ABOUT MISSOURI
Now in his second season with Missouri, Cuonzo Martin has the Tigers sitting at 9-3 heading into their conference opener against UT.
Heading into league play, Mizzou is riding a six-game winning streak and boasts wins over Illinois, Oregon State and Xavier. Two of MU’s three losses came at the hands of Big 12 foes away from home.
Jordan Geist has been the best player for Missouri so far, leading the Tigers in scoring (13.9 ppg), assists (2.8 apg) and steals (1.4 spg). The senior guard has scored in double digits in eight of the last nine games, including four 20-point performances.
Mark Smith (12.0 ppg, 5.4 rpg) is close behind Geist in the scoring column. The two have combined for more than half of the team’s 3-pointers this year, accounting for 55 triples between the two. Smith paces the Tigers with 30 treys while shooting at a 46-percent clip from beyond the arc.
Sophomore forward Jeremiah Tilmon (10.8 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 0.9 bpg) rounds out the double-digit scorers for Mizzou. He has four double-doubles this season, including two in the last three games.
Missouri doesn’t have a high-scoring offensive scheme, ranking last in the SEC with an average of 69.1 points per game. However, the Tigers are the best team in the league when it comes to shooting from beyond the arc. MU is shooting 39 percent from deep, and 38 percent of its total made field goals have been 3-pointers, which is also the highest ratio in the conference.
On the other end of the floor, Mizzou’s tempo and solid defense has caused its opponents to struggle on offense, as the Tigers rank second in the SEC in scoring defense with 63.2 points allowed per game.