Men’s basketball takes on the no. 5/4 Florida Tuesday

University of Missouri men’s basketball aims for a third straight SEC win when it faces No. 6 in Florida on Tuesday night. Tipoff in Gainesville is set for 20 CT on ESPNU.

ABOUT TIGERS
• Mizzou owns a 13-3 overall record in 2024-25 with a 2-1 mark in SEC play.
• The Tigers have won their last two games with wins over LSU, 83-67, and Vanderbilt, 75-66.
• Mark Mitchell leads four players in double-digit scoring with 13.5 points to go with 4.8 rebounds.
• Follows Mitchell’s lead as double-digit scorers Tamar Bates (13.0), Caleb Grill (11.3) and Anthony Robinson II (10.6).
• Robinson also leads Mizzou with 4.0 assists and 2.2 steals per game. battle, while Josh Gray tallied a team-best 5.3 rebounds per match.
• MU is 15th nationally with a scoring offense of 85.1 and 14th with a scoring margin of +16.6.

ABOUT THE GATORS
• Florida is the nation’s No. 5 ranked team in the AP poll and No. 4 in the USA Today Coaches poll.
• The Gators own a 15-1 overall record with a 2-1 mark in SEC play, winning their last two games with victories over No. 1 in Tennessee and in Arkansas.
• Walter Clayton Jr. leads Florida with 17.2 points and 4.0 assists per game, while Alijah Martin is second with 15.9 points.
• Alex Condon has a team-best 8.1 rebounds.
• The Gators average 86.3 points with a scoring defense of 64.8 points.

SERIES HISTORY
• The schools have met on 15 previous occasions, with Florida holding an 11-4 edge over Mizzou.
• The Gators have won the last four games in the series, including a season sweep last year.
• Mizzou’s last win in the series was in 2021, earning a 72-70 victory in Gainesville. The win was MU’s only win in seven trips to Florida.

MIZZOU AGAINST THE TOP FIVE
• The Tigers face another top-five foe when they host the Gators on Tuesday.
• Missouri has split a pair of games against top-five teams this season, defeating No. 1 Kansas. 1 on December 8, before falling to no. 2 Auburn on Jan. 4.
• Overall, MU is 24-92 all-time (20.7%) against top-five teams with a 4-37 mark in road games (9.8%).
• The Tigers have lost their last six straight road games to top-five opponents with their last win on Feb. 25, 2012 against No. 3 Baylor.

STRONG SEC START
• The Tigers, who play in the nation’s toughest conference, are off to a strong 2-1 start in SEC play.
• Now in his 13th season since joining the SEC, it’s the fourth time MU has won two of its first three league games (also 2013, 2018 and 2023).
• The Tigers are now aiming for their first 3-1 (or better) start in SEC play in school history.

DUO NEAR 1,000 POINTS
• A pair of Tigers are approaching a milestone as they are less than 30 points shy of 1,000 in their careers.
• Tamar Bates is just 22 points away from the milestone as he enters with 978 points in 115 career games.
• Caleb Grill has amassed 970 points in 136 games and is just 30 away from joining the 1,000-point club.
• Two Tigers have already scored 1,000 points during their careers in the Marquess Warrick (2,386) and Tony Perkins (1,287).

THREE IMPORTANT POINTS
• Hitting their shots beyond the arc has been the key to success for the Tigers this season.
• In the team’s 13 wins, Mizzou has made 39.0 percent of its 3-point attempts and 9.2 per game.
• In its three defeats, however, MU has made only 28.3 percent of its triples and 5.7 per. game.
• Overall, the Tigers are 10-0 this season with more or the same number of 3-pointers as their opponents, but 3-3 with fewer.
• The good news for Mizzou is that the shooting from deep is currently coming together, shooting 44.5 percent (22-49) over the past two games.

CLEANING THE GLASS
• While the Tigers face the daunting task of facing the nation’s top rebounding team on Tuesday in Florida, Mizzou has had recent success to point to.
• Mizzou has won the rebounding game in all three SEC games this season. It’s the first time the Tigers have done it in three straight conference games since January 2021.
• Overall, MU owns a +2.3 rebounding margin this season after finishing with -6.1 last year.

HEAD OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
• Graduate center Josh Gray has led the team’s effort on the glass and has excelled in his role.
• Gray’s priorities for the Tigers in 2024-25 are defense and rebounding, as he leads Mizzou with 5.3 rebounds per game. game, including 7.7 in SEC play.
• Gray has collected at least 10 rebounds in each of the last two games – a first for a Mizzou player since Mohamed Diarra in February 2023.
• In fact, Gray is the only NCAA player in the last 20 seasons to record back-to-back games with at least 10 rebounds and zero points in each.

TOP 10 IN STEALING
• The team’s strength in defense is its ability to create turnovers and gain extra possessions.
• Mizzou currently ranks eighth in the nation with 10.2 steals per game. match.
• Sophomore Anthony Robinson II leads MU and ranks 32nd nationally with 2.20 steals per. game, collecting at least three steals in 8-of-15 contests.