Brown upset about missed opportunity

After Saturday’s game, Marshall Brown sat alone on the bleachers in the dimly-lit practice gym at Mizzou Arena. His head was down, his body slumped as he waited for the questions.

Brown probably knew what was coming.

Most of the questions weren’t going to be about his career-high 28 points or about how he helped the Tigers rally from a 16-point deficit in the second half. Instead, the first few questions were about one play, one moment in his career that every Missouri fan wishes he had back.

With 37 seconds left and Missouri (11-5, 0-3 Big 12) trailing by five points, Jason Horton stole the ball from Kansas State (11-6, 1-2 Big 12) guard Clent Stewart and found Brown. Nobody was between Brown and the basket. The dunk was going to pull the Tigers to within one defensive stop from getting a chance to tie. The players on the Tigers bench were on their feet, the fans ready for another reason to cheer.

Instead, the cheers turned to stunned gasps as Brown’s one-handed dunk rattled around the rim and out with Stewart grabbing the rebound. Brown, like he had last Saturday when the Tigers lost to Iowa State, put his hands on his head and walked slowly to the other end of the floor with his team still trailing by five points.

“It was just one of things you just think it’s a sure thing, and I thought it was in. I looked up and it bounced out,” Brown said. “Those are plays we got to convert on, and I’ll put the (85-81) loss on my shoulders.”

Nobody else, however, was willing to do that. Missouri guard Stefhon Hannah acknowledged that Brown should have finished the dunk but made sure to mention what else Brown did Saturday.

Without Brown’s 24 second-half points, the Wildcats would have turned the game into a blowout. And with Hannah on the bench for much of the second half because of foul trouble, Brown did what team captains and top-returning scorers are supposed to, what he was expected to do this season.

“Marshall’s been playing great; we just need somebody else to help him out,” Hannah said. “He’s been playing his tail off, I mean you can’t do nothing but give him credit. He kept us in that game. He kept us all the games we’ve been in since conference. We just got to pick up where he’s putting us.”

Thirty seconds after the dunk, Brown once again was alone with the basketball. This time, however, he was at the free-throw line. Missouri trailed by four points and needed Brown to make both of his free throws. Not worried about what just happened to him, Brown made both of the shots to bring the Tigers within two points. Both were swishes.

“He (Missouri coach Mike Anderson) just told me to keep playing,” Brown said. “I got really down on myself and you can’t do that in the middle of a game.”

In Missouri’s three Big 12 games, Brown has averaged 23.7 points per game. In Missouri’s past two games, Brown has averaged 23 points in the second half. But in both of those games, Brown has not been effective in the first half. Against Kansas State, Brown was in foul trouble in the first half.

“My team needs me to do certain things as far as scoring and rebounding, and I can’t do that if I’m sitting on the bench,” Brown said. “I haven’t been coming out as aggressive in the first half as I have been the second, so I think that’s been the biggest thing.”

During Missouri’s non-conference schedule, Brown struggled to score and stay in the game. In Missouri’s first 13 games, Brown averaged only 8.1 points per game. Often, Missouri coach Mike Anderson would replace Brown with Darryl Butterfield or Vaidotas Volkus. Neither player is capable of scoring as much as Brown, but each is always aggressive.

“He (Anderson) pulled me to the side before conference started and told me I needed to step up,” Brown said. “I think that’s what I’ve been trying to do.”

Anderson, who is often hard on Brown during practice, said Brown has emerged as one of the team’s better players this past week.

“He’s starting to really figure it out,” Anderson said. “We’ve got to get some other guys to figure it out but Marshall is playing real good basketball.”