Scouting Report: Missouri Tigers

It just means more. The Southeastern Conference portion of the schedule tips off tonight with the Missouri Tigers coming to town. Coach Cuonzo Martin will not make the trip after testing positive for Coronavirus, but his team enters with a 6-6 record. When they last took the court a week ago, the Tigers got blitzed 88-63 by Illinois at the Enterprise Center in Missouri.

When breaking Mizzou down on film they are much more comparable to the likes of Ohio and Western Kentucky than the teams Kentucky will face the rest of the SEC schedule. The Missouri Tigers are a legitimate “contender” to finish in last place. It isn’t fair to put Coach Martin on the hot seat just yet, but as the season goes on we could start seeing some smoke.

It will be discussed a lot, but Missouri is one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the country. They rank 355th out of 358 Division I programs at 24.3% from beyond the arc. The Tigers also turn the ball over a lot which makes them an all-around bad offensive team. You will see the typical, gritty Missouri defense, but they simply don’t have the players this season to make it happen.

In today’s scouting report we will get a full rundown of the Missouri Tigers personnel, watch some clips of their offense, and breakdown how to attack their defense. Then, as always, we will go over the keys to the game for the Wildcats. Let’s dive on in and get to know more about Kentucky’s first conference opponent.

Missouri Tigers Personnel

Starters

#5 Jarron Coleman: 6’5″ 210 lbs, Redshirt Junior Guard

8.4 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 2.6 apg

Bigger guard that will run the point. He is their best shooter. No catch-and-shoot 3’s. Need to be there on the catch to give a hard contest to the obvious catch-and-shoot 3’s. Pressure him as much as possible. Make him uncomfortable. Get over the ballscreens and handoffs. Chase him off of downscreens and flares. Make him score over you when he drives it. Will drive it right when you take away the catch-and-shoot. Get your hands up and make him finish intermediate 2’s. Not super aggressive off of the bounce so get up and pressure him on the perimeter. Try and take it off of him. You can help off of him, but be ready to recover and closeout more aggressively than you will to anyone else.

#12 DaJuan Gordon: 6’3″ 190 lbs, Junior Guard

8.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 1.9 apg

Willing shooter. Wants to shoot jump shots. Closeout with choppy feet and high hands to be ready to contest the catch-and-shoot. Once you take that away you need to either bounce back to guard the right hand drive or get up and pressure him. No right hand drives! Go under ballscreens and handoffs. Go up through downscreens and flares. If he starts going left it is to set up the left-to-right crossover into a jump shot. Give a hard contest to all jump shots. Make him uncomfortable. 16 assists to 21 turnovers. Aggressively help when he drives it. Come take it off of him. He isn’t thinking about passing. Just get your hands up and make him finish over you at the end of his drives. Contest jumpers. More shots than points. Box out! Crashes offensive glass hard. 17 offensive rebounds in 11 games.

#4 Javon Pickett: 6’5″ 215 lbs, Senior Guard/Forward

9.0 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1.7 apg

Non-shooter. 7/30 from 3 this season. Closeout short to guard against the right hand drive. NO RIGHT HAND DRIVES!!! You need to get over on his right hand to cut him off anytime he drives it. Be ready to be physical because he is big and strong. Will seek out contact as he drives it. He is going to spin back to his right when he starts going left. Help off of him when he doesn’t have it. Be in the gaps off of him. You can bring help and make him give it up as he drives it. Go under the ballscreens and handoffs that are set for him. Switch if he is the ballscreener to take away the right hand drive. Right hand, left shoulder around the basket. Just make him score with you between him and the basket. Be physical and take away the right hand drives.

#23 Trevon Brazile: 6’9″ 215 lbs, Freshman Forward

6.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 0.5 apg

Long, thin 4-man. Willing shooter. 9 of 13 shots have been 3’s through four games. Just give a contest on the obvious catch-and-shoot ones. We will adjust if he makes a couple to closeout more aggressively. Help off of him. Clog up the driving lanes. Get out and pressure him when he has it to make him uncomfortable. Make him turn it over. Be ready for him to drive it right from the perimeter. No right hand drives! Come take it off of him when he is in the post or driving it. Not thinking about passing. Right hand, left shoulder in the post.

#24 Kobe Brown: 6’8″ 250 lbs, Junior Forward

14.8 ppg, 8.9 rpg, 2.3 apg

Extremely physical forward. Looking for deep post catches. Will duck you in hard to catch it with two feet in the paint. No deep post catches. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Need to be ready for the quick spin baseline when he catches it, and then be physical on the left shoulder. Make him score it back into you with his right hand. Has came out to the perimeter more this season. No right hand drives. Will aggressively drive it right. Always coming back right to finish if he is going left. Be physical at the end of his drives. Come take it off of him as he drives it. Aggressively dig the ball out of the post when he has it. Averaging 3 turnovers per game. We need at least that many. Make him score over you. Box out! Excellent offensive rebounder.

Bench

#1 Amari Davis: 6’2″ 175 lbs, Junior Guard

10.4 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 0.9 apg

Lefty. Very aggressive offensively. Be there to contest the obvious catch-and-shoot. Much more aggressive driving it left. NO LEFT HAND DRIVES!!! You need to get over and cut him off from driving it left. You can go under the ballscreens and handoffs to stay between him and the basket. Go up through the downscreens and flares. Closeout to stay between him and the basket with your hands up. Not thinking about passing when he drives it. Come take it off of him. 11 assists to 14 turnovers. Be ready for him to shoot the pull-up as he drives it. Just give it a hard contest. No left hand drives!

#21 Ronnie DeGray III: 6’6″ 225 lbs, Sophomore Forward

8.3 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 0.8 apg

Physical 4-man. Right hand driver from the perimeter. No right hand drives. Get over and cut him off. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Be physical on his left shoulder. Aggressively help on the drives and aggressively dig the ball out of the post when he has it. 9 assists to 15 turnovers. Come take it off of him. Create turnovers. Elite offensive rebounder. Averaging nearly 3 per game. Be physical. BOX OUT!!!

#0 Anton Brookshire: 6’1″ 175 lbs, Freshman Guard

2.1 ppg, 0.9 rpg, 1.2 apg

Point Guard. Has started the last two games. Willing shooter. 22 of 29 shots have been 3’s. Shooting a bad percentage. You can help off of him and then closeout short until he makes a couple. Hop under the ballscreens and handoffs. Just stay between him and the basket. Make him uncomfortable when he is bouncing it on the perimeter. You can get up and try to take it off of him. He is driving to pass the deeper he takes it. No layups for him.

#11 Yaya Keita: 6’8″ 240 lbs, Freshman Forward

1.3 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 0.2 apg

Backup forward. Strong and physical. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Need to be physical on his left shoulder. Make him score over you. No deep post catches. Be physical and box out when the shot goes up.

Missouri Tigers Offense

No matter how you slice it, the Missouri Tigers have not been good on the offensive end of the floor this season. Per KenPom, they rank 315th nationally in effective field goal percentage and 355th in three-point percentage. Additionally, they are 275th in turnover percentage. So, they don’t even get a shot on 21.1% of their possessions, and even when they do they still aren’t very successful.

The combination of Missouri’s offensive struggles and Kentucky’s stout pressure defense should make it hard for them to run their offense. Mizzou is a base Motion team with a lot of ballscreen/handoff continuity mixed in to what they do. There are a lot of times that their 5-out Motion will essentially turn into a ballscreen continuity. In order to get the ball in the hands of their best player more often, the Tigers are allowing #24 Kobe Brown to venture out to the perimeter more which gets them into more 5-out Motion possessions. However, the necessary spacing simply isn’t there because of how poorly they shoot the basketball.

We need to pack it in, stuff the driving lanes, and then pack it in some more. How many 3’s Missouri is forced into taking will tell a lot about how we are executing on the defensive end. Be aggressive in the driving lanes, get all the way into help and stuff the gaps, and then try to take the ball from them. Again, being aggressive is going to be more important than being right. Go make plays defensively by stealing the basketball. Now, here are some clips to give you a feel for what their offensive possessions will look like.

5-out Motion, Ballscreens

As we alluded to, when Missouri goes to their 5-out Motion it will almost become a pure ballscreen continuity. You can see that in this clip with #21 DeGray III popping after both ballscreens that he sets and #24 Brown, the 5-man, spaced out to the perimeter the entire possession. We will go under the ballscreens and handoffs when #1 Davis is coming off. On #12 Gordon, like Illinois does here, we will go under as well. This is a solid contest on the jump shot. We will live with him making these tonight.

5-out Continuity

This possession really shows how the Missouri offense becomes a ballscreen/handoff continuity a lot of the times. They are rolling to the basket off of the ballscreens/handoffs and then lifting the opposite forward. Also, they are back cutting from the wings. It is just good to see their offense in action to get a visual. Overall, this is a good defensive possession. Utah is willing to switch a lot on the perimeter which is good and they are getting under the ballscreens/handoffs which is what we want as well. We want to keep a guy on a guy. However, at the end of the shot clock is the one time you need to be more ready to tighten up to your man. #1 Davis is a 25% three-point shooter but this is one he knows he is supposed to shoot. Tighten up at the end of the clock.

Motion

Once again you can see how much ballscreening takes place in the Tigers Motion offense. There won’t be a whole lot of off-ball screening or cutting. The possession ends with a downhill ballscreen for #4 Pickett. We want to switch it like Utah does, but you need to be more ready to guard the drive. Even with him going to his left we don’t want him turning the corner. Give space and get your hands up to contest the floater. Stay between him and the basket.

Horns-Downscreen to Iverson Flare

Here is a look at a set play that Missouri will run to allow #4 Pickett to drive it. We do not want to chase over the top of a flare screen set for him. Go under and be ready for him to drive it. Even going to his left we need to cut him off and take away the layups. Stay between him and the basket at all times.

Horns-Ballscreen Roll/Replace

This is another set play the Tigers will run out of a Horns alignment. After the initial elbow ballscreen and roll/replace action, Mizzou gets into a side ballscreen for #4 Pickett. Anytime they ballscreen for him we either need to get underneath it or just switch it. We cannot let him come off and turn the corner to get downhill to his right. Very bad defense by Utah. Aggressively help when he drives and make him give it up.

High Cross Screen

Missouri likes to run this high cross screen for #24 Brown. He has a couple of options off of the screen. First, he can curl it to the basket looking for it on the cut or in the post while the screener pops back to the top of the key. However, if he feels you going under like Utah does here, he will settle behind the screen and then drive it right. No right hand drives!!! Aggressively help when he drives it right and make him give it up.

Missouri Tigers Defense

Coach Cuonzo Martin is known for instilling toughness in his teams. He is traditionally a good defensive coach that hasn’t had a team finish below 71st in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency. However, so far this season, the Missouri Tigers are just 130th in that category. Mizzou is relying heavily on transfers and freshmen which has made it tough early in the season for Coach Martin to put his stamp on this team.

Missouri will primarily be a man-to-man defensive team. They have mixed in a few 2-3 Zone possessions and some token full-court pressure, but expect to primarily see them play man-to-man. While they have strong, physical forwards around the basket they lack the raw size at the rim. We should find a lot of success attacking the basket and finishing in the paint.

Keys to the Game

• Pack it in. Missouri shoots just 24.3% from 3. We need to stuff the gaps and force them into jump shots. Get them to shoot 22 or more 3’s.
• Dominate the glass. The Tigers rebound 34.2% of their misses on the offensive glass. We must continue to have a rebounding advantage and negate a strength of theirs.
• Shoot it with confidence. Opponents have made 38.7% from beyond the arc against Missouri. We need to be willing to take open catch-and-shoot 3’s when they come. Let them go in transition. Make at least 10 3’s.
• Stay between them and the basket. Need to contain #24 Brown in the post and off the bounce. No right hand drives for #4 Pickett. Be willing to switch on the perimeter. Go under. Make them score over you.