5 Things To Know About The Missouri Tigers

Tonight at 7 p.m., Kentucky opens SEC play vs. Missouri. The Tigers beat the Cats 75-70 in CoMo a year ago, but both sides have overhauled their rosters via the transfer portal. Head coach Cuonzo Martin will not be with the team today after testing positive for COVID on Sunday. Assistant Cornell Mann will coach the Tigers tonight in Rupp.

Brandon Ramsey will have a complete scouting report on Missouri for you in just a bit; until then, here are five quick things you need to know.

1. They’re 6-6 this season

The Tigers are batting .500 so far this year, with only two wins over KenPom Top 100 teams: SMU (69) and Utah (74). Whenever they’ve played a KenPom Top 50 team, they’ve been blown out. They lost to Florida State (39) by 23, Kansas (5) by 37, and Illinois (14) by 25.

DATE	OPPONENT (KenPom Rank)	RESULT
Tue, Nov 9	vs. Central Michigan (329)	W 78-68
Mon, Nov 15	vs. Kansas City (225)	L 80-66
Thu, Nov 18	vs. Northern Illinois (321)	W 54-37
Sun, Nov 21	vs. SMU* (69)	W 80-75 OT
Mon, Nov 22	vs. Florida State* (39)	L 81-58
Fri, Nov 26	vs. Wichita State (65)	L 61-55
Mon, Nov 29	vs. Paul Quinn (NR)	W 91-59
Thu, Dec 2	@ Liberty (123)	L 66-45
Tue, Dec 7	vs. Eastern Illinois (349)	W 72-44
Sat, Dec 11	@ 8 Kansas (5)	L 102-65
Sat, Dec 18	vs. Utah (74)	W 83-75
Wed, Dec 22	vs. Illinois* (14)	L 88-63

2. They’ve got almost an entirely new team

We’re used to Kentucky being tops in the nation in this stat, but Missouri returns just 19.7% of its minutes played from a year ago. Only three players are back from last year’s team that beat Kentucky: Kobe Brown, Javon Pickett, and Jordan Wilmore. Four players transferred in: Amari Davis (Green Bay), Jarron Coleman (Ball State), DaJuan Gordon (Kansas State), and Ronnie DeGray III (UMass). Five freshmen joined the roster as well: Anton Brookshire, Yaya Keita, Kaleb Brown, and Trevon Brazile. Sean Durugordon enrolled in January 2021 and redshirted the spring semester.

3. Kobe Brown does it all

The junior forward leads the Tigers in almost every statistical category. He is first on the team in scoring (14.8 points per game), rebounding (8.9 RPG), assists (2.3 APG), and steals (1.8 SPG). He’s tied for second in the SEC with four 20+ point games this season. The 6’8″ 255 lbs. Huntsville, AL native had 23 rebounds vs. Paul Quinn back on Nov. 29, the second-most in a single game this season in college basketball behind — you guessed it — Oscar Tshiebwe. His little brother Kaleb is a freshman on the Tigers’ roster.

4. Freshman Trevon Brazile is coming along

Brazile missed the first eight games of the season with an undisclosed health issue. Since returning to action, he’s given the Tigers an added dimension inside, leading the team in blocks in all four games he’s played in. He had six blocks vs. Illinois on Dec. 22 along with eleven points and five rebounds.

5. They’re one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the country

The Tigers struggle to score, especially from the three-point line. This season, they rank 348th nationally in three-point percentage at 24.7%. If you take out their game vs. NAIA Division I Paul Quinn, they’re 355th at 24.3%. Scoring-wise, they’re 272nd in the country at 67.5 points per game, which ranks dead last in the SEC. For comparison, Kentucky is first in the SEC and 14th nationally in scoring at 83.3 points per game.

All this being said, I’m sure Missouri will shoot the lights out at Rupp tonight.