Fresh off beating Bama, No. 15 Mizzou faces Arkansas Saturday in season’s 1st rematch
The No. 15-ranked Missouri Tigers men’s basketball team takes the court at Arkansas Saturday in its first rematch of the 2024-25 season.
The first time these teams shared a court, Missouri defeated the Razorbacks 83-65 on Jan. 18 at Mizzou Arena. Saturday’s 7 p.m. game, which will be broadcast on ESPN, will be played on the Hogs’ home turf in Fayetteville, Ark.
The Tigers are riding a three-game winning streak, as they were the first time they played Arkansas this season. MU’s most recent win was another big one, a 110-98 victory over No. 4 Alabama on Wednesday at Mizzou Arena.
The stakes for this iteration of the MU-Arkansas Battle Line Rivalry are high, but that was the case the first time the Tigers and Razorbacks met, too — a win would catapult Missouri into the AP Top 25 (at No, 22 on Jan. 20) for the first time since the 2022-23 season.
Mizzou (20-6, 9-4 Southeastern Conference) is charting similar territory against Arkansas (15-11, 4-9)
The Tigers would likely crack the AP top 10 with a win Saturday at Bud Walton Arena. And if they play the way the did against Alabama, they will be tough to beat.
The Tigers were especially hot from the field Wednesday, shooting 60.3% (35-for-58). But they weren’t perfect: They were 39.1% (9-for-23) from 3-point range and 66% (31-for-47) from the free-throw line.
“Whenever you can score 110 points in a game, no overtime,” said Missouri coach Dennis Gates, “it says we’re continuing to take the steps we need to take, one at a time. And I’m proud of the direction we’re going in as it relates to getting better.
“I still don’t think our team has played its very best, and they would say the same.”
Although Mizzou shot above its season averages in field goals (48.5%) and 3-pointers (37.1%) vs. Alabama, the Tigers under-performed at the free-throw line, where they’ve averaged 71.9%.
The Crimson Tide out-rebounded MU 33-32 and had a 14-13 edge in second-chance points.
“They ended up with 11 offensive rebounds, but I think they only had maybe two or three at halftime,” Missouri graduate guard Caleb Grill said. “So we’ve got to do a better job of closing possessions out on the defensive end.”
MU was outscored 52-51 in the second half against the Tide.
“I mean, we gave up 98 points, so we can start there,” Grill said. “There’s still small details that we maybe missed out (on). Like late in the shot clock, they (got) a couple 3s off that we got to get better at.”
The Razorbacks are coming off a 67-60 loss to No. 1 Auburn on Wednesday at Neville Arena in Auburn, Alabama. Arkansas led the orange-and-blue Tigers 58-57 with 3:06 remaining but couldn’t finish off an upset.
Four Razorbacks scored in double figures, with junior forward Adou Thiero putting in a team-high 16 points. Graduate guard Johnell Davis (14 points), freshman forward Karter Knox (11) and sophomore guard D.J. Wagner (11) rounded out Arkansas’ double-digit scorers.
A final note: Gates will coach against Arkansas’ John Calipari for the fourth time (as a head coach) on Saturday. The third-year MU coach holds a 2-1 all-time record against Calipari-coached teams.
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