THE TALE OF TWO TEAMS

One should-be/soon-to-be ranked team and one ranked team, both competing on the road tonight. One in Nashville and one in Norman. One in gym shorts and yellow KDs and one in yellow singlets. Both victorious. One by the score of 66-52 and one by the score of 23-14.

It was a good day.

Let’s kick things off with the orange round ball sport which I love, and stop me if you’ve heard this before. Aijha Blackwell. DOUBLE-DOUBLE.

But what’s actually cool about this one is that in the first half, AB had NO POINTS. None. She had three missed shots in the first quarter (as well as two missed FT), and took no shots in the second quarter. Then at the half, she came to life offensively and didn’t miss a shot the rest of the way, from the floor or FT. Oh, and she had 17 rebounds, 15 of them defensive.

I’ll say that again.

17 rebounds, 15 on the defensive end.

Sweet jesus. I LOVE watching her play.

Here’s the box score, courtesy of the greatest statistical website ever, StatBroadcast.

Of the win, Coach P told reporters in the postgame that tonight was a “must win” for Mizzou, and she’s proud of how the team responded after losing “a couple heartbreakers.”

As for the other victor Thursday evening, let’s check in with TigerStyle!

Here’s footage of the final :45 of 185lb Jeremiah Kent’s match vs no. 26 Darrien Roberts Jr.

As for other wins, I’m going to list what I found on the twitter. I do not understand wrestling, y’all, so it might as well be written in a foreign language. James will have a real recap for you later this morning/early afternoon.

• No. 15 Zach Elam won 5-3 in the 285lb match
• No. 6 Rocky Elam won 4-1 in the 197lb match
• No. 14 Jeremiah Kent won 6-4 in the 184lb match
• No. 3 Keegan O’Toole won 18-3 in the 165lb match
• No. 10 Allan Hart won, I think, but I can’t find a score. He was in the 141lb match.
• No. 13 Noah Surtin won 4-3 in the 125lb match.
• Two matches went to overtime (is it called overtime?), and Mizzou maybe lost both of them? Maybe won one of them? I can’t be sure. This is hard.

From MUTigers.com on the win:

No. 3 O’Toole racked up another bonus-point victory in the dual win. All but two of his wins this season have come by major decision or better.

Hart recorded his second win by fall of the season. His first pin came Jan. 1 at the Southern Scuffle.

Redshirt freshman Sean Harman wrestled in the starting lineup for the first time this season. In his first dual competition this year, he lost in riding-time criteria.

Here’s Coach Smith after the dual:

Coach Drink got in on the action of wishing congrats to Women’s Hoops, but missed the whole Wrestling win, as Rock M’s very own James Hackney pointed out.

Update: He added a wrestling tweet later.

ON TO THE LINKS! Best of luck to the Gymnastics team in Chapel Hill tomorrow, to Mizzou Men’s Hoops at Alabama tomorrow, to Swim & Dive at McKendree tomorrow, and to Women’s Hoops, who’ll be home to face A&M on Sunday!

GO TIGERS!!!!

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Yesterday at Rock M

• Lauren previewed the ‘Dores matchup, and then also ran the Live Game Thread along with it.
• Matthew J Harris did what he does best— analyze specific Tigers hoopers in detail — and this time it’s about Trevon Brazile.
• Aaron continued his one returner and one newcomer to watch series, this time focusing on the wide receivers.
• Newest Rock M writer James wrote a preview TigerStyle’s dual with Oklahoma. The commentariat was SO happy about this and had quite the lively discussion.

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More Links:

Football

• New Hire news: Mizzou Tigers football hires LSU linebackers coach Blake Baker: reports (Lila Bromberg, KC Star). Mizzou hiring former LSU defensive assistant Blake Baker (Dave Matter, St. Louis Post-Dispatch). Drinkwitz fills out staff with final defensive hire (Gabe DeArmond, PowerMizzou).

In regards to the new hire, it looks Drink and Baker share some history:

• For Post-Dispatch subscribers, Dave Matter said the Mizzou staff turnover is just a sign of the times.
• Chris Kwiecinski of the Columbia Tribune wrote, Mizzou Football’s Tyler Badie and Akayleb Evans to face each other in 2022 Senior Bowl
• Congrats to KP, who got a promotion within the football team.

• Mitchell Forde continued his position resets at PowerMizzou, and on Thursday he previews the Linebackers. In case you’ve missed them, here’s links to the other ones: Quarterback / Running Back / Wide Receiver / Tight End / Offensive Line / Defensive Tackle / Defensive End

Hoops

• From the Columbia Missourian’s Matt Brolley, Alabama is motivated more than ever to beat Missouri.
• The Trib’s Chris Kwiecinski wrote in his recap: Mizzou women count on reserves to down Vandy 66-52, snap 3-game skid.
• Read the recap on MUTigers.com: Women’s Basketball Picks Up SEC Road Win at Vandy
• Happy Birthday, Mama! Birthday wins are the BEST wins!

• And Happy Birthday to Men’s Basketball coaching legend, Norm Stewart!

• More soon-to-be Tigers rankings update:

Other Mizzou Sports

• More GPA releases from our athletics teams. LOVE to see some STUDENT-athletes succeeding!

• Read Dave Matter’s newest chat at STL Today… if you’re a subscriber.
• Hmmmmmm…… interesting.

Mizzou in the NBA

• DRUUUUUUUUUU scored 14 points on 6-8 shooting (2-3 from three) in his 31 minutes off the bench against the Kings. He also had 3 REB, 5 AST, 2 STL, 2 TO and 1 PF in the 117-107 loss. He led the team with his +14 on the night.
• Tilly did not play in Thursday’s game for the Herd, and was listed as out with a “non-Covid illness.”(get will soon, Jeremiah!) In Wednesday’s 104-103 loss, he scored 6 points on 3-7 shooting in his 19 minutes against the Herd. He also had 5 REB, 1 AST, 1 STL, 1 BLK, 1 TO and 6 PF in the loss. Despite fouling out of just his second game of his pro career, he was +4 on the night.
• JC and the Fightin Quin Snyders faced off against Rockets on Wednesday night, and lost 116-111. In Jordan’s 29 minutes, he had 19 points on 7-13 shooting (1-3 from three) with 4 REB, 4 AST, 1 BLK, 3 TO and 2 PF. He was a team worst -15 on the night.

Unrelated but Cool

This very long Super Bowl halftime show video came out and it left me speechless. WOW. Cannot wait. Discuss amongst yourselves. Who are you most excited for out of this dream team?

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