Missouri Basketball's Silent Hero
4/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
April 16, 2009
Columbia, Mo. -
By Michael Montgomery, Media Relations Student-Assistant
Even though guard J.T. Tiller is majoring in International Business and one day wants to own a business of his own, he says his favorite class so far at Mizzou has been Greek Mythology.
"There's just something about the way the teacher tells the stories," Tiller said. "He catches my interest in that class, about the myths and everything that intertwines with the realistic facts in our history."
Perhaps Tiller's interest in Greek mythology and the stories behind it helps to explain why he liked playing the role of "Hero" during some of the team's biggest games.
As a freshman, Tiller's best games all came on the road, against Purdue (12 points, two assists and a steal), Kansas (11 points, 5/11 FG) and Colorado (12 points, 5/8 FG). In fact, Tiller saw his scoring average increase in contests away from Mizzou Arena and he shot better then 50% from the floor in road games.
During his sophomore season, Tiller's biggest game came during a critical win over a #24 Kansas State. The Wildcats came to Columbia undefeated in Big 12 play (fresh off a victory against #2 Kansas) and were led by heralded freshmen Michael Beasley and Bill Walker.
Missouri, on the other hand was struggling, having just lost to Nebraska at home in a game where they played only seven players due to suspensions. Only Leo Lyons and Marshall Brown were reinstated for the Kansas State contest, which still left the Tigers short-handed against a team coming off arguably the program's biggest victory of the decade.
But Tiller would play the role of the "Hero" that day as well, leading the Tigers to victory by scoring a career-high 20 points (7/13 FG, 4/5 FT, 2/3 3PT FG) while adding four rebounds, and three assists. Tiller connected on two three-point plays in the game's final six minutes, including the one with 2:03 remaining that would give Missouri it's first lead of the day at 75-72. Tiller also made two clutch free throws with six seconds left to extend Missouri's lead to three, 77-74, which ended up being the final score.
Tiller said that game meant a lot not just to himself, but to the team and ultimately the program as well.
"It brought more trust to the team within the guys and gave us confidence," Tiller said. "We then knew we had a great core to bring back for what took place this year. For me, it just showed me I can compete with any of these guys, any of these big guards in the nation, so that just brought more confidence into my game."
Tiller's performance in the Kansas State game, along with his stellar performance earlier in the week in the close loss to Nebraska (14 points -7/15 FG- eight rebounds, three assists, two steals) were enough to name him the Big 12 Player of the Week along with Nebraska center Aleks Maric.
"With much reward comes with much responsibility." Tiller said when commenting on his play against big schools. "When you step your level of competition up you've got to step your game up, and that's just what I was able to do."
Tiller consistently showed that ability to rise to the occasion as a junior as he led Missouri to a school record 31-7 overall mark and a berth into the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight.
Against the Memphis Tigers, Tiller, the Big 12 Conference's Defensive Player of the Year, shredded the defense for a career-high 23 points, while chipping in three steals and three assists. His all-around play earned him a spot on the NCAA All-West Region Team and ultimately earned him consideration as one of the nation's top returning guards for the 2009-10 campaign. For the year, the Marietta, Ga., native averaged 8.4 points and dished a career high 138 assists, but he also ripped away 68 steals and enjoyed an incredible 2.3-to-1 assist/turnover ratio.
He was also named an honorable mention selection to the All-Big 12 Team and was named the captain of Seth Davis' All-Glue Team.
