Mizzou basketball climbs higher in polls, setting up potential clash at top of SEC
The Missouri Tigers men’s basketball team had a week off because of a game cancellation, but that didn’t stop it from climbing higher in the polls.
Mizzou was ranked No. 14 in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll. The Tigers were 16th last week, fresh off a Braggin’ Rights victory over then-No. 6 Illinois.
MU remains a perfect 5-0 after its game against Prairie View A&M was canceled last week because of COVID-19 considerations within the opposing program. The Tigers are back in action for the first time in more than a week at 6 p.m. Tuesday when they host Bradley.
Mizzou was one of two SEC teams ranked in the new poll, along with No. 8 Tennessee. Those teams match up at Mizzou Arena at 8 p.m. Dec. 30 in their SEC openers. That’s also the same day as the Music City Bowl, where the Mizzou football team will face No. 15 Iowa in Nashville, Tennessee. That sets up another lofty day for MU athletics.
The other SEC teams receiving votes were Arkansas, Florida and Georgia.
“We were excited,” MU guard Xavier Pinson said about being ranked last week. “I’d be lying if I was sitting up here and saying I didn’t care about it. We all know we deserved it. We all know our organization deserved it. We all put the work in. We were excited and proud but we still have a lot more to put in.”
This story was originally published December 21, 2020 at 11:42 AM.