No. 15 Missouri ‘turned it around’ last week. Up next: No. 4 Alabama at Mizzou Arena
No. 4 Alabama basketball is amid a stretch that sees it close the regular season with seven straight games against teams ranked 21st or higher in the AP Top 25.
No. 15 Missouri (19-6, 8-4 Southeastern Conference) hosts the Crimson Tide (21-4, 10-2) Wednesday at Mizzou Arena. The Tigers are coming off a bounce-back week that saw them go 2-0 against unranked Oklahoma (82-58) and Georgia (87-74).
The Tigers’ Week 14 slate saw losses at then-No. 4 Tennessee (85-81) and vs. then-No. 10 Texas A&M (67-64) at home.
“That’s just kind of what we’ve been doing all season. We had two really close games that came down to the wire,” graduate guard Caleb Grill said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t finish those, so we could have either let it keep rolling over or we could have turned it around. We had good practices leading into our games last week, and we performed well last week.”
Mizzou will attempt to contain a ferocious Alabama offense spearheaded by Mark Sears. He leads the team with 17.8 points per game; his squad averages 90.4 a game, best in the nation. Sears fills the stat sheet with 3.0 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game on a 34.5% clip from 3-point range.
Tigers coach Dennis Gates has faced the graduate five times, with his teams holding Sears to 34.7% (17-for-49) shooting from the field across all meetings. Despite his struggles against Gates’ teams, Sears has won every single matchup.
Gates coached against Sears while the third-year Mizzou coach was at the helm of Cleveland State; the graduate guard played for Ohio at the time.
In the three matchups since Gates joined Mizzou and Sears joined Alabama, he has shot a combined 9-for-32. He posted a 17-point performance, shooting 4-for-12, in an 85-64 win on Jan. 21, 2023. In the SEC Tournament semifinal on March 11, 2023, Sears only shot 2-for-10 with nine points in a 72-61 victory.
In their most recent game, on Jan. 16, 2024, the veteran guard had a subpar performance again. He shot 3-for-10 and only scored nine points. The Tide defeated the Tigers 93-75.
“Sears is a great player. I think he is deserving of first-team All-American honors,” Gates said. “His veteran leadership, his ability to make plays ... he’s a great player, and we’re always going to respect him that way.
“We’ll see what adjustments we’ll have to make in-game, but there’s no doubt about it: He’s going to come in wanting to have a great game because he is that person for his team that they need.”
Senior forward Grant Nelson poses a threat on the inside averaging 12.6 points and snagging 8.3 rebounds a game.
The Tide are another strong rebounding team that Missouri will take on, leading the nation with 44.4 rebounds per game.
“When the ball is not going in, they do a great job of scoring, and part of their offense is opportunities to get second-chance points, and even doing it from the free throw line,” Gates said. “We have to be able to hold teams to one offensive possession, and that gives our defense an opportunity to do things as well. If we end up that way, we have to have guard rebound, wing rebound and post-man rebound. And everyone has to rebound.”
Nate Oats is the head coach for the Tide entering his sixth year in the position. He has led Alabama to four NCAA Tournament appearances, including the Final Four of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
Before joining Alabama, Oats spent four seasons at Buffalo, leading the Bulls to three March Madness appearances (two victories).
Missouri will host Alabama at 8 p.m. on Wednesday at Mizzou Arena. The game can also be viewed on the SEC Network.
Copyright 2025 Columbia Missourian
This story was originally published February 19, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "No. 15 Missouri ‘turned it around’ last week. Up next: No. 4 Alabama at Mizzou Arena."