HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel will spend the upcoming months covering several Georgetown basketball home games, with (hopefully) a very special reward coming in March. However, since it is a rare occurrence for an SEC team to take a trip to DC, he was in attendance Monday evening for Howard’s season-opener at Burr Gymnasium and prepared this photo essay about their matchup against Missouri.
It is a 15-hour drive from Missouri to Howard…but what is the point of having a bus if you are not going to use it?!
Missouri coach Dennis Gates is used to playing season openers in his 15,000+ seat gym in Columbia (where he beat Howard by 15 PTS last November), but seemed equally excited to start this season in 2700-seat Burr Gymnasium:
The gym looked rather full, as it was standing room only up top:
I did not expect to see any celebrities in the house tonight but did see 2 of note: Wharton alum Mark Ein (limited partner of the Washington Commanders and investment partner in Leeds United and the Baltimore Orioles) and Missouri alum Major Garrett (chief Washington correspondent for CBS News):
Let’s tip off a brand-new season of college basketball!
Players and coaches often tell me that the biggest differences between mid-major teams and power-conference teams is the fact that the bigger schools have bigger/faster/stronger players. The Tigers have a 7-footer in Shawn Phillips Jr., and he dominated the paint in the 1st half with a variety of low-post moves/dunks that resulted in 8 PTS/4-4 FG/5 REB:
In contrast, Bison G Bryce Harris stands only 6’4”, but was able to do a little of everything with a couple of layups and pair of threes to finish the half with 12 PTS/0 TO:
Even though Missouri was able to build a 42-26 lead at halftime, Howard coach Kenny Blakeney was still able to command his team’s full attention during TV timeouts:
The 2 stars above continued to contribute in the 2nd half but also got some help from their respective supporting casts. Australian sensation Jayden Stone’s journey has taken him from GCU to Detroit Mercy to West Virginia, but after missing all last season due to a freak head injury that caused a type of paralysis(!), he looked as sharp as ever in his Mizzou debut with 13 PTS/3-4 3PM:
Alex Cotton spent the past 2 years at North Texas where he scored a total of 15 PTS, but in his 1st game for Howard he turned into the 2nd coming of Steph Curry with a spectacular 6-12 3PM to finish with a career-high 20 PTS in 27 minutes:
In Phillips’ 1st game since transferring from ASU, he remained unstoppable in the 2nd half with 2 more dunks, finishing with a super-efficient double-double on 8-9 FG in just 20 minutes. If he had played the entire game then he might have ended up with a triple-double…but thankfully Coach Gates was able to give him a rest before he committed 10 TO (he finished with 6). Despite those gaudy numbers, I think Harris was the star of the night in his 1st game since a season-ending foot/ankle injury last November. He knocked down 2 more trifectas in the 2nd half, the latter of which wrapped up a 20-9 run that cut the Tigers’ lead to 55-46 with under 13 minutes to play, forcing Gates to call a timeout while the home crowd roared their approval. Missouri was able to get back on track and win it 88-67, but Harris finished with 27 PTS/4-9 3PM/4 AST/2 STL (against an SEC opponent!) and looks like a shoo-in for MEAC Most Improved Player (and maybe even conference POY).
No pregame meal + no postgame press conference = that is a wrap for now but check back next week when Binghamton visits Georgetown!
