Mitchell and Grill star in Mizzou Basketball’s exhibition win over Lincoln

Mizzou Men’s Basketball took down D-II Lincoln University 90-45 in an exhibition Sunday, giving fans their first glimpse of a new-look Tigers team hoping to turn the page from last year’s 8-24 season.

Head coach Dennis Gates said the game was an opportunity to connect the Columbia and Jeff City communities (where Lincoln is located), which are half an hour away from each other on US-63.

Lincoln struck first, winning the opening tip and taking the lead with a corner three by Malcolm Davis. It was the only lead of the game for the visitors, lasting 50 seconds, before Mark Mitchell’s triple sparked a run putting Mizzou up by seven less than four minutes into the action.

The lead grew to 22-8 by the under-12 timeout after a Caleb Grill three, and the Tigers led by 20 less than 11 minutes into the first half. Mizzou went up 42-12 with 4:50 to go in the half and eventually took a 53-19 lead into halftime after back-to-back threes by Grill in the final minute.

The Tigers came out of the half slow, prompting a timeout by Gates, but an 11-0 run in the middle of the half put them ahead 70-26. Gates took his foot off the gas late, relying heavily on the freshmen in the last 10 minutes, and Lincoln went on a small run in the final minutes to cut its deficit down from 50.

Here are my news and notes from the exhibition.

First half:

• Mark Mitchell looked like the player Mizzou hoped it was getting, scoring 15 points and going 4-5 from the field with one rebound and an assist in the first 20 minutes. He operated down low, from the elbow initiating sets and from the perimeter at different points throughout the half.
• Gates on Mitchell: “He just allowed himself to play within the rhythm of the game, he allowed certain things to come to him easy.”
• “I think he (Mitchell) was a recipient on ball movement, he was a recipient of an extra pass or extra play, and he got to that foul line and drew some fouls.”
• Caleb Grill went on one of his shooting streaks, going 4-4 from beyond the arc and 5-5 overall for 14 points. He also added four rebounds, leading the team, and secured two steals.
• Gates on Grill: “This young man is someone that we missed last season, and you had a sense of that today.”
• “He does a tremendous job preparing, training, and just doing what I know he could do. He’ll be a future coach for us one day, but I look forward to his career unfolding in a positive way, especially this season.”
• Mizzou controlled the glass at the start of the half but began to slip up as the action went on, leading the rebounding battle only 16-13 at the half. Not great when facing a D-II team.
• Ant Robinson was a defensive menace with four steals, adding four points, four assists and three rebounds for a promising all-around performance. But over-aggression is still a concern, as he committed three fouls and had to be held out for parts of the half.
• Gates noted that Robinson was one of the top players in the country last year in steals when accounting for his limiting playing time.
• Speaking of fouls, the Tigers drew a lot of them in the first half – 12 to be exact. Not only did Mizzou get to the line frequently, they converted 15-19 opportunities (78.9%). Obviously you have to take the quality of opponent into consideration, but it’s an encouraging sign for a team which couldn’t buy a trip to the line with a million bucks last year.
• Robinson was the first player off the bench for Mizzou, followed surprisingly by Aidan Shaw. He got 7:47 of playing time in the half, more than Trent Pierce and Trent Burns combined.
• The top five for Mizzou in minutes played during the first half: Grill, Mitchell, Bates, Robinson and Warrick.
• Notably absent from the lineup was Tony Perkins. Head coach Dennis Gates said Perkins warmed up but did not play out of precaution, and didn’t sound concerned about his long term health. He also said holding the senior out allowed the Tigers to play the freshmen more.
• Mizzou used the final few minutes of the half to work on some zone defense, trotting out a 1-2-2 and a 1-3-1. We didn’t get to see that much of either one, but the team was clearly using the exhibition to test out some different player combinations and strategies on a real-life opponent.
• The Tigers led 53-19 at the half, shooting 16-22 from the field, 6-10 from deep and 15-19 from the charity stripe. Meanwhile, Lincoln shot 25% from the field and was 3-11 from three.

Missouri guard Annor Boateng (6) shoots at the basket on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024 at the Mizzou Arena in Columbia. (MICHAEL BANIEWICZ/ROCK M NATION)

Second half:

• Mizzou relaxed coming out of the half, allowing four quick points, and Gates was not pleased with his team’s lack of intensity. He called a timeout, getting the team back on track fairly quickly.
• It was fun watching Caleb Grill and Malcolm Davis of Lincoln let loose from three. Grill seemed to almost always hit a shot from beyond the arc immediately after Davis, possibly engaging in some one-upsmanship.
• If this is the Caleb Grill we see more nights than often, he’s going to be a major asset to this team. He spaces the floor, works well in transition, and adds strong defensive and rebounding value to the team.
• Grill’s contribution may also be why we saw less of Jacob Crews until much later in the game. This bench is deep, and Grill providing strong minutes as a 3-and-D wing leaves much less food on the table for Crews.
• This game got a bit sloppy as the freshmen came in. Lots of fast play, turnovers, and mistakes in transition alongside some missed shots. But that’s what you expect from freshmen in their first game, when nerves are running a bit high.
• Gates: “Things are going to move fast for them. They have to do a better job of slowing things down in their mind and not trying to catch every rain drop, so to speak.”
• Case in point: T.O. Barrett. He had a few nice flashes, including a give-and-go layup, but also got lost a few times on defense and could have been more aware of where the ball was for rebounding.
• The two Trents, Burns and Pierce, showed off their range with threes later in the game. Burns pulled up from deep early in the shot clock the next possession, just missing. It looked like Gates had a brief talk with him after the shot choice, and Burns shrugged as if to say, ‘Why not?’
• I can’t talk about the freshmen without talking about Annor Boateng, who performed the national anthem today on the saxophone. 10/10 performance in my book.

• Rebounding also suffered later in the game, and Lincoln ended up winning the battle of the board 31-29. But the stats don’t tell the whole story; this team looked far better with rebounding when the vets were in the game.
• This team looked improved in some of the biggest areas of concern from last year (transition offense, getting to the foul line, rebounding) when the starters were out on the court. You never want to take too much from an exhibition, but this team looks prepared for the start of the season.

Missouri center Josh Gray (33) catches the rebound under the basket on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024 at the Mizzou Arena in Columbia. (MICHAEL BANIEWICZ/ROCK M NATION)