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Missouri men’s basketball hosts Mississippi State in a key late-season SEC matchup on Tuesday night. With just four regular-season games remaining, first tip at Mizzou Arena is slated for 6 p.m. on SEC Network.
ABOUT THE TIGERS
• Mizzou owns a 19-8 record during the 2023-24 season with a 7-7 mark in SEC play.
• The Tigers have dropped their last two games, coming off a 69-60 setback to Texas A&M.
• Senior Kobe Brown scored 24 points Saturday versus the Aggies and leads Missouri with 16.4 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.
• D’Moi Hodge (13.7) and DeAndre Gholston (10.4) follow Brown’s lead and also score in double figures for the Tigers.
• Sean East II leads MU with 2.8 assists per game.
• Mizzou ranks 23rd in the country with a scoring offense of 80.3, while allowing 75.5 points.
ABOUT THE BULLDOGS
• Mississippi State owns an 18-9 record with a 6-8 mark in SEC play.
• The Bulldogs have won six of their last seven games and are coming off a 69-61 overtime victory at rival Ole Miss.
• Tolu Smith is the lone Bulldog scoring in double figures, leading Mississippi State with 14.9 points and 8.3 rebounds.
• Deshawn Davis has a team-best 3.4 assists.
• Mississippi State averages 65.9 points with a scoring defense of 59.3.
SERIES HISTORY
• Mississippi State owns a 13-5 advantage in 18 meetings between the two schools.
• The Bulldogs have won the last seven games in the series and 12 of the last 13 overall.
• Mississippi State earned a 63-52 home victory on Feb. 4 to extend their winning streak over MU.
• The Tigers last win in the series was an 89-85 victory at Mizzou Arena in 2018.
TOP MARKS IN 2022-23
• The Tigers are enjoying one of their best seasons in years during the 2022-23 campaign.
• With a 19-8 overall record and with at least five games left, Missouri already has its most wins in a season since totaling 20 in 2017-18.
• It hasn’t come easy for the Tigers as the team’s five ranked wins are its most in the last 11 years.
• MU finished the non-conference campaign 12-1 – its best mark since also going 12-1 in 2013-14.
• Finally, the Tigers’ 14 wins at Mizzou Arena are tied for the 15th-most home wins this season and MU’s most since going 16-3 in 2013-14.
LEADER IN KOBE BROWN
• Senior Kobe Brown is putting together one of the best seasons in years by a Tiger.
• Brown’s 16.4 points are the most by a Mizzou player since Jabari Brown had 19.9 in 2013-14.
• His 18.0 points in SEC play are the second most in MU history (Jabari Brown had 20.7 in 2013-14).
• Brown’s nine 20-point games are the most by a Tiger since Kassius Robertson had 11 in 2017-18.
BROWN’S RANKS
• Senior Kobe Brown ranks among the best in the SEC this season in several categories.
• Brown is third in the league in scoring (16.4), 12th in rebounds (6.0), second in field goal percentage (56.9), eighth in free throw percentage (78.4) and 15th in steals (1.46).
EFFICIENCY FOR BROWN
• Efficiency has been a large key to success for Kobe Brown his senior season.
• The senior leads Mizzou by shooting 56.9 percent from the field, 47.7 percent from 3-point range and 78.4 percent from the free-throw line.
• Brown is 26th nationally with an effective field goal clip of 64.5 and 15th with a true-shooting percentage of 67.2 – both first in the SEC. He is also second in the conference and 42nd in the country in overall field goal percentage (56.9).
• His effective field goal percentage is the highest by an SEC player since Arkansas’ Daniel Gafford in 2018-19 (66.0), while his true shooting mark is the best in the league since Kentucky’s Nick Richards in 2019-20 (67.4)
A THEFT IN HODGE
• The 2022 Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year, D’Moi Hodge is replicating his success at MU.
• Through 27 contests, Hodge is first in the SEC and seventh nationally with 2.52 steals per game. He matched his career high with six swipes Saturday versus Texas A&M.
• In fact, Hodge is just eight steals shy of the MU record of 76, set by Lynn Hardy in 1986-87.
• Additionally, Hodge is currently seventh among active Division I players with a career mark of 2.15 steals per game.
NO. 2 NATIONALLY IN STEALS
• Overall, the Tigers have been one of the nation’s top teams at forcing turnovers this season.
• MU ranks second in the country with 10.5 steals and eighth with 17.5 turnovers forced per game.
• Mizzou posted at least 14 steals in six-straight games from Nov. 15 to Dec. 4 – its longest run of at least 12 swipes in school history.
