Lineup Performance: Missouri vs. Kansas

When Missouri came close to polishing off a six-pack of buy games, we started musing about whether the Tigers’ rotation might see some tightening.

Well, the pruning coincided with Kansas pulling into Columbia for Border War. 

Coach Dennis Gates traded Tony Perkins for Annor Boateng among his starting five. That adjustment wasn’t jarring. However, playing each member for almost 30 minutes was unexpected. Forget tinkering. MU stripped its substitution pattern to the studs to secure a 76-67 upset over the then-No. 1 Jayhawks.

For the first time this season, MU deployed a genuinely cyclical approach. The Tigers’ starts logged almost seven minutes to start each half before Gates used staggered swaps to give breaks. By the under-8 timeout, the starters were back and, ideally, rested for the stretch run.

The results, however, were split. 

During the first half, the Tigers’ reserves didn’t precisely click offensively. But they still applied enough ball pressure – coupled with KU’s general sloppiness – that the Jayhawks squandered possessions. Then, over the final four minutes, MU stretched its lead modestly to 39-25 at the break. 

Out of the locker room, MU’s starting guards, paced by 29 points from Tamar Bates, again punished KU’s perimeter defenders at the point of attack. The lead peaked at 57-33 on Tony Bates’ tough floater after getting downhill from a drag pick-and-roll with 14:19 remaining. About a minute later, Marques Warrick checked in for Perkins, and Gates began dispensing breaks. 

That’s when KU made its move. 

To be very clear, the Jayhawks’ 15-0 run unfolded at a snail’s pace of roughly five minutes. The Tigers had seven possessions to thwart it, and the likes of Bates and Anthony Robinson – prime on-ball creators – were still on the floor in its earliest stages. 

Bill Self also happens to be very good at coaching. Around the time Gates began making subs, KU switched up pick-and-roll coverages. They started hard-hedging side ball screens involving Robinson while tasking Hunter Dickinson to string out Tamar Bates in high PNRs. On trips where Bates tried to sprint off pin downs, AJ Storr occasionally got topside and redirected the senior from using screens. 

The result: MU began settling for jumpers. 

Meanwhile, MU had inserted Aidan Shaw and Peyton Marshall, trying to use the latter as a reader at the elbow in triangle-based sets. Marshall sometimes struggled to be strong with the ball in the face of Dickinson’s harassment while KU’s guards blew up handoffs. Unsurprisingly, the ball stopped, the shot clock dwindled, and MU relied on late-clock ISOs. 

As for the Jayhawks, handles tightened up and steadily capitalized on some breakdowns by MU: failing to tag a roller, a blown off-ball switch, a late recovery to a shooter at the elbow, and sluggish transition defense. 

Put simply, MU turned to its bench, and KU did what good teams do – exploited the drop-off. However, KU’s second spurt, a 12-5 spell over three minutes, to pull within a bucket came four of five starters on the court. Three breakdowns land in the lap of those lodestars, and it’s why you can be exultant that MU won but also leave thinking they could have played cleaner. 

Naturally, MU’s approach on Sunday meant the minutes distribution skews heavily toward Gates’ starters. That quintet had not played together all year. By the time fans stormed the court, it was tops among 181 lineups used this season in floor time. It won the game, while the Tigers’ reserve corps fought KU to a draw.

The table reflects how badly Gates and his staff coveted this result. Last season, injuries made these kinds of playing loads inevitable. This weekend, though, Caleb Grill was the only headliner out of commission. The only limit was Gates’ creativity. But MU didn’t get cute or think outside the box. 

Naturally, the allocation of minutes is extreme. 

Chopping down the rotation led to Annor Boateng and Jacob Crews earning DNPs. Aidan Shaw was the sole bench player to log more than 10 minutes of action, while Marques Warrick came close to nine minutes. Otherwise, back-ups were lucky to get five minutes of run. Eleven bodies saw time, but functionally, Gates deployed a seven-man rotation.

Among the Tigers’ starters, it’s easy to explain lags for Mark Mitchell and Josh Gray: they were on the floor as KU capped its first run and for its second spurt. That’s not necessarily a direct reflection of their efforts. Gray quietly posted a quality game score (10.84) by snagging 10 rebounds and displacing Dickinson on the block. Mitchell’s rim finishing again left something to be desired, but he went 8 of 12 at the line, chipped in four blocks and swatted three shots. 

Bates’ performance powered the Tigers’ offensively, while Robinson colored in other areas of the box score with four boards, three assists, and five steals. And together, they embodied the Tigers’ clear intent to make KU’s guards “feel” the Tigers at both ends of the floor. 

Sure, the bench proved sedate, but we’ve seen Warrick offer some scoring punch and Shaw some rim protection. Gates also sometimes turned to his freshmen to handle some stout defensive assignments. He used Allen as a bigger on-ball defender against Dajuan Harris and later tasked T.O. Barrett with tracking David Coit, who heated up in the second half. 

I doubt Gates takes a similar tack against Long Island and Jacksonville State, which will likely be Petri dishes to sort out his deep-bench options on the wing and at the four-spot. Yet Sunday boldly underlined who Gates will likely rely on when the stakes are elevated.