During past seasons under former head coach Mike Anderson, the Missouri Tigers men's basketball team was known for its "Fastest 40 Minutes in Basketball." The Tigers pressed relentlessly, often creating sloppy, but often successful results.
Mizzou has not been fun to play against for the past several seasons and this year's Tigers, under new head coach Frank Haith, are extremely difficult to play against again, but for a different reason.
Mizzou, who is ranked 13th in the latest AP Top 25 college basketball rankings, is among the most efficient offensive teams in the country this season.
Mizzou is 9th in the country in scoring per game, averaging 85.7 points per game. The Tigers also rank 8th in the nation in field goal percentage at 52%.
Mizzou is being led offensively by a pair senior guards.
Everyone expected Marcus Denmon to have a huge season and he is delivering, pouring in 18.5 points per game.
But the surprise of the season and possibly the biggest reason for Mizzou's early success has been the extremely efficient and effective play of guard/forward Kim English. English, a six foot six inch wing player, has been asked to play the power forward defensively for the Tigers and has responded on both ends of the floor.
English is averaging 18.2 points per game and has made his teammates even more difficult to guard by bringing the opposition's post players away from the basket, creating lanes for quick guards like Michael Dixon and "Flip" Pressey to penetrate and get to the basket.
While the Mizzou offense has been much improved on the season, Haith and the Tigers have not forgotten about the defensive side of the floor either.
Haith has bottled the once full court pressure of the past into a half court defense that is just as relentless as the previous versions under Anderson. The Tigers are generating 10.83 steals per game, good for 8th in the country.
The half court defense has also eliminated the easy baskets Mizzou often gave up in the past with the full court press, making the Tigers even more difficult to play against.
Overall Mizzou has become a very well oiled machine under first year coach Haith and his veteran team has responded. The result has been a 6-0 start and high ranking early in the 2011-12 season.
Sources:
Mizzou has not been fun to play against for the past several seasons and this year's Tigers, under new head coach Frank Haith, are extremely difficult to play against again, but for a different reason.
Mizzou, who is ranked 13th in the latest AP Top 25 college basketball rankings, is among the most efficient offensive teams in the country this season.
Mizzou is 9th in the country in scoring per game, averaging 85.7 points per game. The Tigers also rank 8th in the nation in field goal percentage at 52%.
Mizzou is being led offensively by a pair senior guards.
Everyone expected Marcus Denmon to have a huge season and he is delivering, pouring in 18.5 points per game.
But the surprise of the season and possibly the biggest reason for Mizzou's early success has been the extremely efficient and effective play of guard/forward Kim English. English, a six foot six inch wing player, has been asked to play the power forward defensively for the Tigers and has responded on both ends of the floor.
English is averaging 18.2 points per game and has made his teammates even more difficult to guard by bringing the opposition's post players away from the basket, creating lanes for quick guards like Michael Dixon and "Flip" Pressey to penetrate and get to the basket.
While the Mizzou offense has been much improved on the season, Haith and the Tigers have not forgotten about the defensive side of the floor either.
Haith has bottled the once full court pressure of the past into a half court defense that is just as relentless as the previous versions under Anderson. The Tigers are generating 10.83 steals per game, good for 8th in the country.
The half court defense has also eliminated the easy baskets Mizzou often gave up in the past with the full court press, making the Tigers even more difficult to play against.
Overall Mizzou has become a very well oiled machine under first year coach Haith and his veteran team has responded. The result has been a 6-0 start and high ranking early in the 2011-12 season.
Sources:
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