Men’s basketball hosts LIU in the Saturday matinee

On By Littum

Fresh off a win over the nation’s no. 1 team, the University of Missouri men’s basketball team is back in action Saturday morning, hosting LIU. Tipoff is set for 11 on SEC Network+.

PROMOTIONS
• Fans can take advantage of a ticket promotion by purchasing four tickets for just $24.
• The first 500 fans will receive a free CoMo flag giveaway.
• The Bank of Missouri Teddy Bear Toss, in support of the Salvation Army, is set for Saturday.
• A Corgi race has also been suspended on Saturday.

ABOUT TIGERS
• Mizzou has won eight straight games to improve to 8-1 during the 2024-25 campaign.
• The Tigers are coming off a win over no. 1 Kansas on Sunday, 76-67.
• Senior Tamar Bates scored a season-best 29 points against the Jayhawks and now leads the team with 14.1 points per game. match.
• Overall, four Tigers are currently scoring in double figures – Caleb Grill (13.6), Mark Mitchell (12.8) and Anthony Robinson II (11.9).
• Bates and Robinson are also tied for the team lead with 18 steals, while Robinson averages a Mizzou-best 4.1 assists per game. match.
• Josh Gray has a team-best 5.8 rebounds.
• MU ranks fourth nationally with a scoring offense of 89.4 points, 81st with a scoring defense of 66.8 and fifth with a +22.7 scoring margin.

ABOUT THE SHARKS
• LIU owns a 4-8 record, coming off a 69-62 loss to UMass Lowell on Wednesday.
• Malachi Davis leads the Sharks with 17.5 points per game. game, while Jamal Fuller is second with 10.7.
• Terell Strickland adds 9.1 points with a team-leading 5.2 assists per game. match.
• Shadrak Lasu has a team-best 6.0 rebounds.
• The Sharks are averaging 71.8 points per game. match.

SERIES HISTORY
• The schools meet for the first time on the basketball court.

TIGERS VERSUS NEC
• Missouri is playing a Northeast Conference foe for just the fourth time in program history.
• The Tigers last played an NEC opponent in 2017, earning a 99-55 victory over Wagner.
• MU also owns wins over Marist in 1992 and Fairleigh Dickinson in 2009.

MIZZOU BRACKET NO. 1
• The Tigers are coming off a win over top-ranked Kansas on Sunday, marking the program’s fifth all-time win against No. 1
• MU is now 5-20 all-time against the team no. 1, and has achieved its first win since defeating KU in 1997.
• The Tigers also posted wins over the top-ranked team in 1989 (Oklahoma) and 1990 (Kansas twice).

BATES LEADS MIZZOU VERSUS KU
• Senior Tamar Bates was the star of the Tigers’ win over No. 1 Kansas on Sunday.
• Bates surpassed his season high in points at halftime with 18 in the first 20 minutes before finishing with 29 points.
• His 29 points are the second most by a Tiger in 25 games against a No. 1 team, surpassed only by Byron Irvin’s 34 against Oklahoma in 1989.
• In addition, Bates matched his career high with five steals, becoming just the third player in the last 50 years with 25 points and five steals in a win over No. 1 – joined UCLA’s Reggie Miller in 1986 and West Virginia’s Jaysean Paige in 2016.

ARMY TRIO FOR BATES
• After the victory over no. 1 Kansas, Tamar Bates achieved multiple weekly honors.
• The senior guard earned SEC Player of the Week honors, March Madness National Player of the Week honors and was named to Dickie V’s Weekly Stars.
• Overall, Bates leads Mizzou with 14.1 points and 2.0 steals per game this season, shooting 54.2 percent from the field.

RELATIONSHIP HOT TIGER
• Mizzou is currently one of the nation’s hottest teams after winning eight straight games.
• The Tigers own the nation’s seventh-longest winning streak entering Saturday.
• Additionally, Mizzou’s eight game streak is the team’s longest since the start of the 2022-23 season with a 9-0 record.

OFFENSIVE LEADERS
• The Mizzou offense is one of the nation’s best this season.
• The Tigers enter the weekend ranked third in the nation in scoring offense at 89.4 points.

MEASUREMENT EXERCISE
• The simple key to MU’s early season success on offense is effective shooting.
• The Tigers currently rank third nationally with a field goal clip of 51.8 percent.
• Mizzou has shot below the national average of 44.98 just once in nine games this season (44.2 vs. Kansas).
• In fact, Missouri’s nine-game streak of shooting at least 44 percent is its longest since a 10-game stretch in 2007-08.