Mizzou Basketball Hosts Penn Friday Night

The Missouri basketball team continues its early homestand with a game against Penn at Mizzou Arena on Friday night. First tip is set for 7 p.m. and can be seen live on SEC Network+.

PROMOTIONS
• The first 1,000 students will receive a free treat from Elliana’s Donut Shop or Andy’s Frozen Custard.

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ABOUT THE TIGERS
• Missouri opened the 2022-23 season with a 97-91 victory over Southern Indiana on Monday.
• The Tigers scored the game’s first nine points and never trailed en route to the win.
• Senior Kobe Brown led Mizzou with his eighth career double-double, tallying 20 points and 14 rebounds.
• Overall, six Tigers scored in double figures in the winning effort.
• The victory also marked the first for head coach Dennis Gates in his Mizzou tenure.

ABOUT THE QUAKERS
• Penn lost its season opener at Iona, 78-50.
• Jordan Dingle led the Quakers with 16 points, while Max Lorca-Lloyd chipped in nine points to go with 14 rebounds.
• Penn finished the 2021-22 campaign with a 12-16 record. Dingle averaged a team-leading 20.8 points during the campaign.

SERIES HISTORY
• The Tigers and Quakers are meeting for the first time on the basketball court.

TIGERS VERSUS IVY LEAGUE
• Mizzou has won all six meetings with Ivy League foes, including all three contests in Missouri.
• The Tigers last met an Ivy school in the 2009 NCAA Tournament when Missouri opened the postseason with a 78-59 victory against current Penn coach Steve Donahue and Cornell in the first round.

MIZZOU DEBUT FOR COACH GATES
• Monday’s season-opening victory also marked the first win for Dennis Gates as the Whitten Family Men’s Basketball Head Coach at Mizzou.
• Gates is the 20th head coach in program history and MU leaders are now 18-2 in their debut.
• Gates is now attempting to become the 15th coach to win his first two games at Mizzou.

HIGH-SCORING OPENER
• The Tigers showcased a high-scoring attack in the season opener on Monday.
• Missouri, who ranked 303rd last season (of 350 schools) with 65.5 points, tallied 97 points in its opener.
• MU’s 97 points are its most in a regulation game since a 100-77 win versus Green Bay on Dec. 9, 2017. It also marked the team’s most in a season opener since tallying 99 to start the 2016-17 year.

DEPTH IN SCORING
• One key to Missouri’s offensive output in the season opener was its number of options.
• Six Tigers scored in double figures, led by 20 points from Kobe Brown and followed by Sean East II (12), Tre Gomillion (12), DeAndre Gholston (11), D’Moi Hodge (11) and Nick Honor (10).
• It marks the first time since Dec. 7, 2018 against Oral Roberts that Mizzou had six players score at least 10 points in a game.

SHARING THE BALL
• Another key to offensive success was the team’s passing the ball.
• The Tigers collected 20 assists versus Southern Indiana – their most in a game since also posting 20 in a 90-82 win over St. John’s (Nov. 24, 2017).
• Sean East II and Nick Honor led the Tigers with five assists apiece versus the Screaming Eagles.
• It is the first time two different Tigers posted at least five assists in a game since Xavier Pinson (6) and Dru Smith (5) did so against Incarnate Word on Nov. 6, 2019.

DOUBLING UP
• Senior Kobe Brown highlighted the season-opening win versus Southern Indiana.
• Brown recorded his eighth-career double-double in the victory with 20 points and 14 rebounds.
• The senior is just the second Tiger in the last 17 years to register a double-double in the season opener (also Mark Smith in 2018-19).
• Brown is also the first Mizzou player to collect at least 20 points and 10 boards in the opener since Kareem Rush had 24 points and 15 boards versus Savannah State to open the 2000-01 campaign.
• Brown led Missouri with 12.5 points and 7.6 rebounds as a junior in 2021-22.

ROOKIE RETURNS
• One player looking to follow in Kobe Brown’s footsteps is rookie Aidan Shaw.
• In his first collegiate game, Shaw scored nine points versus Southern Indiana – making 4-of-5 from the field, to go with two rebounds.
• Shaw is the first Missouri freshman to score nine points in the season opener since Brown also tallied nine versus Incarnate Word in 2019.

DEFENSIVE DISRUPTION
• Defensively, the key to Missouri’s success was forcing turnovers.
• Mizzou forced USI into 22 miscues – the most by a Tigers’ opponent since Chicago State had 24 on Dec. 30, 2019.
• Of the 22 turnovers, 12 were via Missouri steals – the second highest amount by MU since that same Chicago State game.