Missouri aiming for smarter offense against Eastern Washington

Missouri opened its nonconference home schedule by shooting 3 for 22 from 3-point range.

The Tigers (1-1) will try to regroup when they host Eastern Washington (1-1) on Monday night in Columbia, Mo.

Missouri had a big size advantage over Howard on Friday during its 77-62 victory, but the Tigers' poor 3-point shooting kept the Bison in the game for 37 minutes.

Tamar Bates hit 3 of 7 shots from behind the arc while leading Missouri with 17 points. But the other Tigers went 0-for-15 from distance while coach Dennis Gates implored them to pound the ball inside.

"The 3-pointer was so tempting for most of them, they couldn't resist it," Gates said. "They could not resist it. And Bates made his baseline out, and it's almost like that that stirred it up again, like ‘Oh, we're open! We're open! Let's shoot it!' And we have to be able to do certain things other than just catch and shoot."

Forward Mark Mitchell had a strong game inside (16 points, eight rebounds), but Gates wanted more players attacking the basket. He used nine players for 12 minutes or more while trying to find effective combinations.

Eastern Washington opened its season by losing at Colorado 76-56 and defeating Seattle 93-86 at home. The Eagles raced to a 16-4 lead over Seattle but failed to keep the upper hand, falling behind by the 7:53 mark of the first half.

"We'll get better defense because this is a very coachable group," first-year Eagles coach Dan Monson said. "They have started both games dictating the defense, we just have to sustain it."

On the other hand, the Eagles shot 57.6 percent from the floor against Seattle and made 9 of 22 shots from 3-point range.

"You're going to win a lot of games when you put 93 points on the board," Monson said. "We are still a work in progress, but it's a lot easier to learn after a good win like this."

Four Eagles are scoring in double figures this season: Andrew Cook (16.0), Sebastian Hartman (11.0), Mason Williams (11.0), and Nic McClain (10.5).

--Field Level Media