A motivated Caleb Grill leads Missouri into a nonconference home game Thursday night against Mississippi Valley State in Colombia, Mo.
The guard spent some time on the bench on Monday but promptly ripped off a career-high 33 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds as Missouri (2-1) picked up an 84-77 home win against Eastern Washington.
“I benched him in the first half,” Tigers coach Dennis Gates said. “Accountability is growth and he allowed me to hold him accountable. Certain things are expected from our guys and he didn’t fight (the benching). He expected every bit of it.”
The result?
Grill shot 10 of 13 from the field, including a sizzling 8 of 10 from 3-point range. The graduate student played in only nine games (five starts) last season before a wrist injury sidelined him the final 23 contests. He was amped up to get back on the court.
“I really wanted to show out from the beginning and have all the work I put in lead to an amazing season,” Grill said. “I didn’t play a game for 11 months.”
It wasn’t just Grill, though, as fellow guard/forward Mark Mitchell chipped in 13 points for Missouri.
“I’ve been a versatile inside-outside scorer, whatever the team needs me to do,” said Mitchell, a Duke transfer. “I want to be versatile, inside-outside, with the ball, without the ball or cutting. I try to do a little bit of everything.”
Grill and Tamar Bates lead the Tigers through three games in scoring average at 13 points per game, with Mitchell and Anthony Robinson II at 12.3. Mitchell is averaging six rebounds per game.
The Delta Devils (1-1) were 1-30 last year but are coming off a 66-49 win against the Mississippi University for Women last Thursday. MVSU jumped out to a 39-17 halftime lead but was outscored in the second half 32-27.
Alvin Stredic led the Delta Devils with 14 points and added five rebounds, while Donovan Sanders bundled 11 points with 10 rebounds and six assists. MVSU was picked to finish last in the SWAC preseason coaches poll.
“We lost a lot of games last year coming down the stretch due to our conditioning, in the last five minutes of the game,” Delta Devils coach George Ivory said. “We improved that and have some guys that can make shots down the stretch. We’re excited about the potential we have.”
Arthur Tate is the leading scorer through two games with 12 points per game, followed by Sanders (11.5) and Stredic (11). Sanders pulls down boards at a 9.0 clip, with Stredic at 7.0.
