Mizzou Basketball: 2018-2019 season has been huge disappointment
After making it to the NCAA Tournament last season, Mizzou basketball fans thought another trip to the big dance this year would be in the cards. Instead, it’s been a rough go of it for the Tigers.
The Missouri Tigers got the doors blown off of them by Mississippi State on Tuesday and fans, if they hadn’t already, officially realized this season is a wash. MU sits at 12-15 with a bleak 3-12 conference record. Simply put – Year two of the Cuonzo Martin era hasn’t gone according to plan.
It didn’t get off to a great start, as sophomore Jontay Porter was deemed out for the season before things even got underway. That sort of set the tone right there. Porter returning after a nice freshman season seemed like a big win for Missouri, but just like that, it was stripped away.
Now, after a season that’s already been forgettable, Mizzou’s best player Mark Smith will miss the rest of the year due to injury. It’s another slap in the face to the hoops program, as fans look toward summer and football season.
Mark Smith is done for the year and will have ankle surgery on Monday, per team spokesperson.
— Alex Schiffer (@Alex__Schiffer) February 26, 2019
Losing Smith has been what has completely taken this Tiger team off the rails. They’ve gone 2-7 since he hurt his ankle last month and it’s clear that this young team is overwhelmed against bigger and better teams.
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Smith was averaging 11.4 points per game this season with the Tigers and was arguably the best player on the court. The transfer from Illinois was a huge get for Cuonzo Martin and showed the new coach has a knack for getting solid players from eastern Missouri and western Illinois.
While no one expected Missouri to make a deep run this year, it’s hard not to think about what could have been if Porter had been healthy. Porter paired with Smith would have given Mizzou a deadly duo, but now neither player is on the court for the Tigers.
Looking ahead to next year, Porter will hopefully come back for his junior season, Smith should be healthy, and the Tigers will also have some young talent that will have one more year of experience and will be better in 2019-2020. Jeremiah Tilmon should make another jump next season as well.
The SEC has been a tougher conference than usual this season and Missouri has struggled to make a dent in it this year. Two of their three wins came against an atrocious Texas A&M team (though the Aggies did defeat a solid Kansas State squad, so that’s something) and the other was a one-point victory over Arkansas.
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Otherwise, Missouri has been under matched in just about every game and it’s shown. Hopefully this is just one bad year for Mizzou because Martin is locked into a big contract and has several more years left on his deal. This thing should get turned around soon.