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Your Trifecta: Phillips-Woods-Barnett. The “Phillips, Barnett, and someone else” combo is becoming awfully common.
One reason why it’s really hard to lose all of your games: Sometimes your shots go in and theirs don’t. The 3-pointer in particular is an equalizer of sorts on given nights because of sheer randomness.
Mizzou, a demonstrably awful, historically bad 3-point shooting team made seven of 14 3-pointers last night in Tuscaloosa, and against a pretty good defense. That is the kind of thing that leads to random, didn’t-see-that-coming wins. Alabama, meanwhile, shot 43% overall, 33% from 3-point range, and 46% from the free throw line. The Crimson Tide were as bad as advertised when it came to putting the ball in the basket.
Mizzou lost by 12.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Alabama 68, Missouri 56
| Mizzou |
Alabama | |
| Pace (No. of Possessions) | 65.4 | |
| Points Per Possession (PPP) | 0.86 | 1.04 |
| Points Per Shot (PPS) | 1.33 | 1.28 |
| 2-PT FG% | 35.7% | 53.8% |
| 3-PT FG% | 50.0% | 33.3% |
| FT% | 65.2% | 46.4% |
| True Shooting % | 53.7% | 52.1% |
| FTA/FGA | 54.8% | 52.8% |
| Mizzou | Alabama | |
| Assists | 10 | 9 |
| Steals | 8 | 7 |
| Turnovers | 19 | 12 |
|
Ball Control Index (BCI) (Assists + Steals) / TO |
0.95 | 1.33 |
| Mizzou | Alabama | |
| Expected Offensive Rebounds | 10.3 | 12.9 |
| Offensive Rebounds | 5 | 14 |
| Difference | -5.3 | +1.1 |
Alabama commits a ton of turnovers and forces a ton of turnovers. The Crimson Tide committed seven fewer on Wednesday night, however, and that made the difference. Mizzou averaged more points per shot, but between lost possessions and rebounds, they took 11 fewer shots (and five fewer free throws). Mizzou is living proof that shooting matters, but ... you have to take the shots first. (And you also have to make more than 36% of your 2-pointers.)
Mizzou Player Stats
| Player |
AdjGS | GmSc/Min | Line |
| Terrence Phillips | 28.1 | 0.85 | 33 Min, 16 Pts (5-10 FG, 3-5 3PT, 3-5 FT), 4 Reb, 7 Ast, 4 Stl, 4 TO, 5 PF |
| Russell Woods | 15.7 | 0.56 | 28 Min, 13 Pts (3-7 FG, 7-7 FT), 2 Reb, 1 Ast, 1 TO, 4 PF |
| Jordan Barnett | 9.6 | 0.34 | 28 Min, 7 Pts (3-6 FG, 1-3 3PT), 5 Reb (2 Off), 1 Ast, 1 Blk, 2 TO, 2 PF |
| Frankie Hughes | 3.3 | 0.15 | 23 Min, 8 Pts (3-6 FG, 2-3 3PT, 0-3 FT), 5 Reb, 2 TO, 4 PF |
| Kevin Puryear | 3.1 | 0.11 | 29 Min, 4 Pts (0-1 FG, 4-6 FT), 6 Reb (2 Off), 1 Ast, 3 TO, 3 PF |
| K.J. Walton | 0.2 | 0.01 | 15 Min, 2 Pts (1-4 FG, 0-1 3PT), 1 Reb, 2 Stl, 1 TO, 2 PF |
| Jordan Geist | -0.4 | -0.03 | 14 Min, 3 Pts (1-3 FG, 1-2 FT), 1 Reb, 1 Stl, 2 TO, 1 PF |
| Cullen VanLeer | -2.0 | -0.10 | 20 Min, 3 Pts (1-2 FG, 1-2 3PT), 2 Reb, 2 TO, 4 PF |
| Reed Nikko | -2.9 | -0.29 | 10 Min, 0 Pts (0-3 FG), 1 Reb,1 Stl, 1 Blk, 1 TO, 1 PF |
| Player | Usage% | Floor% | Touches/ Poss. |
%Pass | %Shoot | %Fouled | %T/O |
| Terrence Phillips | 28% | 44% | 5.5 | 69% | 17% | 8% | 7% |
| Russell Woods | 22% | 45% | 2.2 | 29% | 35% | 32% | 5% |
| Jordan Barnett | 16% | 36% | 1.5 | 42% | 43% | 0% | 14% |
| Frankie Hughes | 23% | 27% | 1.4 | 0% | 56% | 26% | 19% |
| Kevin Puryear | 13% | 27% | 1.6 | 38% | 7% | 36% | 20% |
| K.J. Walton | 19% | 16% | 1.0 | 0% | 80% | 0% | 20% |
| Jordan Geist | 24% | 21% | 1.5 | 0% | 44% | 27% | 29% |
| Cullen VanLeer | 11% | 21% | 0.6 | 0% | 50% | 0% | 50% |
| Reed Nikko | 22% | 0% | 1.2 | 0% | 75% | 0% | 25% |
Not to belabor the point, but ... Cullen VanLeer (who got five more minutes than KJ Walton again, by the way) and Frankie Hughes combined to make 60% of their 3s. And Mizzou wasted it.
A word about Terrence Phillips, by the way: In five SEC games, he is averaging 14.6 points, 5.4 assists, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.6 steals per game and is shooting 41% on 3-pointers. He is turning in one hell of a season in league play. And Mizzou has lost five games by an average of 10.4 points each. He deserves so much better.
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Even bad shooting teams end up with games on the right side of the bell curve. It’s a shame to waste those, especially when you’re in the middle of another increasingly ridiculous losing streak. Mizzou continues to fight relatively hard. It continues to not matter.
Yadda yadda yadda, we know where this is heading, etc. Slow motion trains are the worst.