decent game on Saturday, but he was still outpaced by Dixon, whom I am liking more and more. He shot efficiently (10 points in 7 shots, 2-for-3 from 3-point land) but didn't shoot too much for a point guard (7 shots in 20 minutes), plus he grabbed three defensive rebounds and managed five assists in 20 minutes. Lovely.
Miguel Paul: Team Possessions Per Game
Versus FDU: 74 possessions.
I'm still tinkering to come up with an individual "possessions accounted for" measure, but for now the pace was super-fast, and that's what Mizzou wants. I still like Paul in an "8-10 minutes per game, gun the accelerator" kind of role.
Steve Moore: Shots Per Minute
Versus FDU: 0.19 ShPM.
Eh. Stevie had three blocks and two steals, which was quite nice, but he still only took three shots in 16 minutes, and perhaps more worrisome, he grabbed only two rebounds, and committed two turnovers and three fouls, meaning his positives were still pretty much canceled out. I'm curious how his playing time works out as the year progresses, as the two bigs behind him looked a lot better, albeit against a few more of the FDU scrubs.
Tyler Stone and John Underwood: Minutes
Versus FDU: 19 Minutes.
The Bad: Stone and Underwood combined for just 3-for-7 shooting, which isn't very good at all for post players. Plus, Underwood committed three fouls in just 10 minutes.
The Good: Stone went 3-for-4 and grabbed four boards in 9 minutes, while Underwood pulled down seven rebounds. I do wonder if either or both of them could be ready to play a role in Miguel Paul's late-half, "gun the accelerator" team. Not sure which one, however -- they both have strengths and weaknesses.
Jarrett Sutton: Wins
Versus FDU: 1 win.
Sutton played, and Mizzou won. Funny how that works out.
Three Keys Revisited
From Friday's preview.
Show Up
Mizzou did.
Meet the Challenges
A majority of the players did, which is nice.
Block Out
Mizzou eventually did.
Summary
Nobody got hurt, everybody played and contributed something, Mike Anderson had a nice 50th birthday...in all, I guess that's a pretty good Saturday night. The only way this game would have been memorable at all was if they managed to lose or play FDU far too tight, but it didn't happen, so we'll forget all about this game a few weeks from now.