The enigmatic sophomore sprang onto the scene and altered the ceiling for Mizzou Basketball last season.
Going into the season, I don’t think many outside the program thought we would see the jump Anthony Robinson made from his freshman season to his sophomore year.
In our annual experiment during last offseason Robinson clung to the top 8 in the last spot on the fan voting. Robinson’s expectations were to be part of the rotation, but what happened was him started 31 of the 33 games and became one of the fixtures of the Missouri attack. So much so that Robinson earned a spot on the SEC All defensive team.
He finished 7th in steal rate, and took a giant step forward in his offensive game. He was 4th on the team in scoring at 9.0 points per game, and jumped his offensive rating from 104 up to 120.3. Robinson went from 30.9% of minutes to 55.6% and the only reason it was that low was due to his penchant for being aggressive on defense and accumulating fouls.
After averaging 6.2 fouls per 40 as a freshman, he only improved that mark to 5.3 as a sophomore.
Robinson appeared in 33 of 34 games and had at least a foul in all of them. He had 3 fouls or more in 22 of those games, four fouls or more in 10 games, and he fouled out in three games.
Most of us expected Tony Perkins to be the lead guard, but Robinson stepped into that role as the primary point guard whenever he was on the floor. He was the third highest in usage rate on the team and led the team in assists, and assist rate.
He had 16 points against Memphis to open the season, but it was his 29 point outing against California which launched Robinson into some ancillary draft boards. Missouri found themselves down 16 points at halftime and it was Robinson leading the way in the second half. The Tigers outscored Cal by 21 points in the first 10 minutes, and most of that was with just a high pick and roll with Robinson snaking the ball in towards the rim. He put Cal on their heels on defense so much he went to the free throw line 15 times.
Robinson clearly took a step forward, as did Trent Pierce. Those two sophomore jumps have led Mizzou fans to have high expectations for last years remaining freshmen.
Basically if Robinson was on point, Missouri was often the best version of themselves. As much as the team relied on Mark Mitchell, Tamar Bates, and Caleb Grill to pump in offense, it was Robinson and Pierce who lifted the team up the most. Both sophomores slumped midway through the conference slate and the team slumped a bit as well.
Down the stretch Robinson only had 2 points at Oklahoma, 2 points again Kentucky, and then 4 points against Drake. He also had just 3 points at Arkansas.
The consistency was certainly an issue. Consistency which was also tied to his foul trouble. Too often Robinson took himself out of the game with some questionable decision making on defense. And even some questionable offensive moves.
There’s no question Robinson will be a huge part of the team this season, maybe even the focal point. If he can clean up the fouls, be on the floor consistently, and just replicate his shooting numbers from last season, Robinson is in for a big season.