Missouri Tigers looking to gain revenge and regain shooting touch against Arkansas
When he watches film of Missouri’s previous two games, at Texas A&M and Florida, coach Dennis Gates finds encouragement.
Not in the outcome. Mizzou lost both of them and for the first time in 2023 fell out of the AP Top 25.
But as the Tigers enter Wednesday’s home game against Arkansas, Gates feels better about where things stand than in the emotional moments after the defeats.
“When I go back and watch film I see the same shots that we have made consistently being missed,” Gates said. “I challenged our guys to continue to shoot the ball.”
The Tigers (13-4, 2-3 SEC) have been an exceptional shooting team throughout the season and rank 16th of 363 teams at 48.9% shooting from the floor.
But against the Aggies, Missouri shot a season-low 35.6% (21-for-59) on all shots. In the next game, the Tigers had their worst three-point shooting game at 16.7% (3-of-18).
Missouri is a team that typically doesn’t win the battle on the boards with second-chance opportunities. It relies on ball handling, movement and spacing to find open looks. And when they’re there, they need to land.
Guard Tre Gomillion believes the Tigers are simply going through a rough patch.
“We’ve just been missing shots,” Gomillion said. “We’ve been getting great looks. Our offense hasn’t taken a hit. We haven’t been hitting the open shots we have throughout the season.”
Perhaps Arkansas will bring out the best in the Tigers. The teams met two weeks ago in Fayetteville, Ark., and Mizzou opened a 17-point lead in the first half before falling by six. Wednesday’s rematch is set for an 8 p.m. tip on SEC Network.
“We cannot get behind by 17 like we did at Bud Walton,” Arkansas coach Eric Musselman said.
The Razorbacks (12-5) have dropped four of five in league play but have hung on to their spot in the AP poll at No. 25. They’re coming off a loss at Vanderbilt and are 0-3 on the road this season.
Missouri is looking to top a ranked team for the third time this season and return to the rankings as well.
“These two losses have given us the hunger we had back before we got ranked in the top 25,” Gomillion said.