I'm not sure how well people remember the vibes in late December, but they were decidedly awful . The Tigers were a mess. They started December (predictably) undefeated at 8-0, but went just 2-3 in December. Their wins were over 318th Alabama State and 240th ranked Bethune Cookman. And losses were to a pretty awful Notre Dame team, and two blowout losses to Kansas and Illinois.
The Tigers lacked on a lot of fronts. But with nearly two weeks in between the Illinois loss and the start of SEC play, the staff went back to the drawing board for the season. There were a couple wildcards though. Jayden Stone missed some time with an injury, but Trent Pierce had yet to see the floor as he dealt with a hip injury.
But just 3 minutes and 27 seconds gone in the first half, Trent Pierce checked in for the first time. Without adding in any unnecessary hyperbole, Mizzou's season fortuned changed. Pierce played 19 minutes, he scored 10 points and hit a couple threes. But Pierce's versatility on both ends of the floor provided a stop gap, or maybe a better descriptor is paper mache, over the holes in the roster.
Before Pierce returned to the lineup, Mizzou's NCAA chances were all but shot. They squandered their limited Quad 1 games, and were noncompetitive in rivalry games. But with Pierce in the lineup, the math made a lot more sense. On the season he managed just 42% of the minutes, but once he hit the lineup it was hard to keep him off the floor. Trent's average of 28.4 minutes per game was the third highest after Mark Mitchell and Stone.
More than anything it was Pierce taking another step forward as a player. He upped his points per game average to 10.4, improved his rebounding, but perhaps more than anything he shot 38.4% from outside, and 75% from the free throw line. Pierce has always teased as a shooter, but the results varied far too frequently.
He was 0-1 in a loss to Texas and 0-4 in a loss to Alabama, but other than that Pierce made a three in every game. Take those two games out and he's a 40% shooter.
Pierce's ability to sink a timely shot was vital to this team. He only scored 10 points against Florida, but 8 in the final 12 minutes, and his three and a driving two pointer were badly needed baskets. His size on the wing created mismatches against the Gators, and Missouri would often go to the backdoor lob pass when Pierce had a mismatch. As much as Gates was able to design good looks for Mark Mitchell, he used Mitchell as a fascilitator and often Pierce was the recipient.
He also reached the point with his consistency in shooting the ball where he was the one coming off screens. Pierce shot way more off movement than he has the last few years. 11 of his 36 three point makes were off movement, where he wasn't standing in a spot waiting for a kick out. That's a big improvement over his sophomore season where he made just two of his 32 makes off movement. But he only had one three off the dribble, which is remarkably consistent.
Players like Pierce is the one thing I miss in this new era of College Basketball. A guy who comes in as a freshman and barely sees the floor. Takes a big jump and starts on a good team as a sophomore, gets better and becomes a leader as a junior. And now heading into his senior season, a guy you can't imagine the program without.
