Mizzou Launches SEC Tournament with Georgia Thursday

STORYLINES

• Mizzou heads into the postseason after a strong regular season that featured seven Quad 1 victories. Mizzou is one of just nine teams nationally with seven Quad 1 victories (five of which were away from Mizzou Arena), including wins over Illinois, Oregon, Wichita State, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee and Florida. Only three teams (Illinois, Oklahoma State and Baylor) have more Quad 1 victories than the Tigers.
• Mizzou is 8-3 against teams currently projected to make the NCAA Tournament field in ESPN’s Bracketology. The Tigers also have four wins over conference champions, including Liberty, Oregon, Alabama and Wichita State.
• 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.
• Mizzou enters the SEC Tournament seeking its first semifinals berth in program history. Mizzou is 4-6 all-time in the SEC Tournament, Mizzou is 1-1 in the First Round, 3-2 in the Second Round and 0-3 in the Quarterfinals.
• The 2021 rendition of the event will mark three consecutive SEC Tournaments with Mizzou facing Georgia in an opening round. In 2018, the Bulldogs clipped Mizzou 62-60, but the Tigers got revenge with a 71-61 victory in 2019.
• Mizzou and Georgia square off for the second time this season and the 17th time overall in their program histories. Mizzou had won three consecutive games in the head-to-head series before Georgia’s 10-point win on Feb. 16.
• Despite the loss on Feb. 16 to the Bulldogs, sophomore Kobe Brown had his coming out party that night in Athens with 21 points. Since then, he’s averaged 11.6 points. Before Feb. 16, he was averaging 6.2 points per game.
• Mizzou improved to 6-1 in games decided by five or fewer points this season in its last win, a 72-70 victory at Florida. Dru Smith’s buzzer-beating reverse layup gave the Tigers their sixth true road win of the season. It marked Mizzou’s first-ever win in Gainesville and gave head coach Cuonzo Martin‘s squad back-to-back wins over the Gators for the first time in program history.
• Mizzou is 7-4 away from home this season including a neutral site win over Oregon, and 6-4 in true road games, its best mark since going 7-3 in 2011-12. Mizzou has at least 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). Outside of 2011-12, Mizzou hadn’t won six true road games in a season since 1999.
• Both Dru Smith and Jeremiah Tilmon earned All-SEC honors by both the league’s coaches and the media. It marks the first Tiger duo to earn all-league honors in the same campaign since Jordan Clarkson and Jabari Brown in 2013-14. Dru also earned All-Defensive Team honors, the first Tiger to do so since Michael Dixon in 2012.
• Including the electric game-winning bucket at Florida, Dru Smith finished with 17 points, nine dimes and six steals (matching the most steals by an SEC player in a game this season). Dru is one of just two players to hit all three of those marks in the same game this season alongside Houston’s Jamal Shead.
• Dru has reached double figures a team-best 18 times as a senior, and led the SEC in steals during the regular season for a second consecutive campaign with 2.0 thefts per game.

MIZZOU IN THE SEC TOURNAMENT

ALL-TIME RESULTS

• 2013 – Mizzou 62, Texas A&M 60 – Second Round
• 2013 – Ole Miss 64, Mizzou 62 – Quarterfinals
• 2014 – Mizzou 91, Texas A&M 83 (2OT) – Second Round
• 2014 – Florida 72, Mizzou 49 – Quarterfinals
• 2015 – South Carolina 63, Mizzou 54 – First Round
• 2017 – Mizzou 86, Auburn 83 (OT) – First Round
• 2017 – Ole Miss 86, Mizzou 74 – Second Round
• 2018 – Georgia 62, Mizzou 60 – Second Round
• 2019 – Mizzou 71, Georgia 61 – Second Round
• 2019 – Auburn 81, Mizzou 71 – Quarterfinals
• Since winning the 2012 Big 12 Conference Tournament Championship and moving to the SEC prior to the 2012-13 campaign, Mizzou is 4-6 in the SEC Tournament.
• Mizzou seeks its first semifinals berth since joining the SEC. Mizzou has reached the quarterfinals three times.
• Mizzou and Georgia meet in Nashville for the third time in the last three SEC Tournaments. The Bulldogs upset Mizzou in 2018 at St. Louis, but the Tigers answered back the following season with a 10-point win over the Bulldogs in the second round.
• In the SEC Tournament, Mizzou is 2-0 in overtime games and 3-3 in games decided by single digits.
• If Mizzou were to win Thursday, it sets up a first-ever conference tournament meeting with border rival Arkansas.

SEC AWARDS

• Redshirt senior Dru Smith and senior Jeremiah Tilmon, Jr., earned All-SEC recognition from the league’s coaches. Smith was named first-team All-SEC and to the league’s All-Defensive team, and Tilmon, Jr., was named second-team All-SEC.
• The Associated Press also named both Smith and Tilmon, Jr., to the AP All-SEC second-team.
• Smith and Tilmon, Jr., mark the first pair of Tigers to earn All-SEC honors in the same season since Jabari Brown and Jordan Clarkson in 2014
• Smith is the first Tiger to claim a spot on a league All-Defensive team since Mizzou joined the Southeastern Conference and the first since 2012 when Michael Dixon did so in the Big 12.
• Smith becomes Mizzou’s first All-SEC first-team selection since Kassius Robertson in 2018 and the Tigers’ fourth since joining the league (Phil Pressey – 2013, Brown – 2014, Robertson – 2018).
• Tilmon, Jr., earned his first career SEC postseason honor after averaging 12.5 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocks as a senior