MBB Preview And Live Thread: Mizzou Aims To Continue Win Streak Against Prairie View A&M

First half

Mizzou leads 10-5 with 15:29 left. Jevon Porter got off to a good start, hitting two 3-pointers after his first attempt failed. He already has eight points. Shawn Phillips Jr. has four rebounds. Outside of the first possession of the game, Prairie View A&M hasn’t done much around the rim in the halfcourt.
That was a wild sequence of events. Three Mizzou players dive for a defensive fumble, and Jevon Porter recovers it. On a three-on-one fast break, Sebastian Mack lost the ball on a bad pass and the Panthers got a dunk on the other end. Moments later, Anthony Robinson II slashed some purple jerseys for a two-handed dunk and one.
Mizzou leads 17-10 with 11:12 left. Robinson II and Mark Mitchell have buckets at the rim in transition during the final minutes. The Panthers are not looking very good on offense. The length of MU really bothers them.
That was an epic steal by Jayden Stone on the infield pass. He looked like a defensive tackle intercepting a pass.
Well, that was quick. Mizzou is up 31-12 with 6:55 left. Scoring seems incredibly easy for the Tigers, while the Panthers can’t do much on offense. Stone has once again been a spark plug from the bench. Porter hit him with a nice backdoor pass and Stone hit him with both hands. MU is outrebounding Prairie View A&M 18-7, and a lot of that has to do with the 17 misses the visiting team has accumulated.
Robinson II is in rhythm. The Tigers lead 40-16 with 4:35 left.
Mizzou leads 47-21 with 1:17 left. The Tigers dominate seemingly every important facet of the game. They are much bigger than the Panthers.
HALFTIME: Mizzou 49, Prairie View A&M 27. The Panthers hit a pair of 3-pointers to close the margin a bit, but were dominated for the first 20 minutes of action. Seven of the eight Tigers who have seen the court have scored. Porter and Robinson II lead the way with 10 points each. Phillips Jr. has 10 rebounds.

Second half

Prairie View A&M has made some tough shots on the perimeter, but Mizzou still leads 56-36 with 15:28 left. A dunk by Phillips Jr. puts him at 11 points and 12 rebounds. He has six of MU’s seven points entering the second half.
Robinson II limps off the floor after a layup attempt. It seems like something was wrong with his leg. He had some calf issues before the season. He couldn’t see exactly where Robinson II was suffering. Mizzou leads 68-39 with 11:48 left.
Jacob Crews hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to put Mizzou ahead 76-43 with just under 10 minutes left.
Along with Mack and Nicholas Randall, Robinson II enters the game with 8:23 remaining. Mizzou leads 77-46.

Pre-game updates

Starters for Prairie View A&M
Trent Burns, Annor Boateng and Trent Pierce are OUT for tonight’s game. PowerMizzou’s Drew King had the report first.

Mizzou vs. Prairie View A&M

When | 7:00 pm central time

Where | Mizzou Arena; Columbia, Missouri

TV | SECN+

Radio | Tiger Radio Network

Twitter | @MizzouHoops

ESPN Win Probability | 99.0% probability

The starters

Mizzou (4-0)

GRAM: Anthony Robinson II (JR, 9.0 ppg in 24-25)

GRAM: Sebastian Mack (JR, 9.6 ppg in 24-25 at UCLA)

F: Jevon Porter (SR, 12.5 ppg in 24-25 at Pepperdine)

F: Mark Mitchell (SR, 13.9 ppg in 24-25)

DO: Shawn Phillips, Jr. (SR, 5.4 ppg in 24-25 at Arizona State)

Notable sixth man: Jayden Stone (SR, 20.8 ppg in 23-24 at Detroit Mercy)

A&M Prairie View (2-2)

F: Keeshawn Mason (SR, 13.0 ppg in 24-25 at Mid-America Christian University)

F: Cory Wells (SR, 2.8 ppg in 24-25 Utah Valley)

GRAM: Doug Young (SR, 5.4 ppg in 24-25 at Quinnipiac)

GRAM: Lance Williams (SR, 15.0 ppg in 24-25 at Xavier University of Louisiana)

GRAM: Tai’Reon Joseph (SR, 8.8 ppg in 24-25 at the University of Texas at San Antonio)

Notable sixth man: Marcel Bryant (JR, 9.8 points per game in 24-25)

Note: These starting lineups are projected.

Meet the Prairie View A&M Panthers

From Sam Snelling’s preseason preview:

A school like Prairie View is best viewed as a destination for big-time castoffs and mid-major role players looking for a bigger piece of the pie. You can build pretty good teams just by feasting on the tail ends of schools in better leagues.

That’s why the Panthers will feature transfers from UTSA, Utah Valley, Western Michigan, Quinnipiac and Idaho State this season. Being located near Houston also means you can attract some players closer to home.

The Prairie View A&M Panthers have been a member of the SWAC Conference since 1977 and it has been a roller coaster ride.

Having a good season at Prairie View is finishing the season below 300 in KenPom. Smith has done it 6 times in 9 seasons.

Over the past six seasons, the Panthers have played 60 non-conference games against D1 opponents, yet have only managed one win eight times. However, there have still been bright spots under head coach Byron Smith. He led Prairie View to the NCAA Tournament in 2019 before losing to Fairleigh Dickinson in the First Four. In 2020, they won the SWAC Conference but there was no NCAA Tournament due to COVID. The team had similar success in 2021, winning the conference again, but losing in the conference tournament and therefore not making the March bid.

These schools have only met twice in their history. The first meeting was in 1991 when Mizzou had a team of Doug Smith, Anthony Peeler, Melvin Booker and Jevon Crudup. And boy, did they run up the score, defeating the Panthers by 52 points – the 11th largest victory in Mizzou history. The most recent meeting was 17 years ago and the Tigers won by 21 points in another easy game.

Missouri will look to improve to 3-0 all-time against Prairie View on Monday night.

Through four games this year, the Panthers are currently 2-2. The group started 2-0, defeating DII College of Biblical Studies and then DIII University of Dallas. Since getting off to a good start, the Panthers have suffered crushing losses to Wichita State and Oklahoma State.

3 keys to the game

Get started fast

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: This team hasn’t liked to jump out the door ready to play. Minnesota was easily able to exploit this issue against the Tigers. However, the Gophers and Panthers are two very different teams. It will be key to not let ego get in the way of taking care of a SWAC team. Prairie View is 4-48 on the road against D1 opponents over the last six seasons, staying within 10 points in 14 of those losses. So pay attention, make some mistakes, and get the job done.

You can’t teach height

This Missouri team is tall.

But something that has plagued these Tiger teams in recent years has been the inability to rebound. In what appeared to be a fluke, Mizzou didn’t even get a single offensive board until well into the second half against Minnesota. It’s something that can’t happen again, especially when you’re a team blessed with height.

A game against the Panthers is an excellent opportunity to correct this problem in the future.

Take timely photographs

Mizzou was passionate with their shot selection and had success with the shots taken, allowing them to pull away from Minnesota when it looked like the game might go down to the wire. Overall, the Tigers only missed 9 field goals and shot 50% from three, and a higher free throw rate began to drop. Overall, the Tigers’ true shooting percentage was 71.8%, the team’s highest of the season. I would look for Mizzou to still take advantage of the height advantage lane, but maintain confidence from the post and beyond.

Injury report

It seems that the team will continue without Trent Pierce, Annor Boateng and Trent Burns.

Pierce was practicing with the team recently; However, Gates has kept him out of action all season thus far, nor has he provided any updates on practice. The details of his injury have not yet emerged.

Annor Boateng is also dealing with an undisclosed injury, but according to Gates he is day-to-day.

Burns underwent foot surgery this offseason and will be out indefinitely. The original timeline called for him to miss the first four weeks of non-conference play.

Game prediction

My prediction: Mizzou 95, Prairie View A&M 58

With limited success against DI teams in recent years, as well as the current team’s stunning losses to Oklahoma State and Wichita State this year, the Tigers should have no problem taking care of business. Easily. Against Minnesota, Mizzou had excellent success off the bench of Jacob Crews and Jayden Stone, especially with Jevon Porter and Shawn Phillips Jr. (both starters) scoring zero points. A complete team like the Tigers will dominate a team of newcomers and transfers on Monday night.

Source link