Resume Check: Looking ahead to South Carolina baskeball's next opponent, the Missouri Tigers
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South Carolina basketball finally won a game. After an 0-13 start in SEC play, the Gamecocks knocked off the Texas Longhorns convincingly on Saturday. The win was the first for the program since December.
The victory moved USC to 11-16 overall and 1-13 in conference contests. Looking to start their first SEC winning streak of the season, Lamont Paris’ team will hit the road this week. South Carolina will make the trip to “the other Columbia” to take on the Missouri Tigers.
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Resume Check: Missouri Tigers
Record: 20-7 (9-5 in SEC)
AP Ranking: 15
Last Week: Win over Alabama 110-98 in Columbia; Loss to Arkansas 85-92 in Fayetteville
Previous Meeting: South Carolina won 74-62 in Columbia, SC during 2023-2024 season
What a difference a year makes. Dennis Gates’ Missouri Tigers went 0-18 in SEC play last season (0-19 if one counts the SEC Tournament). In a similar fashion to this year’s Gamecocks, Mizzou lost seven SEC contests by one or two possessions. South Carolina, on the other hand, finished the year tied for second in the Southeastern Conference. The results have flipped during the 2024-2025 season. The ranked Missouri squad has figured some things out and is tied for fourth in the league, while USC owns the last-place spot in the conference.
Having been ranked in each of the past five AP polls, Missouri has some impressive wins. During an 11-2 non-conference run, the Tigers beat No. 1-ranked Kansas. In SEC play, Missouri is 9-5 with a pair of top-5 wins over Florida and Alabama. They’ve also earned another pair of ranked victories over Mississippi State and Ole Miss.
Ahead of this week’s game against South Carolina, Missouri’s offense scores at the fourth-best rate in the conference (83.7 points per game). Those numbers stem from the Tigers sitting in second in both field goal efficiency and 3-point field goal shooting percentage and first in both free throws attempted and free throws made. In fact, they are tied for the national lead with an average of 19.9 free throws made per game.
Missouri’s offensive attack is a balanced and efficient effort. The Tigers have three players who average between 13 and 14 points per game (Mark Mitchell, Caleb Grill, and Tamar Bates) and five more who add between five and ten points. Eight of the team’s top nine scorers make at least 46.8% of their shots from the field.
Grill is a sniper from deep who takes about six perimeter shots per game while making over 43%. Bates is nearly as efficient, though, he takes a smaller volume of attempts.
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Defensively, Mizzou hasn’t been great (10th in SEC in scoring defense and 13th in field goal percentage allowed). They help make up for it, though, by being extremely active. The Tigers are 1st in the conference in steals and 2nd in overall turnovers forced.
Missouri doesn’t play a conventional lineup, instead opting to play three guards and two perimeter-oriented forwards in the starting five. Earlier in the year, former Gamecock Josh Gray started down low. He still plays a prominent role and leads the team in rebounding with 5.1 per game. In the Gray-less lineups, Mitchell and Trent Pierce play the majority of the minutes in the hybrid guard-big roles. As one might expect with Missouri’s lineup choices, the Tigers can struggle at times to defend the rim.
Last time out, Gray did not play. The 7-footer missed Missouri’s loss to Arkansas with an illness. His status remains unknown for this week. Fellow big man Trent Burns, a 7-5 unicorn, hasn’t played this year due to injuries. Coach Gates has hinted that Burns could return soon, however. Gates listed both Gray and Burns as “out” on the SEC-mandated availability report last week. An updated report will release on Monday night.
The Gamecocks and Tigers will tip off at 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 25th. ESPNU will broadcast the game, and the ESPN app will stream it.