Nov. 20, 2017

COLUMBIA, Mo. --- Emporia State, it seemed, was in the wrong place at the wrong time Monday night.

Not that there's actually a right place and a right time for Division II Emporia State to play Missouri in a game of basketball.

These Tigers were coming off a humbling outing, after all, a 77-59 beatdown at the hands of Utah on Thursday night. There were some valuable lessons learned, most notably that good, experienced talent is often better than great, inexperienced talent.

This lesson is no surprise ... and it's no surprise Missouri lost, either.

All it really meant was the Tigers wouldn't go undefeated this season. Surprised?

That drubbing at Utah also meant Missouri would likely be sharper and more focused for whoever it played next. Cuonzo Martin would make sure of it.

Or so you would think.

Enter the outclassed and undersized Hornets, who were squarely in the Tigers' bullseye. It was time for the Tigers to play the roles of angry bullies.

Well, Missouri eventually won this game 67-62, but it was hardly an awe-inspiring, bullish victory over an MIAA school before a small, quiet and polite crowd at Mizzou Arena.

The Hornets do have a really good player on their roster. Unfortunately for them, he's 49 years-old --- head coach Shaun Vandiver, who was a standout for the Colorado Buffaloes in the early 1990s.

The Tigers, despite having a big size advantage, insisted on shooting a barrage of 3-pointers --- and they missed 18 of 20 attempts. That would be 10 percent. You see better shooting in your neighbor's driveway.

They couldn't shoot from the free throw line, either, making only 19 of 34 attempts, and they also committed 18 turnovers.

This turkey came three days early. Unsettling, to be sure.

But it happens.

Just 10 days ago, Kentucky trailed Division II Utah Valley State by nine points at the half, before waking up enough in the second half to win by 10.

Emporia State (2-3) hit three straight 3-pointers during a 15-4 run late in the first half on its way to pulling even at 28-28 with Missouri (3-1) at the break.

The Hornets would eventually build a seven-point lead at 39-32 with 15 minutes left, which actually stirred some boos from the half-asleep gathering. But the Tigers did enough down the stretch, outscoring the Hornets 35-23 the rest of the way to avoid one of the most embarrassing losses in school history.

As blah as this game was, the biggest news of the night was what didn't happen on the court --- Michael Porter Jr. missed his third straight game with a hip injury. In reality, Porter missed his fourth straight game and has yet to play this season, because he came out after just 100 seconds of the opener against Iowa State.

Watching the replay of that game Monday afternoon, I kept a close eye on Porter for those 100 seconds, looking for anything --- anything --- that may have happened to this amazingly talented freshman. Nothing. No contact, not even a mild bump.

You'll see more contact at the local library.

But something happened, because the 6-10 Porter hasn't played since. Porter is seeing a specialist for the injury and, according to Dave Matter of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Porter flew to Dallas with his mother Monday afternoon to see the specialist.

Certainly, this is a dark cloud on the horizon of this basketball season, one that promised to be an electric journey of success, led by first-year head coach Martin, and the fourth-ranked recruiting class in the country, led by Porter.

The longer this injury lingers, the more concerning it should be for all involved. That's certainly the case, selfishly, for Tiger fans. More importantly, it's a huge concern for Porter, who's already been tabbed a lottery pick for next year's NBA Draft.

We should know something sooner rather than later, but it seems obvious this is an injury that can't be fixed by some tape or a couple Tylenol.

It's also seems obvious this team needs him. Desperately.

Loeffler's Link

On court, Tigers beat Hornets; off
it, concerns for Porter continue