Executing better perimeter defense could help Missouri get back on track at home on Monday night against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville in Columbia, Mo.
Missouri (1-1) lost 90-84 on a neutral court against Saint Louis on Friday in a game in which the Billikens rained 3-pointers.
Saint Louis moved the ball well with 24 assists, Tigers coach Dennis Gates said, and the Billikens certainly shot it well, going 14-for-25 on 3-point attempts.
Allowing 56% shooting from long range would be tough for anyone to overcome. Saint Louis made nine threes in the first half.
“They got us in rotations, and those rotations were based off some blown coverages, and we left some guys open that we normally would not leave open,” Gates said. “We did a better job in the second half.”
Kansas transfer Bryson Tiller led Missouri with 26 points and added nine rebounds and four blocks. He also shot 5 of 8 from 3-point range. The rest of the roster went 3-for-16 from beyond the arc.
Mark Mitchell added 21 points, but Missouri’s key freshmen — guard Jason Crowe Jr. and forward Toni Bryant — struggled.
Crowe shot 3 of 18 and 0-for-7 on threes, though he did have seven assists and just two turnovers. Bryant scored one point and finished with two rebounds in 13 minutes.
“The potential of those two guys is growth,” Gates said. “This is their second college game, and if we sat here and didn’t expect any mistakes to be made, we would be lying to each other.
“There’s some things that the film will show that we’ll continue to learn from.”
SIUE, picked for third place in the Ohio Valley Conference in a preseason media poll, fell 78-77 at Lipscomb on Saturday in its most recent game. The Cougars (2-1) beat two smaller colleges to start the season.
Gianni Cobb scored a game-high 20 points for the Cougars on Saturday, with David Wilson adding 15.
Coach Brian Barone, in his eighth season, noted the challenge ahead for SIUE in the face of Missouri’s height advantage and other factors.
“I just told the guys in the locker room, we’re going in there to win the game,” Barone said. “Maybe they’re a little taller, or they can jump a little, but none of that matters. Go out there and compete and win every single day [or else] that’ll catch you on the back end.”