The Missouri men’s basketball team is set for its first road conference game of the season, squaring off with No. 6 Kentucky on Tuesday night. The SEC contest is slated for a 6 p.m. CT first tip on ESPN.
ABOUT THE TIGERS
• Missouri enters the contest with an 8-6 overall record, including a 0-1 mark in SEC play.
• The Tigers dropped a tight decision in its league opener on Saturday, falling to Georgia, 75-68.
• Graduate guard Sean East II led Mizzou with 18 points and eight assists in Saturday’s contest. He leads the team overall with 17.1 points and 3.9 assists per game this season.
• Overall, four Tigers are scoring in double figures with Noah Carter (11.5), Nick Honor (10.9) and Tamar Bates (10.2) following East’s lead.
• Carter also leads Mizzou with 6.3 rebounds.
• The Tigers own a scoring offense of 75.9 points with a scoring defense of 71.6 points.
ABOUT THE WILDCATS
• Kentucky is currently ranked No. 6 in the nation in both the AP and coaches polls.
• The Wildcats are 11-2 on the season, including an 87-85 victory in their SEC opener at Florida.
• Overall, Kentucky has won their last five games.
• Antonio Reeves leads five UK players scoring in double figures with 19.0 points per game.
• Rob Dillingham is second with 13.7 points and leads the Wildcats with 4.2 assists, while Tre Mitchell is third with 12.7 points to go with a team-best 7.3 rebounds.
• UK is averaging 90.8 points, while allowing 74.3.
SERIES HISTORY
• Kentucky owns a 14-3 edge in series history but the Tigers have won two of the last three games.
• Last year, Mizzou cruised to an 89-75 victory over the No. 19 Wildcats to open SEC play.
• The 89 points scored by Mizzou were the most allowed by a John Calipari-coached Kentucky team. In fact, it was the most points allowed by Calipari since his final game at Memphis – a 102-91 defeat to Missouri.
• Kentucky, however, has controlled the series in Lexington – winning all eight home contests, including all six since the Tigers joined the SEC.
MOST IMPROVED AWARD
• Sean East II has put his name in the conversation as one of the nation’s most improved players.
• East leads the Tigers with 17.1 points per game – ranking fifth in the SEC and 118th nationally.
• The guard has increased his scoring by 9.8 points per game – easily the highest mark in the SEC.
• East, who averaged 8.4 points in his first three seasons, owns career-best marks in shooting percentage (55.4) and 3-point percentage (53.8).
MR. CONSISTENT
• The good news for Mizzou is that the Tigers can expect for Sean East II to consistently be leading the way in 2023-24.
• East leads Mizzou with 12 double-digit scoring games and six contests with 20-plus points.
• In addition, East has scored 15-plus points in nine-straight games – the longest run by a Tiger since Jordan Barnett in 2017-18 (10-game run).
BATES CATCHES FIRE
• Junior transfer Tamar Bates has become a much-needed weapon for the Tigers as of late.
• Bates has scored in double digits in each of the last four games – he had never gone more than two-straight with at least 10 points prior to the run.
• Overall, Bates is averaging 18.0 points over the four-game stretch – shooting 62.5 percent from the field, 72.7 percent from 3-point range and 93.3 percent from the free-throw line.
• Bates, who averaged 7.1 points the first 10 games of the season, has raised his scoring average to 10.2 points this season.
TOP 3-POINT THREATS
• The Tigers feature two of the nation’s top 3-point shooters in Sean East II and Tamar Bates.
• Of all players in the country with at least two 3-point attempts per game, East is fifth at 53.8 percent and Bates is seventh at 53.1 percent.
• The Tigers are the only team with two players in the top 20.
A NEW WEAPON IN AIDAN SHAW
• Sophomore Aidan Shaw has found his offensive rhythm as of late.
• Having never scored in double figures in his first 44 career games, Shaw has done so in each of the last two contests.
• The forward has tallied 24 points the last two games, coming off a career-best 14 points Saturday versus Georgia.
• Efficiency has been the key for Shaw as he scored his 24 points on 12-of-14 shooting (85.7%).
• Overall, Shaw ranks sixth nationally by making 75.7 percent of his 2-point attempts this season, averaging 4.1 points per game.
NEED FOR FREE POINTS
• One area where the Tigers have struggled this year is to get to the free-throw line.
• MU ranks last in the SEC and 316th in the NCAA (of 362 schools) with 15.7 free-throw attempts per game (UK is 13th in the SEC at 19.1).
• Six times this year, Mizzou has allowed 10 more shots from the charity stripe then it took, including three times in the last five games (losing all three contests).
