Men’s basketball host Arkansas aims to extend winning streak

Fresh off its second top-five win of the season, University of Missouri men’s basketball returns home to welcome rival Arkansas to Mizzou Arena on Saturday night. Tipoff is set for 5pm on the SEC Network.

PROMOTIONS
• Saturday is Blackout at Mizzou Arena, where all fans are encouraged to wear their best Tiger black.
• The first 1,000 students are set to receive a free black replica shirt as a giveaway.
• St. Louis Disc Dogs will perform at halftime of Saturday’s game.

ABOUT TIGERS
• Mizzou owns a 14-3 overall record in 2024-25 with a 3-1 mark in SEC play.
• The Tigers have won their last three games and are coming off an 83-82 win at No. 5 in Florida on Tuesday. Caleb Grill led the way for MU in the win over the Gators with a team-best 22 points.
• Mark Mitchell leads four players in double-digit scoring with 13.6 points to go with 4.9 rebounds.
• Follows Mitchell’s lead as double-digit scorers Tamar Bates (12.8), Grill (12.2) and Anthony Robinson II (10.7).
• Robinson also leads Mizzou with 3.8 assists and 2.1 steals per game. battle, while Josh Gray tallied a team-best 5.2 rebounds per match.
• MU is 15th nationally with a scoring offense of 84.9 and 15th with a scoring margin of +15.6.

ABOUT RAZORBACKS
• Arkansas owns an 11-6 record in 2024-25 after losing its first four SEC games of the season — following a 78-74 setback at LSU on Tuesday.
• Adou Thiero leads Arkansas with 16.7 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game. match.
• Boogie Fland is second on the team with 15.7 points while leading Arkansas with 5.7 assists.
• The Razorbacks are averaging 78.1 points per game. game while allowing 67.6.

SERIES HISTORY
• In a series dating back to 1950, Arkansas holds a 35-27 advantage over Mizzou, with the Tigers holding a 17-13 edge in Columbia.
• Arkansas swept a pair of games against MU last season, earning a 91-84 win at Mizzou Arena before an 88-73 win Fayetteville.
• The Tigers’ last win in the series was over the 25th-ranked Razorbacks at home in 2023, 79-76.

TOP-FIVE WINS
• Mizzou is a dangerous team this season, coming off its second top-five win of the campaign.
• MU earned an 83-82 victory at Florida on Tuesday – just the fifth top-five road win in school history and the first since defeating No. 1 Baylor. 3 in 2012.
• Along with a win over Kansas no. 1 (Dec. 8), Mizzou joins Auburn as the only two schools in the nation with multiple top-five wins this season.
• It’s also the first time for the Tigers since the 2008-09 campaign with two top-five wins.

STRONG SEC START
• The Tigers, who play in the nation’s toughest conference, are off to a strong 3-1 start in SEC play.
• Now in his 13th season since joining the SEC, it is the first time in Mizzou history that the Tigers have started an SEC campaign with a 3-1 record.

HOME SWEET HOME
• While the Tigers are coming off a top-five road win, the team aims to continue their unbeaten run at home on Saturday.
• Mizzou is currently on a 13-game home winning streak – the team’s longest since 26 games from 2012 to 2014. It’s also tied for second-longest in the SEC and 10th nationally.
• The 13 games, which include a win over no. 1, is mostly dominated and leads to 438:18 of a possible 520 minutes.

DUO NEAR 1,000 POINTS
• A pair of Tigers are approaching a milestone as they are less than 15 points shy of 1,000 in their careers.
• After scoring 22 on Tuesday, Caleb Grill has amassed 992 points in 137 games and is just eight away from joining the 1,000-point club.
• Tamar Bates is also just 12 from the milestone as he enters with 988 points in 116 career games.

LET HIM GRILL
• Senior Caleb Grill led the way for the Tigers in the win over Florida on Tuesday.
• Grill tallied 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting with a 6-of-10 mark from 3-point range.
• The graduate student has shown he’s capable of getting hot this year and winning any game for the Tigers, as Tuesday marked his third game (in 12 contests) with at least six made 3-pointers.
• Grill is the first Tiger with at least three games of six triples since Kassius Robertson in 2017-18 and one of 21 players to do so this season.
• Overall, Grill leads Mizzou with 34 made 3-pointers and is shooting 48.6 percent from beyond the arc.

HOT FROM THREE
• Overall, the Tigers have been hot from 3-point range lately.
• In their last three games – all SEC wins – Mizzou has made at least 10 triples in each game and shot 42.3 percent (33-78) over the span.
• Not coincidentally, the race also synchronized with the return of an in-form Caleb Grill from harm. In games he’s played at least 15 minutes, MU is shooting 41.3 percent from 3-point range (32.6 percent in games he plays less than 15 minutes).