Men’s Basketball Meets Ole Miss Saturday

After a week break, the Missouri men’s basketball team returns to action on Saturday, playing at Ole Miss in SEC action. First tip in Oxford is set for 7:30 p.m. on SEC Network.

ABOUT THE TIGERS
• Missouri is 8-16 during the 2023-24 season with a 0-11 record in SEC action.
• The Tigers are returning to action for the first time in a week since falling to Mississippi State last Saturday, 75-51.
• Mizzou’s leader with 15.6 points and 4.1 assists per game, Sean East II has missed the last two contests with a knee contusion.
• Overall, four Tigers score in double figures with Tamar Bates (14.0), Noah Carter (11.8) and Nick Honor (10.8) following East’s lead.
• Carter also leads all active Mizzou players with 5.2 rebounds per game.
• The Tigers are scoring 72.0 points per game, while allowing 74.3.

ABOUT THE REBELS
• Ole Miss is 18-6 with a 5-6 mark in SEC play.
• The Rebels have dropped their last three, coming off a 75-63 setback at Kentucky on Tuesday.
• Matthew Murrell leads Ole Miss with 16.8 points.
• Allen Flanigan is second with 15.5 points and a team-best 6.7 rebounds, while Jaylen Murray adds 14.0 points and a team-leading 4.0 assists.
• Ole Miss is averaging 75.8 points per game, while allowing 71.6.

SERIES HISTORY
• Ole Miss holds a 15-8 edge over Mizzou with all meetings coming since the Tigers joined the conference in 2012.
• Mizzou, however, has had the better of the series as of late, winning the last five meetings versus the Rebels.
• Last season, the Tigers swept a pair of games over the Rebels – using 16 made triples in a 12-point road win before finishing the regular season with an 82-77 win inside Mizzou Arena.

BATES LEADS TIGERS IN SEC PLAY
• Junior Tamar Bates has been especially strong since conference play started.
• Bates leads MU with 19.0 points in 11 SEC games – the second-highest average by a Tiger in league play since joining the conference in 2012.
• Overall, Bates ranks fifth in SEC games only in scoring (19.0), fifth in field goal percentage (52.7) and first in free-throw percentage (93.5).

BATES DOUBLES UP IN SECOND HALF
• Junior Tamar Bates has increased his output the second half of the season.
• Bates has scored in double digits in the last 14 games, tallying 19.0 points during the stretch – an increase of 11.9 from the year’s first 10 contests. 
• The junior guard’s 14-straight games of at least 10 points is the longest streak by a Tiger since Jabari Brown had a 31-game run in 2013-14.
• Bates was fifth on MU in scoring when his run started and is now second at 14.0 points.

THREE POINTS OF DIFFERENCE
• The deep looks have not gone in for the Tigers as of late, leading to their 0-11 conference start.
• In the last 13 games, Mizzou has made just 28.4 percent of its 3-point shots – a decrease of nearly eight percent from the first 11 games.

TOP 3-POINT THREATS
• While MU has struggled as a team from the 3-point line, the Tigers still feature a strong collective of shooters from beyond the arc.
• Sean East II leads MU at 46.6 percent, followed by Tamar Bates (41.3) and Nick Honor (40.1).
• It marks the first time in its history that Mizzou has three players shooting 40-plus percent from three-point range (minimum 1.0 make per game).

HONOR LEADS 3-POINT CHARGE
• Graduate Nick Honor has led the charge for the Tigers from beyond the 3-point arc this season, making 55 triples with his 40.1 percent clip.
• Honor has started to click as of late in SEC play, making 21-of-49 during the last eight games – 2.63 per game and 42.9 percent.
• Honor has made multiple triples in each of the last eight games, the third-longest streak by a Tiger in SEC play – topped only by Kassius Robertson (12 in 2017-18) and Jabari Brown (9 in 2013-14).
• Overall, Honor ranks seventh in the SEC with 2.29 triples per game and fourth on MIzzou with 10.8 points per game.

A TURN IN TURNOVERS
• One stat MU could always rely on was winning the turnover battle but that tide has turned recently.
• In the first 53 games under Coach Gates, Mizzou committed fewer turnovers than its foe in 47-of-53 games (more five times and tying once).
• However, MU has committed more turnovers in five of the last six games, being outscored 105-57 in points off turnovers (average of 17.5 to 9.5).