Mizzou Morning Matters
11/10/2023 9:05:00 AM | General
With plenty left to achieve, Tigers could use an old-fashioned bounce-back week.
COLUMBIA, Mo. — When Gary Pinkel took over as Mizzou's football coach in December 2000 I always wondered if he came across boxes of tennis balls and rubber bands in his new office.
From time to time, those two objects came in handy for Pinkel's predecessor, the late Larry Smith, the Tigers' head coach from 1994-2000, a proud man best known for breathing life back into programs clinging to their last breath.
There's a framed photo of Coach Smith that hangs in the fifth floor of Memorial Stadium's West Tower. Every time I pass by on football Saturdays I can't help but crack a smile thinking about the first head coach I covered at Mizzou.
One of Larry's legacies was his remarkable ability to turn a team around, whether out from one wretched decade or one singularly painful week.
When his team suffered an especially tough defeat, Smith would often come back the next week with one of his gold standard gimmicks. Example: Each player was assigned a tennis ball and instructed to dribble it around campus. "Bounce Back Week." When he coached at Arizona, Smith had a helicopter hover over the practice field and dump the tennis balls from the skies.
Another favorite: Players were given rubber bands to wear on their wrists. "Snap Back Week."
Hokey? Just a little. Effective? Darn right.
More often than not, Smith's teams always bounced back — or snapped back. Smith's three best Missouri teams — 1996, 1997 and 1998 — were 11-3 in games following losses. They were 8-3 in games following losses to nationally ranked teams. And they were 3-0 after losses to teams ranked No. 1 in the AP poll. The Tigers had some pivotal wins in their two bowl seasons under Smith, but maybe the most important was the 1997 regular-season finale against Baylor. The Tigers had already clinched bowl eligibility, but that group of players and coaches absolutely needed something tangible to celebrate on Nov. 15, 1997. Why?
Because they were still recovering from the Flea Kicker.
The most incredible aftershock of the Tigers' heart-stopping overtime loss to No. 1 Nebraska was revealed the next day. On Sunday, one sleep after Smith's team nearly toppled the heavily favored Cornhuskers, AP voters pushed the Tigers into the Top 25 — after a loss! It was the first time Mizzou cracked the AP rankings in 15 years. Respect was earned.
Later that week, the Tigers closed the regular season with a 42-24 win over Baylor, a cathartic victory that clinched the program's first winning record in 13 years. The goalposts came tumbling down.
Why are we talking about this game of nearly 26 years ago?
There's some symmetry to that team and the 2023 Tigers. It was Smith's fourth season at Mizzou. This, too, is Coach Eli Drinkwitz's fourth season. Once again, the breakthrough has occurred. Two weeks ago the Tigers won their seventh game to clinch their first winning record since 2018. Fans are back invested, too. Smith's 1997 Tigers led the Big 12 Conference in attendance increase, just like the 2023 Tigers lead the SEC in attendance increase — with attendance up nearly 9% from last year. Saturday's game against Tennessee marks Mizzou's fourth straight home sellout. When's the last time that happened? Drinkwitz wasn't born for another three years.
Try 1980.
Corby Jones was the emerging superstar on that 1997 team, but the captain and heartbeat of the program was tailback Brock Olivo, a rugged workhorse who treated every rushing attempt like a street fight. Sound familiar? Cody Schrader is a few weeks away from becoming the least probable first-team All-SEC selection in recent memory. The former walk-on and Division II transfer leads the SEC in rushing with 919 yards — which would lead the Big Ten and Pac-12, as well. A big reason the Tigers had No. 1 Georgia on the ropes last week in Athens was No. 7, who bludgeoned through blocks for 112 yards against the Bulldogs.
Here are the players who have rushed for 100 yards against Georgia over the last three seasons:
Cody Schrader.
That's the list.
Schrader was the first Georgia opponent to break triple digits since Kentucky's Chris Rodriguez ran for 108 on Oct. 31, 2020 — a span of 43 games without a 100-yard rusher against the Bulldogs. Schrader's 112 yards in Athens was the most prolific game Georgia has allowed by an opposing running back since … Schrader ran for 89 against UGA on Oct. 1, 2022.
"I think he's a great example of mindset and hard work over talent," Drinkwitz said on his radio show this week. "Not that he doesn't have talent. He's an incredibly talented young man. But he has a mindset that he won't be denied. He puts in an amazing amount of work, not only to build his body, but mentally he puts in a ton of work to rehab. I've never seen a player who runs so reckless. He threw his body at those Georgia defenders consistently for four quarters and was not afraid of the contact.
"He's really an inspiration to our football team. … Man, really proud to be associated with him."
Oh yeah, Olivo gets a front row seat to Brock 2.0. Olivo joined the program this year as a special teams analyst. Following his final home game as a player, when Mizzou took out their Flea Kicker frustrations on Baylor, Olivo had this to say about the 1997 Tigers: "We're not the most talented team in the nation and we know that. That's why we have to dig a lot deeper than some teams. We play with a lot of heart, character and emotion. That's what makes us so special."
Brock was right. The special teams bounce back. They snap back. With Tennessee in town, another chance arrives Saturday.
More Football!
Watch Coach Drinkwitz's full Tuesday press conference here:
Listen to Tuesday's episode of "Tiger Talk" where Mike Kelly was joined by Coach Drinkwitz, special teams coordinator and tight ends coach Erik Link and defensive lineman Josh Landry:
Hot Start for Mizzou Hoops
Let's tip off the weekend with some takeaways from the start of basketball season. The women's team is 2-0 coming off Thursday's 41-point win over Indiana State, while the men's team is 1-0 heading into Friday's showdown with Memphis:
1. Hello, Aidan Shaw: We all know the high standard Coach Dennis Gates sets for his sophomore forward, and on Monday, Shaw delivered with his most complete college game. In a career-high 23 minutes, Shaw set career marks for rebounds (nine), blocks (five) and steals (two). He posted the team's highest defensive rating (82.5) and was efficient on the offensive end, making 3 of 4 shots before fouling out. Through the first three nights of the college basketball season, Shaw leads the nation in KenPom's block percentage at 31.1%.
"We need Aidan Shaw to use his athleticism and show up in the stat sheet with five blocks, seven defensive rebounds and nine overall," Gates said. "That's the challenge that I've been fighting with him for the entire offseason. He knows that if he doesn't rebound, he doesn't play."
2. Hello, Grace Slaughter: How's this for a Mizzou debut: The freshman scored 10 points and pulled down 10 rebounds in a team-high 39 minutes Monday against Belmont, becoming Mizzou's first player to notch a double-double in her first college game since all-time great Sophie Cunningham in 2015. Slaughter came out of the game with a minute left in the first quarter, returned for the start of the second quarter and played every second the rest of the game.
"Super, super cool," Slaughter said after her first college game. "I've grown up being a Mizzou fan and I've seen it from the stands, so just being in the moment and getting to kind of take that deep breath … just absorb it all, it was super neat and super exciting."
Slaughter followed up Monday's performance with 17 points Thursday against Indiana State. Keep an eye on the rookie.
3. Sean East II from III: East's perimeter shooting cooled off last season when he finished just 22.1 % from 3-point range, but he made two early 3s on Monday, then attacked the paint for the rest of his team-high 21 points in only 21 minutes. He finished at a game-high +25 in plus/minus. East already brings so much to the floor, and with a sturdy 3-point shot, his value reaches another level.
4. Ashton Judd breaks out: It was a sluggish start for the women's team on the offensive end Monday, but coach Robin Pingeton shrugged off concerns about her team's shooting struggles. "We'll be just fine," she said Monday. "I got a lot of confidence in these guys. They put in so much work outside of practice. It's one day."
Day two was a different story. Led by Judd's career-high 31 points, the Tigers shot 16 of 27 from 3-point range in Thursday's 98-57 wipeout. It was the Tigers' highset scoring game since scoring 100 in a win over Ole Miss on Feb. 13, 2017. It was the most 3s they've made since Jan. 13, 2022 and their best 3-point percentage (59.2) since Feb. 21, 2021. You know it's a good night when you win by 41 points and All-SEC forward Hayley Frank scores just 3 points on four shot attempts. This team needs a reliable scoring punch on nights shots don't fall for for Frank. Judd showed glimpses Thursday of being that go-to scorer.
5. The Honorable Nick Honor: Honor shot 40% from 3-point range last season, but only four times in 35 games did he attempt more than seven 3-pointers — and never more than eight in a game. Gates wants his point guard to let it fly more this year. On Monday, he attempted 10, three off his career-high at Fordham in 2019. He sank four — right at 40%. "I'm excited that he shot 10 3s. That's a little out of his personality for you all," Gates told reporters. "But it's what my demands are. We're a better team with him shooting 10 3s."
6. Tamar Bates' athleticism: Hard to say what Bates' role was at his last institution in the Big Ten, but in Gates' system he appears fearless with the ball, firing deep or knifing through the lane. Promising debut: 18 points in 24 minutes, zero turnovers. "He started to play how he played in high school with his instincts," Gates said.
7. Tigers' depth tested: With Averi Kroenke out indefinitely with an injury, Mizzou's bench will be pivotal, especially in the backcourt. Mama Dembele opened the season with a strong game (15 points, five assists, two steals in 31 minutes), but Pingeton also leaned on freshman Abbey Schreacke to handle the ball. Good news: The newcomers didn't flinch. Slaughter, Schreacke and Hannah Linthacum — all freshmen — plus transfers Abby Feit and Angelique Ngalakulondi accounted for all 18 points Mizzou scored in the first quarter of Monday's game.
8. The whistles: Are the NCAA's new foul rules already having an impact on games? In the men's game, Mizzou and Arkansas-Pine Bluff combined for 44 fouls and 50 free throw attempts in a game that lasted 2 hours and 22 minutes. It's just one game, but in Mizzou's 35 games last year, the average combined foul count was 34.3 and the average combined free throw count was 36.9. Also, Mizzou played only one longer game last year: The home game against Arkansas took 2:37.
On the women's side, Mizzou and Belmont combined for 41 free throws and 46 fouls — both up from Mizzou's single-game averages last season of 29.2 combined free throws and 35 fouls.
Tiger Trivia
Find answers at the end of today's newsletter.
1. Mizzou's first 200-yard rushing performance in an SEC game came against Tennessee. Who was the player?
2. Going into the season, Alabama, Mississippi State and Missouri were the only SEC teams with three men's basketball players who have scored 1,000 career points at the Division I level. Who are Mizzou's three 1,000-point scorers?
Matter's Weekly Power Rankings
Each week we'll highlight the Best of Mizzou with a different theme. This week: Mizzou's best freshman classes in men's hoops.
If you didn't notice, Coach Gates' five-player 2024 group is widely rated the nation's No. 2 recruiting class. We'll leave out both the current 2023 class and the incoming 2024 class for this exercise and focus instead on Mizzou's best freshman classes since the NCAA allowed freshmen to compete on the varsity level in 1972. We're talking Mizzou legacy here. Not pure talent or star power. Mizzou legacy. This list does not include junior college or Division I transfers or walk-ons. So, apologies to the great Willie Smith, Ricky Frazier, Paul O'Liney, Byron Irvin, Kassius Robertson and D'Moi Hodge.
Just a warning: This was very difficult. There are some outstanding freshman classes that didn't crack the top five.
1. 1979: Eight jerseys hang from the Mizzou Arena rafters and only one freshman class produced two of those names, two players whose careers were forever intertwined: All-Americans Steve Stipanovich and Jon Sundvold. They came to Columbia from opposite sides of the state and left four-time Big Eight champions and all-time legends.
2. 1990: All-American guard Melvin Booker was the 1994 Big Eight player of the year, while Jevon Crudup is one of just four players in school history ranked in the top 10 for career field goals, rebounds and blocks. They rank Nos. 7 and 15 in career scoring at Mizzou. Their freshman class included role players Reggie Smith and Lamont Frazier.
3. 2008: As a core, this group won more games over four seasons (107) than any class in team history. Marcus Denmon and Kim English made their mark on the perimeter, while Laurence Bowers and Steve Moore did their damage inside.
4. 2000: After his first full year on campus, coach Quin Snyder reeled in a class that formed the nucleus of his program going forward, led by Michigan stars Rickey Paulding and Arthur Johnson, perhaps the most underrated big man in Mizzou history, along with forward Travon Bryant, and point guard Wesley Stokes.
5. 1984: What better way to follow up the Stipo-Sunvold era than with a blue-chip phenom who would leave school as the program's all-time leading scorer. Of course we're talking about Derrick Chievous, the pride of Queens, New York, whose classmate included Detroit guard Lynn Hardy, among the program's career leaders for assists and steals.
Missed the cut (in chronological order):
1973: Kim Anderson, Jim Kennedy, Scott Sims, Jeff Currie
1985: Gary Leonard, Greg Church, Mike Sandbothe, Bradd Sutton
1986: Nathan Buntin, Lee Coward
1987: Doug Smith
1988: Anthony Peeler, Jamal Coleman
1989: Travis Ford, Jeff Warren, Chris Heller, John Burns
1993: Kelly Thames, Jason Sutherland, Derek Grimm, Chip Walther
1998: Keyon Dooling, Clarence Gilbert
1999: Kareem Rush, Josh Kroenke, Justin Gage
2003: Linas Kleiza, Thomas Gardner
2017: Michael Porter Jr., Jontay Porter, Jeremiah Tilmon
Mizzou Musings
* Monday's season-opening crowd for women's basketball of 5,336 ranks 16th all-time for the program and was the third-largest for a nonconference game. It was the biggest Mizzou crowd for both a home opener and any game in the month of November.
* This is shaping up to be a huge weekend for Dawn Sullivan's volleyball program. The Tigers (15-9, 7-6 SEC) are slotted No. 32 in the latest RPI rankings and projected to make the NCAA Tournament but face two more potential tourney teams, starting with No. 28 Texas A&M on Friday and No. 22 Auburn on Sunday. A weekend sweep could position the Tigers into fourth place in the SEC — a remarkable possibility considering this program won five and nine matches the last two seasons, collectively. Friday is Military Appreciation Night at Hearnes Center with the first 1,000 fans receiving a military shirt. Sunday is Girl Scout Day and Girls Day Out with the first 500 fans taking home a Mizzou wine glass. Also on Friday: Free pizza for Mizzou students in attendance!
* Schrader is three weeks away from becoming the second Missouri player in three years to lead the SEC in rushing. Tyler Badie did it in 2021 with 1,604 yards. On Saturday, Schrader faces Tennessee's vastly improved defense, which ranks No. 1 in the SEC in rushing yards allowed per attempt (2.9), but MU's next two opponents, Florida and Arkansas, rank Nos. 12 and 7, respectively. He's also one of 10 semifinalists for the Burlsworth Trophy, given to the nation's best player who began his career as a walk-on. We're biased here, but Schrader defines everything the Burlsworth Trophy stands for. No-brainer choice as a finalist, especially if he stays on top of the SEC rushing leaderboard. The finalists are announced next Tuesday.
Looking Ahead
Friday, Nov. 10
Cross Country at NCAA Midwest Regional Championships, 10:30 a.m. (W), 11:30 a.m. (M), (Stillwater, Oklahoma)
Volleyball vs. Texas A&M, 6 p.m., SEC Network+
Men's Basketball vs. Memphis, 8 p.m., SEC Network
Saturday, Nov. 11
Football vs. Tennessee, 2:30 p.m., CBS
Wrestling vs. Tiger Style Invite, 10 a.m. (Kansas City)
Sunday, Nov. 12
Volleyball vs. Auburn, 3 p.m., SEC Network+
Women's Basketball at St. Louis University, 3 p.m., ESPN+ (St. Louis)
Monday, Nov. 13
Men's Basketball vs. SIU-Edwardsville, 7 p.m., SEC Network+
Tuesday, Nov. 14
Women's Basketball vs. North Alabama, 7 p.m., SEC Network+
Wednesday, Nov. 15
Men's & Women's Swimming and Diving at Mizzou Invite, 9:30 am
Thursday, Nov. 16
Men's & Women's Swimming and Diving at Mizzou Invite, 9:30 am
Men's Basketball at Minnesota, 8 p.m., Big Ten Network (Minneapolis)
Friday, Nov. 17
Men's & Women's Swimming and Diving at Mizzou Invite, 9:30 am
Volleyball vs. Florida, 6:30 p.m., SEC Network+
Links to Click
Group tickets and single-game tickets for the Florida football game (Nov. 18) are still available by calling 1-800-CAT-PAWS or buying online. Fans can learn more about Men's Basketball tickets here and Women's Basketball tickets here.
For all the latest information on Mizzou Athletics, please visit MUTigers.com. For up-to-the-minute updates, follow the Tigers on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Tiger Trivia
1. Damarea Crockett ran for 225 yards in 2016 at Tennessee.
2. Before Monday's opener: Honor (1,217), Carter (1,203) and John Tonje (1,051).
