- When the Tigers head to Nashville on Wednesday, Mizzou seeks its first road SEC win of the 2019-20 campaign and its first since downing Georgia on March 6, 2019 in Athens. Mizzou has won three consecutive games over Vanderbilt, including a 77-67 victory in Columbia last season behind 24 combined points from Torrence Watson and Javon Pickett, and a 19-point, eight-rebound performance from Jeremiah Tilmon, Jr.
- Mizzou won its first road game over Vanderbilt in program history in the Tigers’ last visit to Memorial Gymnasium during Cuonzo Martin‘s first season at the helm. A win would give Mizzou a fourth straight victory over Vanderbilt – which would be its longest current streak over any SEC team.
- Mizzou’s offense has been clicking over the last five games. The Tigers are scoring 77 points per game in that span while shooting 45 percent from the field. In those five games, Xavier Pinson and Dru Smith have elevated their play to a different level offensively. Pinson is scoring 21.6 points per game, including a career-high 32 points vs. Ole Miss. Before this stretch, he was putting up just 7.9 points per game. His 32-point outburst against the Rebels was Mizzou’s highest individual scoring performance since Jabari Brown racked up 33 points vs. Kentucky on Feb. 1, 2014. Smith is adding 18.2 points and nabbing 2.0 steals per game. Smith and Pinson have 36 of Mizzou’s 56 assists in that span while scoring 51.7 percent of Mizzou’s points.
- Freshman Kobe Brown is coming off his first career double-double with 17 points & 10 rebounds at Arkansas. He is the first Tiger freshman with a double-double since Michael Porter, Jr. in 2018. Brown & Jontay Porter are the only Tiger freshmen with at least 17 points & 10 boards in a game since 2010.
- Mizzou shot 80 percent from the free throw line against Arkansas on Saturday. The Tigers have shot above 75 percent at the charity stripe 10 times in the last 11 games. On the season Mizzou is shooting 77.3 percent from the free throw line, which is on pace to break the single-season program record of 76.6 percent set in 2011-12. Mizzou ranks 15th nationally in free throw percentage.
- Mizzou ranks 22nd nationally in 3-point defense (29.4 percent), which is a school-record pace since the 3-point line was introduced in 1986. Since Jan. 14, only two opponents have made 10+ threes against Mizzou – Arkansas and Alabama. Arkansas’ 12 made threes on Saturday were more than Mizzou’s previous four opponents combined (10).
FREE THROW LINE SUCCESS
- When Mizzou earns at least 20 trips to the line, it is 8-3 this season after making 23-of-27 in the win over Ole Miss. In Mizzou’s last three wins, the Tigers are averaging 33.3 free throw attempts, well above their season average of 19.7 attempts per game.
- The Tigers rank second in the SEC and 16th nationally in free throw percentage at 77.3 percent. That’s on pace to break the program’s single-season team record. Only two teams in program history have shot above 75 percent as a group for an entire campaign – the 2011-12 and 1996-97 squads. They are shooting 79.0 percent in SEC play. Mizzou has seven players shooting above 70 percent.
- The Tigers are shooting 81.3 percent from the line over the last eight games, missing only 47 of their last 250 free throw attempts. Mizzou made a season-high 34 free throws against Arkansas on Feb. 8.
- Over the course of two games against Alabama and Texas A&M, Mizzou made 54 consecutive free throws, setting a new all-time NCAA record. The incredible feat included a 31-of-31 effort at Alabama, the most free throws made without a miss in a single game in SEC history. It marked the fourth-best single-game team performance at the foul line in NCAA history and the best since Oklahoma hit 34-of-34 free throws vs. Iowa State on March 2, 2013. The effort shattered Mizzou’s previous single-game record for consecutive free throws made in a game of 23.
- Dru Smith is challenging the Mizzou single-season free throw percentage record (90.5), shooting 89.7 percent from the line this season.
- Mizzou is is the only SEC team with two players ranking in the Top 8 in free throw percentage during league play. Smith ranks second at 90.7 percent and Pinson ranks eighth at 82.5 percent. In the last five games alone, Pinson and Smith have made 76 trips to the charity stripe.
KOBE BROWN
- Freshman Kobe Brown has made 22 starts, but has played the seventh-most minutes on the team. He is coming off his first a career double-double with a career-high 17 points and a career-high 10 rebounds. He is the third Tiger with a double-double this season and the first freshman to do so since Michael Porter, Jr., who tallied 16 points and 10 rebounds in the opening round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament.
- Brown is just the second Tiger freshman to post at least 17 points and 10 boards in the same game since 2010 – alongside Jontay Porter.
- Brown has 29 steals this season, the fourth-most among SEC freshmen.
- He is averaging 9.0 points and 7.0 rebounds over the Tigers’ last three games.
DRU
- Dru Smith is making his case for All-SEC recognition in his first season at Mizzou. He reached double figures for the 17th time this season with 15 points at Arkansas, and the 20-point plateau for the fourth time with a career-high 28 points vs. No. 11 Auburn and 20 points at No. 25 LSU. His 80 points over the last four games are the most in a four-game stretch in his career.
- He is averaging 12.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.1 steals per game and is on pace to become the first SEC player since Vanderbilt’s Drew Maddux in 1997-98 to average at least those marks for an entire season, and third overall SEC player to do since 1990. Dru has totaled 340 points, 114 rebounds, 107 assists and 56 steals this season, the second Tiger to do so in the last 25 seasons (Phil Pressey). In the SEC this season, only Dru has hit those marks, & only six other SEC players have done so since 2012 (Ben Simmons, Shai Gilgeous Alexander, Josh Richardson, Chris Chiozza, J.J. Frazier, Admon Gilder)
- Dru ranks 11th nationally in free throw percentage at 89.7 percent, currently second all-time at Mizzou.
- Dru leads the SEC with 2.1 steals per game this season. He has 56 steals in 27 games. Mizzou’s steals leader last year was Jordan Geist, who finished with 34 thefts. The 2.1 steals per game clip is on pace to tie for third all-time at Mizzou. Dru is nabbing a steal on nearly four percent of all defensive possessions.
- Dru has 107 dimes, becoming the first Tiger to reach the century mark since 2017. With 56 steals, he is the first Mizzou player with 100 assists and 50 steals in the same campaign since Phil Pressey in 2012-13.
- Dru posted 20 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals at No. 25 LSU. Only Dru, Phil Pressey & Marcus Denmon have recorded three 20-point, 3-steal games at Mizzou in the same campaign since 2010.
- In league play, he leads the SEC in steals per game with 2.2, ranks second in free throw pct. (90.7 percent), eighth in assists (3.7) and 17th in scoring (14.1) while leading Mizzou in all of those categories.
- He’s just the third Tiger since 2010 to post five 7+ assist games in the same campaign (Terrence Phillips and Phil Pressey). On Jan. 21 vs. Texas A&M, he finished with 18 points, eight rebounds, and a season-high eight assists. He is just the second Tiger to post an 18-8-8 line since 1983, joining Anthony Peeler. The redshirt junior captained Mizzou’s victory over Florida with 22 points, six assists and five steals – the second Tiger since 1980 to hit those marks in the same game, joining Peeler.
- Dru reached the 18-point mark five times at Evansville and has done so seven times at Mizzou.
- In his 77-game career, Dru has only gone one game without recording an assist, (Dec. 3, 2016), giving him 69 consecutive games with an assist. He’s now posted 40 multi-assist outings in the last 41 games.
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