| MBB/WBB 🏀 Missouri Upsets Alabama, 92-86

[#80]

Disappointing effort today this team was punked on the boards.

 

[bamanc50]

When you have no defense and no motivation to rebound you usually lose. Plus on offense when you have nothing but drive the lane to the basketball, look for 3 point outlet and if it’s not there you throw the ball away or up for grabs you usually lose. We are seeing first hand the weaknesses of a team playing with 4-5 guards and no big men in the middle.

 

[mando]

When you have no defense and no motivation to rebound you usually lose. Plus on offense when you have nothing but drive the lane to the basketball, look for 3 point outlet and if it’s not there you throw the ball away or up for grabs you usually lose. We are seeing first hand the weaknesses of a team playing with 4-5 guards and no big men in the middle.

This is Oats core strategy (drive and kick out for 3 pointer) which at times struggles shooting and/or with turnovers. The only way he strategy will work with consistency is if you add very good defense to manage through those droughts. This is kind of like pitching in offense. They had that last year. They have had it at times this year but not consistent.

 

[UA Press Release]

Missouri Upsets No. 15/20 Alabama, 92-86 - University of Alabama Athletics

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The No. 15/20 Alabama men's basketball team was upset at Missouri Saturday afternoon, 92-86. It marked the first loss in SEC play for the Crimson

rolltide.com

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The No. 15/20 Alabama men's basketball team was upset at Missouri Saturday afternoon, 92-86. It marked the first loss in SEC play for the Crimson Tide, who fell to 11-4 overall and 2-1 in league play with the setback.

The turning point of the game was Missouri's 22-5 run early in the second half that took a one-point deficit (50-49) and turned it into an insurmountable 72-54 lead for the Tigers. The Crimson Tide fought to get back into the game, cutting the lead to as little as four in the final minutes, but it proved to be too much to overcome.

Guards Jahvon Quinerly and Jaden Shackelford led Alabama with 19 and 17 points, respectively. Guard JD Davison went for 13 points and team highs of seven rebounds and four assists, while guard Keon Ellis ended the night with 12 points.

The Tigers were led behind a career-high 30 points from Kobe Brown to go along with 13 boards and four assists for the Tigers (7-7, 1-1 SEC).

Head Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments​

"We've got to give Missouri a lot of credit coming off a CoVID pause and being down a couple of guys. They played a lot harder than we played. That may have been our worst performance of the year. I told our guys going into the game this was going to be a leadership test, maturity test to see where we are at coming off two big wins against Tennessee and Florida. Last time we had two big wins was Gonzaga and Houston, and we did not play well on the road at Memphis. Same thing happened here, two big wins and we did not play well on the road. We've got to get some leadership. It starts here with me. I've got to figure out how to get these guys motivated and play a little harder because the effort was drastically different between the two teams tonight and it cost us the game. If we are going to try and compete for an SEC Championship, we got to win games on the road when we've got opportunities to win them. Tonight, we probably should've won on the road and had opportunities, but just weren't able to take advantage. It's a disappointing loss and we need to look ourselves in the eye and find a way to play tougher and harder than we did tonight."

Team Stats​

• It marked the third consecutive loss for the Crimson Tide in Mizzou Arena
• The loss snapped a 30-game winning streak for the Tide when scoring 80 or more points in a game
• The Tide made 33-of-67 (49.3 percent) from the floor while Missouri hit 31-of-63 (49.2 percent) field goals
• Alabama had a sizable advantage in points in the paint (46-36) and bench points (27-5) in the contest
• The contest featured six lead changes and three ties, with all but one lead change coming in the opening stanza

First Half​

• Missouri opened the game on a 9-0 run, before a three-point play on a and-1 dunk by Juwan Gary sparked a 14-2 run for the Tide
• After taking the lead at 14-11, Alabama battled through four lead changes and two ties over the next 5:49 minutes of play meeting at a 24-24 score
• UA outscored the Tigers 19-11 over the next 6:44 minutes of action, slowly building to its largest lead of the half at 43-35
• A 5-0 run by Mizzou concluded the half as the Tide held a 43-40 score heading into the break
• Shackelford and Quinerly scored 10 points apiece to lead Alabama
• UA led in points off turnovers 13-3, turning the ball over just three times compared to six turnovers from the Tigers
• The Tide made 17 of its 32 field goal attempts, while Missouri was 15-of-31 in the half

Second Half​

• Missouri again started hot, opening the half on a 10-4 run to take a 50-47 lead
• After a Quinerly layup cut the lead to one, the Tigers scored seven consecutive points to jump start the 22-5 run that gave Mizzou a 72-54 lead with 10:44 to play
• Gary again kicked off the Tide's offense as UA went on a 10-2 run over the next three minutes to trim the lead to 10 at the under eight-minute timeout
• Trailing 82-68 with 5:19 left, the Tide used a 16-6 run to cut the lead to four (88-84) with 18 seconds to go, but failed to get any closer
• Quinerly led the Tide in the half with nine points and four rebounds as Noah Gurley made all nine of his points in the second half

Up Next​

• Alabama returns home to host in-state rival No. 9 Auburn on Tuesday, Jan. 11 at 8 p.m. CT. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.

 

[bamanc50]

This is Oats core strategy (drive and kick out for 3 pointer) which at times struggles shooting and/or with turnovers. The only way he strategy will work with consistency is if you add very good defense to manage through those droughts. This is kind of like pitching in offense. They had that last year. They have had it at times this year but not consistent.

So if this is Oats core strategy, plan A, then he has no plan B if no defense. Watching this team play doesn’t matter if they’re up 15 or down 15 they continue with plan A.

 

[BamaFan334]

Well atleast half of the Top 20 lost too it seemed.

 

[Davestwin]

When you have no defense and no motivation to rebound you usually lose. Plus on offense when you have nothing but drive the lane to the basketball, look for 3 point outlet and if it’s not there you throw the ball away or up for grabs you usually lose. We are seeing first hand the weaknesses of a team playing with 4-5 guards and no big men in the middle.

It’s especially a weakness when the 4-5 guards aren’t hitting the three’s this type of offense has to have to be successful. Last season they were and that’s a big difference. You nailed the other major difference … motivation. This season’s squad definitely doesn’t appear to be hungry either.

 

[mando]

So if this is Oats core strategy, plan A, then he has no plan B if no defense. Watching this team play doesn’t matter if they’re up 15 or down 15 they continue with plan A.

From what I can see you either drive and shoot or drive and kick out. When those are not working due to poor shooting or turnovers then the tough nose D is needed. Oats knows if the D and effort he is looking at a .500 team. He said as much in his post game press conference.

 

[Bama Guy]

Disappointing game. We are too inconsistent and not physical enough. At least the passing game was a little better. There were fewer bad passes resulting in turnovers, but not accurate. The player catching the ball is still having to reach for it. JD had his best game. Bediako, not so much. If we are hitting our 3's, we are unbeatable. If not, it is going to be a long night.

 

[#80]

From what I understand this is CNO heirarchy in shot taking FT's, shots at the rim, and 3pt shots. In that order due to percentages of success.
His problem now is he has to play 3 guards since he has no big that can shot the 3. This is an issue in rebounding. I know there are some that don't like his system those better get use to it he is not changing. When it works it's great to watch when it doesn't it's frustrating. I was really hoping Tchikou would help this year.

 

[mando]

From what I understand this is CNO heirarchy in shot taking FT's, shots at the rim, and 3pt shots. In that order due to percentages of success.
His problem now is he has to play 3 guards since he has no big that can shot the 3. This is an issue in rebounding. I know there are some that don't like his system those better get use to it he is not changing. When it works it's great to watch when it doesn't it's frustrating. I was really hoping Tchikou would help this year.

I think his system works and as you said when it works it is great. I think just as critical to his system is the defensive play but that does not get the press that the offensive up tempo gets. Pretty sure Oats knows that his offensive approach will have those nights but the D has to be there every night. Just listening to his post game press conference he seems very frustrated with the D/Effort and leadership with this team. That is on him to challenge the team to get it fixed.

 

[alabama mike]

There are times when shots do no fall, however, there should never be a time when you do not play tough defense, deny the ball and rebound. On Saturday in Columbia, we did not play tough defense, did not deny the ball and did not rebound well. Ugly game IMO.

 

[Bammerboy321]

Oats challenged his team in the press conference before the game about playing consistently. Highlighted the wins over Houston and Gonzaga, then losing on the road at Memphis. This team ultimately failed.

They're so inconsistent. You'd think the energy in the second half vs Florida would have carried over, but nope. Just go to Mizzou and get blasted.

 

[Bammerboy321]

Also, a big problem for us is how poorly our bigs are playing. Bediako started the game off going 0-3 or 0-4 from the game, and that affected him mentally for the rest of the game. Gurley is poor finisher around the rim as well. Gary is supposed to be our junkyard dog, yet doesn't have the same fire as he did last year. It's maddening to see when you have a coach that demands high energy all the time. But it's not all on the players.

Oats is right - he needs to find out what buttons to push to get these guys to play better. Whatever he's coaching in practice or saying to them is not translating to the court. That or get rid of Charlie Henry, which seems unlikely. The option to go zone against Mizzou when we've struggled all year on zone D was just a poor choice. We have played man all year and gradually gotten better on help defense inside. And with our athleticism, I don't see why we never play press.

Oh well, onto Auburn. Hope we don't get boat raced.

 

[mando]

The option to go zone against Mizzou when we've struggled all year on zone D was just a poor choice.

Yeah see my earlier post about looked like a high school coached team at times. No idea what Oats was thinking. With this teams issues with defensive intensity does not seem like starting out in zone is how you kick start that. Seemed like they started that way and never recovered except for a brief time at the midway point of the first half to half time.