3 Takeaways from Mizzou’s Assertive Win Over Minnesota

It took some time to get ahead, but the Missouri Tigers looked good in their 83-60 win over the Minnesota Golden Gophers. The win pushed the Tigers to 4-0 on the season, now with a Power 5 victory under their belt. 

Once again, the win was fueled by the offensive efforts of senior forward Mark Mitchell. He’s emerging as one of the better players in the conference after his 18-point, six-rebound showing. Mitchell also shot 6-for-11 from the field and added six assists to his stat line. 

The Tigers trailed for the majority of the first half and looked straight-up bad. They were sloppy on offense and the Golden Gopher offense looked much cleaner. A run late in the first half gave them a lead heading into halftime, setting the Tigers up for a 14-0 run at the beginning of the quarter that would lead to the win.

"Our guys banded together," head coach Dennis Gates said following the win. "It's great to see the versatility of how we can win despite some downfalls in our stat sheet. It just shows our versatility."

Here are three takeaways from Missouri’s win over Minnesota. 

Northweather is a high-impact player

He may have appeared as the flashiest of transfer additions in the offseason, but with Shawn Phillips Jr. receiving reduced minutes in his first game back from illness, Northweather stepped up in a big way. 

Northweather finished with six points, both of which were made from the perimeter, on 100% shooting. Outside of that, he grabbed a rebound and a steal, but his impact goes far beyond the box score.

He's able to move fluidly in the offense as a passer along with court spacing, and he's also able to contribute on defense. As a replacement for Phillips, Northweather did his job exceptionally, highlighting the depth of this Missouri roster.

"The depth of our team, and even the strength of our team, is in the numbers, and these guys are always cheering and always being ready," Gates said.

Northweather wasn't exactly expected to have the impact he's having so far, but it's made a difference. His plus-25 plus-minus was an indicator of that, though that can be a deceiving stat line. It wasn't in this case and the impact Northweather made on the court was very clear.

Even when Phillips gets back, they'll be able to utilize Northweather as the primary backup big. He looks more comfortable on offense and has held his own as a rim protector on defense, despite not doing it at nearly the same level as Phillips. Minnesota's big men, Jaylen Crocker-Johnson and Robert Vaihola, only scored seven points between the two of them, something Northweather was able to contribute to.

Struggles on the offensive glass

Having Shawn Phillips Jr. back in the lineup didn’t matter much when it came to snagging offensive boards. Minnesota grabbed 14 offensive rebounds and 34 total compared to Missouri’s 22. That number didn't exactly matter in the end and the Tigers only lost the rebounding battle 34-22 by the time the whistle blew, but it made a difference early on.

“We did a good job on the glass tonight,” Minnesota head coach Niko Medved said. “Against these guys were able to get to the offensive glass early. I thought that brought us energy. You only gave up three offensive rebounds.”

This is something previous Missouri teams have struggled with and it can not be an issue this coming season. The big-man talent in the Southeastern Conference is too good for the Tigers to allow 14 offensive rebounds. They may even be lucky that Minnesota only turned those into nine second-chance points.

Mitchell strikes again

Mitchell is very quickly becoming the best player on this Missouri roster. His 18 points were impressive, but there were moments in this game where he looked down-right unstoppable on offense. If that continues to be the case, the Tigers might just have a star on their hands.

The aggressiveness and athletecism of Mitchell is what made him so hard to guard for the Minnesota defense. Even if his moves are predictable, there's nothing the Golden Gophers could do to stop him.

"It's one of those things, you know what he's gonna do, but that doesn't mean you can stop it," Medved said. "He knows who he is. He's so athletic, he's so explosive, he can drive it either way. And he gets his shoulder on you and plays off at two feet."

Mitchell commanded defensive attention all night long, though Minnesota did a good job of minimizing him at times. When the Tigers were able to feed him the ball, however, especially in the second half, there wasn't mich their opponent could do.

"I wanted to keep those dominoes falling by Mark Mitchell drawing two guys, so we had to increase his touches," Gates said. "If you watch the first half, they minimize his touches. I don't think he got a post feed or a touch as much as he did in the second and I think that's what helped us."

Mitchell has looked great to start the season and the fact that Missouri is only four games into its season should be scary for those gameplanning for Mitchell.

Missouri will play next at 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 17, at Mizzou Arena against Prairie View A&M.