The Missouri Tigers men’s basketball team is back on the road, making the trip to Alabama to face the Crimson Tide on Tuesday night. First tip is set for 6 p.m. on SEC Network.
ABOUT THE TIGERS
• Missouri enters the contest with an 8-8 overall record, losing its first three conference games of the campaign.
• The Tigers are coming off a 71-69 overtime setback to South Carolina on Saturday.
• Graduate guard Sean East II leads Mizzou with 17.1 points and 3.8 assists per game.
• After back-to-back 20-point contests, graduate forward Noah Carter is second on the Tigers with 12.8 points per game, while leading MU with 6.0 rebounds per game.
• Overall, four Tigers are scoring in double figures as Tamar Bates (10.8) and Nick Honor (10.3) follow East and Carter’s lead.
• The Tigers own a scoring offense of 75.6 points with a scoring defense of 72.7 points.
ABOUT THE CRIMSON TIDE
• Alabama owns an 11-5 record in 2023-24 with a perfect 3-0 mark in SEC play.
• Overall, the Crimson Tide has won its last five, coming off an 82-74 win at Mississippi State.
• Mark Sears leads Alabama and ranks first in the SEC with 20.3 points per game.
• Aaron Estrada is second with 13.2 points and a team-best 3.9 assists, while Grant Nelson is third with 12.6 points and first with 5.7 rebounds.
• Alabama averages 90.1 points, while allowing 73.9 per game.
SERIES HISTORY
• In a series that dates back to 1977, Alabama holds a 14-7 advantage against the Tigers.
• The Tide won a pair of meetings over MU last season – earning an 84-65 regular-season victory before posting a 72-61 win in the SEC Semifinals en route to the title.
• Overall, Alabama has won the last three matches after the Tigers had won the previous three.
• Missouri is just 1-7 all-time at Alabama with its lone victory an 88-74 win in 2018.
A NEED TO FINISH OFF GAMES
• A large reason why the Tigers find themselves with a 0-3 SEC record is their performance at the end of games.
• In its last three contests, Mizzou the Tigers have made just 3-of-29 field goals to finish regulation, twice resulting in a blown lead with under five minutes remaining.
• The 10.3 percent shooting to finish the league games has resulted in defeats by an average of 7.3 points per game.
BACK TO NORMAL
• After enduring a mini shooting slump, graduate forward Noah Carter has regained his touch.
• Carter has scored at least 20 points in the last two games – reaching the mark in back-to-back contests for the first time in his career.
• After a five-game stretch when he shot 30.8 percent overall and 8.7 from 3-point range, Carter is averaging 18.7 points the last three contests – shooting 45.2 percent from the field and 38.1 percent from beyond the arc.
• Overall, Carter ranks second on MU with 12.8 points this season and with 23 triples.
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 seventh in the SEC and 124th 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, is averaging the most points by a Tiger since Jabari Brown (19.9) and Jordan Clarkson (17.5) in 2013-14.
• East has scored 274 points this season – just 14 shy of his best mark for a campaign (2019-20).
MR. CONSISTENT
• The good news is that the Tigers can expect for Sean East II to consistently be leading the way.
• East leads Mizzou with 14 double-digit scoring games and six contests with 20-plus points.
• In addition, East has an active streak of 15-plus points in 11-straight games – the longest stretch by a Tiger since Jabari Brown had a 14-game run in 2013-14.
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 six games – he had never gone more than two-straight with at least 10 points prior to the run.
• Over the six-game stretch, Bates is tallying 17.0 points per game after scoring 7.1 points the season’s first 10 contests.
• Bates has raised his season scoring average to 10.8 points this season, ranking third on MU.
