COLUMBIA, MO. • For the second straight SEC game, Missouri basketball coach Cuonzo Martin watched freshman center Jeremiah Tilmon foul out in less than 12 minutes. He wasn’t pleased.
“It was a tough game for me,” Martin said Saturday after the Tigers' last-second 77-75 loss to Florida at Mizzou Arena. “I guess I have to keep my mouth closed on a lot of things. I’ve never been one to say anything (about officiating), but it was very, very tough for me. Very tough for me, if you know what I’m saying. It was probably the toughest (game) I’ve ever been a part of.”
“We have to figure out a way to allow Jeremiah Tilmon to play basketball,” he added, “because some of those (fouls), just watching him, man, he’s a 19-year-old kid. He’s doing the things we’re asking him to do. It has to carry over. I just hope he doesn’t get a reputation because he’s doing the right things and he plays hard.”
Martin said he doesn’t plan to tell Tilmon to play the game any differently in practice.
“Keep doing what you’re doing,” he said. “Same stuff we practice. Stay tough. Stay aggressive. Don’t let up.”
Barnett's scoring surge not enough
Jordan Barnett’s strong finish to 2017 is carrying over to 2018. Missouri’s senior guard scorched Florida for 28 points Saturday, besting his previous career scoring high by five points. Perhaps more remarkable, he scored all those points without a field-goal attempt in the game’s final 11 minutes and 16 seconds.
Barnett was on the floor for all 20 minutes of the second half, but his final points came on a pair of free throws with 10:32 left. That gave him his 28 points, matching Jordan Geist’s same output against Green Bay on Dec. 9 for the most by a Missouri player this season. Barnett didn’t attempt another shot from the field the rest of the game, though his performance was enough to leave Gators coach Mike White blown away.
“I don’t remember a guy making this big a jump in one year,” White said. “This guy was a good player last year. He is terrific. He can sprint into 3s. He elevates. He’s got a high release. He’s got a quick release. He’s a 6-7 catch-and-shoot guy. He’s a really good cutter. He’s an offensive rebounder. We didn’t do a very good job on him, but he’s going to have a few of those (games). He’s already had a few.
“You think you’re close enough — as we told our guys the last 48 hours — and you’re not. He demands you literally drape all over him. We fouled him as well. He’s got it. Off the top off my head I can’t imagine there’s a more improved player in our league.”
• SCHEDULE/RESULTS: 2017-18 Mizzou basketball
• STANDINGS: SEC basketball
Barnett led the Tigers in scoring last year at 12.1 points per game and has boosted his average to 15.9, while shooting 43.3 percent from 3-point range. Barnett, a former Metro Player of the Year at CBC, has scored at least 18 points in his last six games. He’s 28 of 50 (56 percent) from behind the arc in his last seven.
Barnett didn’t have any revealing explanation for his hot streak.
“I’ve been able to make shots,” he said. “That definitely makes you look better when you make shots.”
Up next: Georgia
Next up for the Tigers is Wednesday’s home game against Georgia, an 11-3 team that clobbered Alabama by 19 points Saturday to improve to 2-1 in SEC games.
• MIZZOU TALK: Sound off about the Florida loss
• EYE ON THE TIGERS: Dave Matter's Mizzou blog
“This game hurts. It angers us a lot,” Barnett said. “The best thing we can do is take that anger, channel it and use it on Wednesday.”
MU women play South Carolina
Possibly without its best player, the No. 15 Missouri women’s basketball team faces defending national champion South Carolina at Mizzou Arena for a 1 p.m. tipoff on ESPN2.
It’s uncertain if All-SEC junior guard Sophie Cunningham will be available for the Tigers (13-2, 1-1 SEC) against the No. 4 Gamecocks (13-1, 2-0). Cunningham suffered a sprained right knee in last Sunday’s win at Alabama and sat out Thursday’s home loss to Louisiana State. Cunningham, listed as “day to day” by the team’s staff, was at Mizzou Arena Saturday for the men’s team’s game against Florida wearing a bulky brace on her right leg.
The last time South Carolina visited Mizzou Arena, Robin Pingeton’s Tigers dealt the No. 6 Gamecocks a 62-60 defeat last year on Cunningham’s last-second layup, which turned out to be USC’s final loss of the season. Mizzou hasn’t beaten a top-four team since Jan. 4, 2006, when the Tigers upset No. 4 Baylor 64-61.
The Gamecocks are led by All-American and national player of the year candidate A’ja Wilson, a 6-5 senior who averages 24.6 points per game.
Without Cunningham Thursday, the Tigers relied on sophomore guard Amber Smith for scoring in the 69-65 loss to LSU. She gave MU a career-high 27 points, while senior forward Jordan Frericks added 19 points and 15 rebounds. Mizzou is 2-4 all-time against South Carolina, but 2-1 at Mizzou Arena. (Dave Matter)