Denmon Sets Career High As Tigers Torch Demons

It seems like someone new keeps stepping up for the Tigers in each and every game.

After putting on a clinic in Sunday’s blowout win over Binghamton, Kim English took a step back out of the spotlight and let fellow senior guard Marcus Denmon embrace it Friday night at Mizzou Arena. Denmon scored a career high 31 points as the Tigers rolled to a 90-56 victory over the Northwestern State Demons, and improved to 7-0 on the season.

In terms of analyzing this matchup, the Tigers pretty much stuck to the same formula that has propelled them to an undefeated start, as their high-pressure defense forced the Demons into a myriad of turnovers early. In addition, it didn’t hurt that Mizzou stayed hot from the floor, and the 16 points they scored in the game’s first four minutes of play gave them a comfortable margin for good.

Like previous games, the Tigers’ unselfish ball movement was crisp and created opportunities for the big men down low, as evidenced by Ricardo Ratliffe’s 22 points on 10 for 11 shooting. And for English, who had been shooting with a hot hand as of late, it almost looked as though he wanted to take the role of ball distributor on this night. Although he only put up 9 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists, his presence on both sides of the ball forced the Demons to pay extra attention to him. In the end, it was Denmon, Ratliffe, and sixth man Mike Dixon who benefited most, as the trio combined for 72 of the squad’s 90 points on 28 of 40 shooting.

Even against a non-conference foe like Northwestern State, who was actually projected to be the Tigers’ toughest opponent at home in early-season play, numbers like that just aren’t put up very often. And what was even more promising for the Tigers was that starting point guard Phil Pressey had one of his worst games as a Tiger (0 Points on 0-4 shooting), yet the offense didn’t miss a beat. Similar to how someone will have the hot hand each game, there will likely be someone that struggles in each game. Whether it was Matt Pressey struggling on Sunday and his brother failing to score tonight, the rest of the team picked them up on both occasions, and never got out of rhythm. In fact, the younger Pressey never showed much, if any frustration towards his lack of offensive production, something that we might not have seen when he was a true freshman last year.

Looking ahead, the Tigers will be put in the national spotlight for the third time this year as they travel to Madison Square Garden to take on Villanova Wednesday night. Although the Wildcats are unranked and many believe that this is a rebuilding year, Jay Wright’s squad always competes hard and brings physicality for 40 minutes. In addition, nearly all of Madison Square Garden will be occupied by Villanova fans (Located in Philadelphia), and the spotlight of playing at MSG for the Jimmy V Classic is definitely ratcheted up a notch over playing at the Sprint Center in Kansas City for the CBE Classic. This won’t be a classic road game for Mizzou, but you have to imagine that the partisan crowd will create the toughest playing conditions the Tigers have experienced all season.

But for now, the Tigers are as sharp as any team in the nation, and will roll into the Big Apple with a considerable amount of swagger. Not to say that Frank Haith’s bunch will enjoy tonight’s win for more than a day or so, but their level of confidence could not be any higher, which is certainly a good thing when the spotlight of New York City is placed directly upon you.