COLUMBIA, MO. • Michael Porter Jr. stood at midcourt and watched his Missouri teammates cruise through pregame shooting drills at Alabama on Jan. 31. Still nursing his surgically repaired lower back, Porter made eye contact with his younger brother, nodded his head and circled his index fingers around each other, the unofficial hand gesture for, “Pick up the pace, little brother!”
Mizzou’s healthy Porter had stalled in recent weeks, suffering through the worst three-game stretch of his otherwise promising freshman season. In losses to Texas A&M, Auburn and Mississippi State, the just-turned-18 Jontay scored only 11 points, barely shot 25 percent from the floor, became a stranger to the free throw line and blocked just one shot.