Kwiecinski: In near upset, Kobe Brown proves he's the one player who can't have a bad day

At one point, Dennis Gates said he needed to talk with Kobe Brown.

The first-year coach deliberated with his soon-to-be All-SEC first-team player and tell him, basically, to stop being passive.

"I several times challenged him because I thought he was passing the ball too much and passed up on some open shots that he had normally taken even in the last five or six games," Gates said. "At that point, I saw him click back and accept that challenge in the right way."

Challenge accepted, and 19 points, eight rebounds, six assists later and one scratched-up eye later, everything Brown had proved to be one of the biggest differences in a near-upset win.

Kobe can't take a day off for this team. A player that everyone watched get consistently double and triple-teamed last year now has the help he needed to reach his potential. He still has to perform.

"He can never have a bad day," Gates said. "I can never have a bad day. And I thought he started the game having a bad day. And he corrected that problem, corrected that and got through that frustration."

Brown is the engine that makes Missouri roll. He does everything.

MU has proved it can win without Isiaih Mosley, and did so again Tuesday. D'Moi Hodge's shooting has helped ease the pressure on Brown when MU has the ball on offense, but it's not always reliable as seen during the Tigers' cold stretch to end January.

Now that he's not swarmed with defenders every time the ball is in Missouri's possession, he's proved he can score at three levels and defend the opposing team's best player enough to where MU's offense can take center stage.

He's impacting each game, and there's at least one moment each game when he's the best player on the court.

It's not easy to sustain that level of play. He's scored under double figures five times this season and has been held under his 16-points-per-game average 10 total times. When he's been held under his scoring average this year, Missouri is 6-4 in those games.

In SEC play, Brown has been held under his scoring average three times. Missouri is 0-3 in those games.

Hodge, MU's other go-to scorer, has been held under his scoring average eight times. MU is 3-5 in those games.

Missouri is winless if Brown doesn't play to his average output. Games like against Alabama, when Brown was held out with an ankle injury, are a foregone conclusion that MU has little chance of winning if Brown is not playing.

It is impressive when Brown does sustain that level of play, considering how Brown played the second half with a swollen eye gifted to him by a flagrant foul in the first half. In the second half, it started showing.

"It started coming back," Brown said when asked if he could see in the second half.

Scratched eye and all, Brown couldn't let up. There were eight lead changes Tuesday night as South Carolina shot the ball with a blazing touch.

The SEC's worst-scoring offense shot 52 percent from the floor for the entire game. Any let-up on MU's end and Missouri loses to the Gamecocks, who were 1-9 in SEC play coming into Mizzou Arena Tuesday.

Brown doesn't let up and hasn't yet this season. He's either set or tied career highs in five different stat categories so far this season.

When he's not having a career day, he's still making plays that lift Missouri.

In the second half, Missouri pushed its lead over South Carolina from three to 12 in a nearly four-minute span. In that time frame, Brown dished an assist, grabbed a rebound and scored four points.

"He responded in a way that I thought a top-50 player in the country should respond or potential Conference Player of the Year should respond," Gates said. "As the season goes, his job is going to get a lot harder. It's going to continue to get difficult and he has to understand how frustrating being the one person that's the identity of our program."

That line from Gates is also something we haven't heard from him this season.

Brown is the identity of this program, through and through. He's the fan favorite, no matter how much fans may clamor for Jackson Francois near the end of games that are clearly ending in Missouri wins.

The face of the program is going to get extra attention. He'll probably get more scratches as teams try their best to defend him.

Brown can't blink through all of it. He hasn't yet, but like Gates said it only gets more difficult. Especially as Missouri keeps holding as a team projected to hold between a No. 8, 9 or 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Brown was asked about his aggressiveness as a rebounder after the game, but his response also applies to how he plays in general.

"You got to want to more than the other guy," Brown said. "At the same time, you got to be smart about it."

He also talked about understanding his shortcomings. He might not be the strongest player on the court in every game, but he can do his best to play like he is.

That's the sign of a great college basketball player. Brown has become that for MU. He can't stop being that if Missouri wants an opportunity to live up to its expectations.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Kwiecinski: How Kobe Brown proved he's the one player who can't have a bad day