- Head coach Cuonzo Martin earned his 250th career victory on Feb. 20 at South Carolina. He has 60+ wins at four different schools, including a career-best 64 victories at Mizzou.
- Mizzou is 5-4 on the road this season, its best mark since going 7-3 in 2011-12. Mizzou has five true road wins for the second time in Cuonzo’s four seasons (2018). The Tigers had accomplished that feat just four times this century before Martin’s arrival (2000, 2004, 2009 and 2012).
- Mizzou travels to Florida to face the Gators for the first time this season and the 11th time in program history. Florida leads the all-time series, 7-3, including 4-0 in Gainesville. Mizzou is looking for back-to-back wins over the Gators for the first time in program history.
- The Tigers erupted for 91 points and shot 61.5 percent from the field and 63.5 percent from beyond the arc in a 16-point win over Florida in Columbia last season. Dru Smith led Mizzou with 22 points, six assists and five steals in that victory, with players on Mizzou’s current roster responsible for 83 of the Tigers’ 91 points that night.
- Senior Jeremiah Tilmon, Jr., who found out his grandmother passed away before tip at Ole Miss on Feb. 10, returned from a two-game leave of absence and finished with 17 points on a perfect 5-of-5 FGs and 7-of-7 FTs at South Carolina. Three days later, he secured his SEC-best seventh double-double of the campaign with 10 points, 10 boards, four blocks and three steals vs. Ole Miss. With Tilmon in the lineup, Mizzou is 14-5.
- Mizzou is one of just 10 teams nationally with six Quad 1 victories (four of which were away from Mizzou Arena), including victories over Illinois, Oregon, Wichita State, Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee. Only five squads nationally have more Quad 1 victories than the Tigers.
- Mizzou has three wins over Top 10 teams (No. 10 Alabama, No. 6 Tennessee, No. 6 Illinois) in the same season for the first time since 2011-12. The Tigers boast four ranked wins. Mizzou is 6-0 against Quad 3 and Quad 4 teams.
- From December of 2013 until Cuonzo Martin‘s first year at the helm, Mizzou hadn’t beaten a ranked opponent in more than 1,500 days. Mizzou has four alone this season and the Tigers are 8-6 against ranked teams under Martin.
- Mizzou is 5-1 in games decided by five or fewer points this season.
- Redshirt senior Dru Smith reached double figures for a team-best 16th time in 21 games this season with 17 points, seven dimes and two steals at South Carolina. He is leading the SEC in steals for a second consecutive year with 1.8 thefts per game.
- Sophomore Kobe Brown is asserting himself as a matchup problem for both guards and bigs. He is coming off a career-high 21-point performance vs. Georgia, a 12-point outing at South Carolina and a team-high 12 points vs. Ole Miss, reaching double figures in three consecutive games for the first time in his career. He’s scored in double figures four times in the last six games, shooting better than 53 percent in that stretch and averaging 12.2 PPG.
- Brown is just the fifth different Tiger sophomore to reach the 20-point plateau during the Martin era. He became the fourth different Tiger this season to surpass the 20-point mark alongside Tilmon, Dru Smith and Xavier Pinson.
DRU LEADING THE LEAGUE IN STEALS AGAIN
- Dru, a preseason second-team All-SEC selection by both the league’s coaches and the media, is one of the nation’s best defenders. He leads the SEC with 1.8 steals per game and his 1.9 steals per game over his time as a Tiger ranks second all-time at Mizzou. Dru has 102 steals in just 52 games at Mizzou. He is a three-time SEC Player of the Week after earning the award on Feb. 8 after adding 16 points and a season-high eight rebounds vs. No. 10 Alabama.
- He scored just nine points at Georgia, snapping a 10-game double-figure scoring streak, the longest by a Tiger since Kassius Robertson scored 10+ in 10 straight games in 2017-18. He bounced back with 17 points on 6-of-8 field goals and a season-high seven assists at South Carolina. Mizzou is 8-2 this season when he dishes at least four assists.
- Dru is averaging 14.0 points, 1.8 steals, 3.5 boards and 3.7 assists per game. He’s one of just 18 players nationally to average at least all those marks this season, the only SEC player and one of just four players from Power 5 conferences.
- He finished with a season-best 26 points, seven rebounds, and five assists vs. Kentucky, the first Tiger to reach all those numbers in the same game since DeMarre Carroll posted 31 points, nine boards and five dimes vs. Iowa State in 2009.
- Dru surpassed the 1,000-career point plateau with a season-best 21 points at Auburn. Dru leads Mizzou during 2020-21 with 16 double-figure scoring games. Since Feb. 8, 2020, Dru has scored in double figures in 23 of the last 30 games. Mizzou is 19-11 in that stretch which includes just four games against non-Power Conference teams.
- Dru tallied 16 points, six boards, six assists and four steals in one of the best all-around performances of his Tiger career at Texas A&M. He is the only Tiger in the last decade to hit all those marks in the same game. Dru followed with 16 on just six shots vs. South Carolina on Jan. 18. Only Dru, Jordan Geist, Keith Shamburger, Alex Oriakhi and Kim English have done that in a Mizzou uniform in the last decade. He chipped in 18 points and had zero turnovers at No. 6 Tennessee.
- This season, Dru ranks third in the SEC in free throw percentage (.831), second in steals (1.8), fifth in assists (3.7), fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.5) and 17th in scoring (14.0).
- Dru has an assist in 92 of his last 94 games. He’s posted 92 multi-assist outings in his last 96 games. Dru has started 74-straight games including all 82 of his Mizzou career.
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