Mizzou Basketball: Jeremiah Tilmon needs to improve in SEC play

Jeremiah Tilmon joined Mizzou basketball last spring and the excitement level over this kid was through the roof. He has not done well in conference play though and it’s costing Missouri games.

Wednesday night’s 18 point loss to Auburn showcased Jeremiah Tilmon‘s struggles, as he played in just seven minutes of the game for the Missouri Tigers. A large part of why Tilmon was so limited was due to being fouled twice within two minutes of the first half. Those foul troubles have plagued Tilmon all season long and he’s still struggling in that department.

Not only is Tilmon getting fouls left and right, but some of them are just downright dumb. The most frustrating from Wednesday night’s loss was when Tilmon was fouled while shooting a three-pointer. How does that even happen?

[Tilmon]’s only just beginning his journey at the University of Missouri.

Other teams know that this is Tilmon’s weakness and come after him. Auburn displayed this the other night, fouling him after just 17 seconds in the first half. That right there set the stage for how Tilmon’s night was going to go and it wasn’t good.

Jeremiah Tilmon has the ability to be an absolute game changer for the Missouri Tigers. He’s scored double digit points in eight games this season and the Tigers’ record in those games is a perfect 8-0. During those games, Tilmon played for at least 19 minutes.

Even though Tilmon has been fouled four times in two of those games, he kept the fouls down to either two or three in the others. He was one of the biggest difference makers for MU in that stretch, but as the games have gotten tougher, Tilmon’s production has gone down and that’s what we’re witnessing now. Most of those games mentioned above took place before SEC play began.

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Since Missouri entered conference play for the season, Jeremiah Tilmon has only had one good game and that came against Georgia over two weeks ago. The East St. Louis native played for 20 minutes and had ten points on the evening.

When Jeremiah Tilmon can stay out of foul trouble, Mizzou is as good a team as any in the SEC (at least this year, considering Kentucky isn’t what they normally are). They’ve competed with Florida and Arkansas and defeated South Carolina and ranked Tennessee.

Tilmon has really struggled to help his team in these recent conference games though and that’s costing Missouri valuable wins that they could really use.

Daniel Jones of The Columbia Tribune had a summary of Tilmon’s SEC numbers and they aren’t good. According to Jones,

"Wednesday’s game, though, wasn’t an outlier. In 11 games Missouri has played against high-major teams, Tilmon has played less than 12 minutes in four. Missouri lost three of those.In league games, Tilmon is averaging a staggering 10.7 fouls per 40 minutes. He’s spent 60 percent of Missouri’s SEC games on the bench."

This isn’t an article intended to rag on Jeremiah Tilmon. He’s only a freshman and it’s common for players’ numbers to dip a bit when the conference play begins. After all, the Tigers are no longer playing the Emporia States and Wagners of the world, but are now going up against ranked teams like Auburn and Florida.

The good news with Jeremiah Tilmon is that he’s only just beginning his journey at the University of Missouri. While he joined the Tigers so that he could play with Michael Porter Jr., Tilmon still has plenty of time to build his own legacy at Mizzou.

If he can work on staying out of foul trouble, this kid has the ability to be a really special player for MU. He’ll learn from his mistakes and maybe he and his Tigers can still find their way into the NCAA Tournament in March.

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