On the same day that the program saw their prized transfer, Jordan Barnett, make his team debut, they also couldn't close out the game and dropped their second clunker at home -- this time to Eastern Illinois -- less than just three weeks after losing to North Carolina Central as well. Barnett, who transferred to Missouri from Texas last season, was a highly touted recruit coming out of high school in St. Louis and was ranked number 88 on ESPN's Top 100 board.
While the 6'7 forward didn't start the game, he played 24 minutes in the 67-64 loss and scored three points while adding five rebounds and one assist. Despite missing his first and only three shots in the first half, which were all three-point attempts, he added some much needed flexibility at times late in the game. Although, for those of us that watched the game, are still confused at why he was on the bench at one point in the final five minutes of regulation. May have been conditioning or just Coach Anderson's own reasoning, but still, it could have very well been the difference between winning the game, or ultimately losing it as they did.
The Tigers played a solid opening half of the contest before heading in to halftime with a 32-30 lead -- but Eastern Illinois shooting 1-of-14 from long range played a big part, as they didn't hit their first shot from behind the arc until the final two minutes -- and keep in note, a lot of their looks in the first frame were pretty good, with no hand in their face. That didn't stop them from shooting them in the second half though. The Panthers hit 7-of-15 in the final 20 minutes, which was ultimately the disastrous dagger for a Mizzou team that has had trouble shooting a lot so far this season (they shot an all-time low of just 25-percent at Mizzou Arena in the loss to NC Central on Nov. 28).
Despite shooting 41-percent on Saturday though, they couldn't get timely buckets down the stretch in the final two minutes, and besides that? They shot a porous 62-percent from the free throw line (15 of 24) while Eastern Illinois hit 88-percent (15 of 17) -- the team missed nine free throws total and lost by three, coincidence? Down by three with 11 seconds left in the contest and the Panthers at the charity stripe, Cornell Johnston missed his second attempt after hitting the first and instead of calling a timeout to draw up a play, Anderson decided to let them play it out. Huh? Terrance Phillips dribbled out the time and chucked up a prayer that almost went in with just under three seconds left before ultimately missing and ending the game. Willie Jackson scored nine points and added five rebounds, Kevin Puryear added eight and six while Phillips scored eight points, added seven dimes and three rebounds.
All in all though, I have been behind Kim Anderson as the main guy since day one. To be honest, I still am to this day, even after these two baaaad losses. As we all know, there may not be another guy on the planet that wants to be the one to bring this program back, just as any 'True Son' would. This won't be easy to bounce back from and to be quite honest, the way this team responds on Wednesday night in the Braggin' Rights game against the Illini could very well show us a lot about the direction for this program for not only the rest of the season, but for the relative future, as well.
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