Once Upon A Time In Las Vegas – Wildcard Edition
The (13-3 SU, 9-7 ATS) Missouri Tigers and (9-7 SU, 7-9 ATS) Florida Gators will battle on the hardwood Saturday at Exactech Arena. The Tigers, 2-2 in Southeastern Conference competition, lost 82-64 at Texas A&M on Wednesday. The Gators, also 2-2 in SEC play, won 67-56 at LSU in their last game.
Florida beat Missouri 66-65 in their lone meeting last season. The Gators are 8-4 all-time versus the Tigers.
Tip-off from Gainesville, FL, is at 3:30 p.m. ET.
Missouri went 11-1 in non-conference play, winning its first nine games before falling to sixth-ranked Kansas. The Tigers didn't stumble after that, though, beating UCF, Illinois, and Kentucky in consecutive games. It's safe to say Mizzou, picked to finish 11th in the SEC preseason poll, has exceeded expectations for its 2022-23 season.
However, the Tigers have lost two of their past three after falling Wednesday versus the Aggies. TAMU led 43-25 at halftime and never trailed by more than a bucket. Missouri was 21-of-59 (35.6%) from the field, including 7-for-31 (22.6%) from three. The Tigers were outrebounded 42-25 and couldn't take advantage of the Aggies' 18 turnovers.
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Congrats to @Dmoi_VI on joining the 1,000-point club tonight! #MIZ ?? pic.twitter.com/hB9jYAh430
— Mizzou Hoops (@MizzouHoops) Ja nuary 12, 2023
Missouri is scoring the sixth-most points per game in D-1 (85.7) on 49.4 percent shooting, the 13th-highest field goal percentage. It's shooting 35.9 percent from distance and 75.5 percent from the foul line, the 33rd-highest free-throw percentage. Mizzou is sixth nationally in schedule-adjusted offensive efficiency, per KenPom.
Senior guard D'Moi Hodge paces the Tigers, averaging 15.5 points and 3.9 rebounds on 50.3 percent shooting. Other Tigers players to watch include senior guard Kobe Brown (15.3 PPG and 5.6 RPG), senior guard DeAndre Gholston (10.8 PPG), junior forward Noah Carter (10.6 PPG and 4.7 RPG), and senior guard Nick Honor (9.6 PPG and 3.6 APG).
The Tigers give up 75.6 points per game on 44.7 percent shooting, including 35.6 percent from three-point range. They're 200th in schedule-adjusted defensive efficiency rating and 7th in assist-per-turnover ratio (1.60).