“It is a hostile environment,” Bowers said, “but it’s not as hostile as most.”
Bowers wasn’t saying much of anything after No. 7 Texas whipped the No. 11 Tigers 71-58 on Saturday night.
Missouri was down — falling to 17-4 overall and 3-3 in the Big 12 Conference standings — but Bowers was out with just over 12 minutes left in the first half after receiving an inadvertent but wicked elbow to the face from Texas’ Tristan Thompson.
“I thought he was knocked out,” said MU teammate Michael Dixon, looking on with great concern as Bowers lay flat on his back on the floor of the Erwin Center, squinting shut his eyes to try to fight off the dizziness.
“It was a very physical game,” said MU coach Mike Anderson. “Unfortunately we got a guy get an elbow to the head. That was what I was worried about. I thought there were a lot of loose elbows out there.”
Anderson is not a doctor, but he was asked to be one in providing a prognosis regarding Bowers.
“We don’t know at this point,” Anderson said. “It might be a mild concussion.”
Bowers — the No. 2 shot blocker in the Big 12 — was felled by a blow that Thompson — the No. 1 shot blocker in the league — said he did not know had caused any damage.
“My hands were both up trying to contest the shot,” Thompson said. “I hope he’s all right.
“I didn’t know it had happened until I started running down the court and the ref stopped the play. Then I saw him on the floor.
“I wish him a speedy recovery.”
Bowers probably could not have told anyone where he was as he lay on his back on the floor, with Anderson kneeling beside him. After several minutes Bowers was helped to his feet. But he draped either arm over the shoulders of MU trainers as he left the court.
Bowers — even with the support — staggered back to the bench. Soon after he was helped to the locker room, Bowers keeping both eyes closed as he was guided along the baseline.
Coincidentally, it was Bowers who hit back to back baskets that pulled the Tigers within 16-10 with 12:12 to play. The second one came on a reverse lay-up. But as Thompson came down after trying to block the shot, his elbow caught Bowers in the face.
“He took it right on the chin,” Texas coach Rick Barnes said. “That’s a tough place to get hit.”
Things quickly got worse for Missouri. With 4:20 left in the opening half, the No. 7-ranked Longhorns opened an 18-point lead.
From the start — literally — Texas ruled the area under and above the rims as the Longhorns’ personal corral.
At a timeout at 15:53, Texas’ rebounding advantage was 9-1. And not surprisingly, the Longhorns led 10-0 at that point, and then 11-0.
It wasn’t as if Missouri wasn’t scrapping, battling, doing everything it could. But there just did not appear much the Tigers could do.
By the end of the half, Texas held a 13-4 lead in second-chance points and a 23-11 rebounding advantage, as well as a 38-27 lead.
The Horns finished the game with just a 15-11 edge in second-chance points, and a 41-31 edge in rebounds.
Missouri scrapped, and clawed to get those statistics that close. And, with 10:40 to play, the Tigers trailed merely 49-42 on Dixon’s three.
Even as late as 4:38, Missouri trailed by eight points after two free throws by Dixon.
The fact that Texas hit only 16 of 34 free throws helped keep Missouri in this game most of the way.
But the Longhorns — 18-3 overall and now 6-0 atop the Big 12 standings — never seemed in danger of losing.
Marcus Denmon — Missouri’s leading scorer — was held to only seven points. The Tigers’ high scorer was Phil Pressey with 12, and Kim English scored 10. Justin Safford did what he could on the boards, finishing with 11.
But Texas’ Jordan Hamilton grabbed 13 rebounds to go with 16 points. Thompson grabbed 13 rebounds to go with nine points. And Gary Johnson scored 15 points with nine rebounds.
Could Bowers have made a big enough difference, had he been able to play the entire game, to swing victory to Mizzou?
No one will ever know. But English probably said it best: “We kind of forgot,” English said. “In the flow of the game you kind of forget.
“But late in the game, I looked over at coach (Melvin) Watkins and I said, `We miss Laurence.’
“Coach always says that when guys go down, someone has to be right there to step up. We didn’t do a good job of that.
“But he was definitely missed.” First half
Key play: None was bigger for Missouri than when Laurence Bowers caught an elbow in the face and had to be helped from the floor with 12:12 left.
Key stat: Texas opened the game on an 11-0 run. Kim English scored Missouri’s first points on a three at 14:18.
Second half
Key play: Ricardo Ratliffe picked up a loose ball in the lane, turned and put it in, pulling Missouri within 47-39 with 12:24 to play in the game.
Key stat: What kept Missouri in the game for so long was, in part, Texas’ free throw shooting. Texas was at one point only 8 of 20 from the line and finished 16 of 34.
Top Ten skid: Missouri has lost 18 straight road games to Top Ten-ranked opponents. The last time the Tigers won one of those? On Feb. 20, 1994, when No. 12 Mizzou won at No. 4 Kansas 81-74.
Next up: Missouri faces another road test, playing Wednesday at Oklahoma State in an 8 p.m. tip in Stillwater. Missouri leads the all-time series with the Cowboys 75-39 but is only 21-27 at Stillwater.
Thanks for sharing, Geny.
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