Mizzou Basketball keeps rolling without their star player

Mizzou basketball had a lesser known opponent come to Columbia on Monday when the Tigers welcomed in Wagner of the NEC. MU had no problem handling the Seahawks, winning 99-55.

It might sound silly, but a year ago, this game against Wagner would have frightened Missouri Tigers fans. Not because Wagner is a threat, but because Mizzou always just appeared to be on the wrong side of games during their three years of irrelevancy.

This season, however, the right result occurred. The Tigers ran rough shot over the Seahawks and the game was over pretty early on in the first half. Missouri dominated in nearly all facets of the game and sent Wagner home with their first loss of the season.

Now we’re only two games into the 2017-2018 campaign, but Tiger fans have to be enjoying what they’re seeing so far. One of the biggest reasons for excitement is that Missouri is doing so well, even without Michael Porter Jr. Porter was held out of Monday’s game with a leg injury.

While it’s been disappointing not getting to see Porter play more than two minutes in two games, it didn’t make sense to play him on Monday if the Tigers didn’t have to. Wagner posed no threat to this MU squad.

Five Tigers scored double digit points on the night. Kassius Robertson had 23 points, Jordan Barnett put up 13, Kevin Puryear and Terrence Phillips both had 12, and Jontay Porter scored 11.

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Jontay Porter and Reed Nikko led the team in rebounds with eight a piece and Phillips had five assists on the night. Everyone stepped up and played well. It was a little concerning to see Jeremiah Tilmon foul out in his second collegiate game, but fans had an idea that this could be an issue for him.

Tilmon’s foul trouble isn’t a big deal now, but in bigger games (like conference games for instance), it’ll be something to keep an eye on. Hopefully this is something that improves.

Next up will be Mizzou’s first road game of the season. They’ll travel to Utah for a game against the Utes and that will take place on Thursday. The biggest storyline for that game will be if Michael Porter Jr. plays or not. If he doesn’t, MU fans could start to get nervous about their star player.

We’re only two games in, but so far, so good for the Missouri Tigers. Two blowout wins have come at the hands of Mizzou basketball and it feels good to be on this side. The Cuonzo Martin era is already off to a better start than fans could have hoped for.