Tigers Deliver Complete Performance, Rout Purple Eagles

Coming off of a sloppy second-half performance, albeit in a win, against Mercer on Monday, the Mizzou basketball team was looking for a solid all-around showing against Niagara on Thursday night. And in an 83-52 blowout of the Purple Eagles, the Tigers got just what they wanted.

Senior guards Marcus Denmon and Kim English were on fire all night, exploiting Niagara’s zone scheme, as they combined for 36 points on 11 of 20 shooting. In addition, 9 of the duo’s combined 11 field goals came from downtown, as the Tigers shot at a 54.5% clip from behind the arc overall.

But what many Tiger fans were focused on coming into tonight’s matchup was how coach Frank Haith would keep big men Ricardo Ratliffe, Steve Moore, and Kadeem Green out of foul trouble. In the end, those three combined for only four fouls, and were all productive in sharing relatively equal playing time.

Ratliffe was on the court for only 20 minutes, the least of any starter, but took smart shots and was a force down low. He put up a dozen points on 6 of 7 shooting while grabbing 6 rebounds. And while Moore and Green didn’t put up big numbers on the stat sheet, they kept Niagara from feeding the ball inside to big man Scooter Gillette, who finished with just 9 points. As a result, the Purple Eagles were forced to settle for tough shots, and hit just five of 26 three-pointers.

With so many upsets so far in the college basketball season, the Tigers understand that every game must be taken seriously, and they didn’t waste any time messing around with an inferior opponent tonight. With the final rounds of the CBE classic upcoming, a sizable win was imperative for the Tigers, as they must have confidence in order to knock off a solid Notre Dame squad.

The Fighting Irish will provide the Tigers with their first test against top competition of the season. While the big men have had their way with smaller teams thus far, they will need to remain disciplined against Notre Dame’s Tim Abromaitis and Scott Carter. If Ratliffe and Moore find themselves in early foul trouble, Mizzou will be in a tough spot.

However, English looks to have regained the swagger and rhythm in his game that was nonexistent last year, and Denmon is seemingly automatic when spotting up for three. In a clash of styles, it will be interesting to see which tempo controls the game, and which team comes out on top.