'Two different games': Why Mizzou men struggled to handle Memphis' press in 2nd half collapse
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The pressure was too much for Missouri.
That, schematically and philosophically, was the difference between the first and second half of Mizzou's season-opening loss to Memphis on Monday. The home Tigers applied pressure and the away Tigers struggled with it.
MU outscored Memphis 42-32 in the first half and led by 13 early in the second, only to blow the lead en route to an 83-75 road loss.
Missouri looked like a program reborn in the first 20 minutes, pouring in transition points with breezy possessions created by a 2-3 zone defense that befuddled Memphis. But as the final 20 minutes unfolded, Mizzou regressed rapidly, going more than six minutes without a field goal on one end of the floor while allowing an 11-0 run on the opposite.
"Memphis wasn't pressing in the first half as much as they were in the second," third-year coach Dennis Gates said. "That's the difference. It was two different games."
The numbers certainly make it seem that way.
Mizzou excelled in one of Gates' favorite metrics, assist-to-turnover ratio, in the first half, posting 12 assists to only three steals — about as crisp as it gets for that stat. Once Memphis started pressing, that flipped to only four assists but 11 turnovers in the second half — a complete reversal.
Memphis' press had a trickle-down effect. Because Missouri was struggling to inbound and advance the ball without turning it over, Gates deployed both of MU's true point guards — Tony Perkins and Anthony Robinson II, who made his first career start — at the same time.
"Ball-handling was more important in that second half," Gates said.
The minutes needed to play the combination of Perkins and Robinson came at the expense of the first half's two best players: forwards Trent Pierce and Aidan Shaw.
Pierce and Shaw combined for 20 minutes and 19 points in the first half but just five points and 10 minutes in the second half. They were the only Missouri players to finish with a positive plus/minus across the entire game.
That they were off the court for much of the second half, then, was curious.
"I thought those two guys did give us good minutes — don't get me wrong," Gates said before explaining the sudden added premium on ball-handling. "That didn't allow us to go with that same rotation."
Across the board, Mizzou's half-court offense struggled to generate many effective looks. The visitors scored a blistering 1.62 points per possession when operating in transition, but that stalled when they weren't storming down the court after a stop.
MU's post-ups generated just 0.55 points per possession, according to Synergy's live tracking data. Pick and rolls created just 0.83 points per possession. Spot-up shots from the perimeter netted 0.78 points per possession.
That's not a lot of success for a half-court system.
"I thought we were slow to get into our operating areas," Gates said. "We didn't get the ball past the 3-point line in certain situations in that second half. Vice versa, first half, we was able to do that. That's what Memphis is good at, right? They are good at disrupting your flow, disconnecting offenses and things like that."
Robinson, who played 27 minutes and scored a team-high 16 points with seven assists, four rebounds, three steals and just one turnover, didn't think Missouri was putting up poor shots.
"Sometimes they won't always go down," the second-year point guard said. "We can't rely on just making shots to bring energy for us."
While Memphis' press forced Gates' hand when it came to rotations, foul trouble played its part too.
Center Josh Gray picked up his third and fourth fouls of the game within one minute of game time early in the second half, sending him to the bench. Freshman Peyton Marshall made his collegiate debut for some fill-in duty, but Mizzou largely shifted the center responsibilities elsewhere, rolling with smaller lineups.
At the time Gray checked out with four fouls, Missouri had a 13-point lead. As soon as he hit the bench, that advantage started to steadily crumble. When Gray came back in, the lead was down to six, and kept falling.
"Once we had to go small, I didn't really want to put Aidan Shaw and Mark Mitchell in the paint as much as I did, but that allowed more paint touches (for Memphis) and less aggression, (Gray) having those four fouls," Gates said.
He seemed to regret how he approached pivoting once Gray had four fouls, suggesting that in hindsight, he should have told the transfer center to "just go foul out and play more aggressive and we'll deal with the rest," Gates said. "But we wasn't able to play aggressive and I thought that is what, in that second half, set us back."
Still, the overarching takeaway for Missouri likely has more to do with the full-court pressure from Memphis. Not every team can execute it with such devastating results, but that Mizzou struggled to respond to a press is now on tape for the college basketball world to see.
"They came out with a press: We just had to take care of the ball better," Robinson said. "We had a few mistakes with the turnovers. They came out and punched us in the mouth. We just need to figure out a way to convert and punch them back."
MU's chance to recover — and pick up its first victory of calendar year 2024, which would snap a 20-game losing streak — will come at 7 p.m. Friday when the Tigers host Howard. The Bison lost their season-opener 87-57 to No. 1 Kansas.
Mizzou beat writer
