60 Second Rant: Denmon A No-Show Against Longhorns

Prior to Mizzou's 71-58 loss on the road to the 8th ranked Texas Longhorns, the game was billed as a match-up between two of the nation's highest scoring teams. 

Leading the way for each team was Mizzou's Marcus Denmon at 17 points per game and Texas sophomore Jordan Hamilton at 19 points per game.

Hamilton held up his end of the bargain for Texas, scoring 16 points and gathering 13 rebounds.

Denmon, on the other hand, was nowhere to be found, scoring just 7 points in the loss.

What happened?  Why was Denmon so ineffective against Texas? 

One answer could be the size, as Denmon at just 6 foot 3 inches tall had a player 3 or 4 inches taller guarding him him the entire evening. 

Another answer could be just a lack of opportunity.  Denmon only hoisted 9 shots from the field and had only 3 attempts from long distance, where he is shooting 47% on the season.

Whatever it is, Denmon can not go missing for the Tigers again this season.  Otherwise they can expect the same result.


Without a threat of a pure scorer available, Denmon needs to be getting opportunities to knock down outside jumpers in order to stretch the defense to create opportunities for others. 

Plus, Denmon's buckets come mainly off long range jumpers and fast break lay-ups, the name of Missouri's game.  If he isn't getting those opportunities, the Tigers have zero shot of competing against bigger, more talented teams. 

Forward Justin Safford should never lead this team in shot attempts like he did on Saturday, making just 1 out of 10 from the field. 

If there is one thing that head coach Mike Anderson can do better, it is get more opportunities for his star shooting guard.

If Denmon goes missing again, the Tigers will see similar results.