89-76 final Check out how much talent Missouri has. This is just their starting five: SG - Jabari Brown (6'5" 205 Soph) - 14.5 ppg #15 on Top 247, 5-star #18 on Scout 100, 5-star #19 on Rivals100, 5-star #26 on ESPN 100 PF - Laurence Bowers (6'8" 227 Sr) - 13.8 ppg -out for season w injury last season - 2011 Big 12 All-Defensive Team as soph - 2011 All-Big 12 Honorable Mention as soph PG - Phil Pressey (5'11" 175 Jr) - 12 pts ppg - 2012 SEC Preseason Player of the Year #42 on ESPN 100 #55 on Scout100 #61 on Rivals100 -father played in NBA and is NBA coach, was also All-American and 1st R pick -LSU coach Jones on Pressey: As a player, when you have a guy that is that explosive, the only thing you want to do is try to contain him. You know he's going to score and going to make big plays. You just have to do a great job of trying to limit him to some of the things that he's doing. ... he's a great point guard." SG - Keion Bell (6'4" 200 Sr) - 11.9 ppg -scored 1,365 points (16.4 ppg) in 3 years at Pepperdine before transferring to Mizzou C - Alex Oriakhi (6'9" 255 Sr) - 10.8 ppg, 8.6 rebs - starting center for the Connecticut Huskies' 2010–11 NCAA Championship team #20 on Scout 100, 5-star #20 on ESPN 100, 5-star #21 on Rivals 100, 5-star McDonald's All-American, a Parade All-American
Valiant effort by our Tigers, but probably a game they were expected to lose. That said, I was surprised at how the game unfolded. The Tigers shoot hot in the first half and really let Missouri back into it (or rather, submit to a home team playing desparately to keep their NCAA hunt alive). There is something to be said about talent---frankly, given the fact that LSU played them the first time with some of their key guys down or just back from being out, and this game was probably a good measuring stick for LSU playing against a 5-6 sort of seed in the NCAAs (IMO). With two big men down low who can effectively do it all, it shows also what LSU sometimes with a Del-Piero and JOB combination lacks at times. Del Piero is a serviceable big, but when you can only count on him for about 10-15 minutes per game, it's tough. Great game again from our guards, Hickey and Carmouche, who are really complementing JOB well. We have a little bit of an off game from Stringer and there's no real answer for the bigs down low... In any case, this was probably the game you lose. Now, the last two games for this season, Texas A&M on the road and Ole Miss at home, are HUGE. The attainment of a 19 win game season would have far surpassed most expectations at the beginning of this year and TOP last year's win record. Even in a relatively down SEC year, that is something that fans should be very excited about. Now, let's geaux Tigers!
