Mizzou men’s basketball faces stiffest test to date at Notre Dame: What to expect
Boasting an 8-0 record, Mizzou men’s basketball will put its early success to the test in its second road game of the season and its biggest test to date.
The Tigers will travel to face Notre Dame on Tuesday in the annual ACC/SEC Challenge game, their first road game since the Nov. 3 season opener, which they won 88-67 at Howard.
“Every game that I prepare for, I prepare as if we’re facing the No. 1 team in the country,” coach Dennis Gates said Friday after the 86-59 win over Cleveland State. “The most important opponent is not the team that you’re facing, it’s yourself. How you can minimize the mistakes and how you can maximize the game plan.”
Missouri was slotted at No. 51 in the NCAA Men’s Basketball NET Rankings and received 28 points in the AP poll released Monday, missing the top 25 by five spots. Though the Tigers are 8-0, they have defeated seven of the eight teams they’ve played, mostly far smaller programs, by 18 or more points this season.
Notre Dame comes in at No. 83 and has a 5-3 record. The Fighting Irish, who play in the Atlantic Coast Conference, have lost by 10 points or less in each of their three losses, falling to Ohio State by just one point and to Kansas and Houston by exactly 10.
Guard Markus Burton leads Notre Dame with an average of 20.1 points per game and is shooting 50% from the field. In 2025, Burton earned second-team All-ACC and Associated Press first-team All-ACC honors.
Guard Jalen Haralson is averaging 20.1 points per game while forward Carson Towt leads the team in rebounding, with an average of 10.4 boards per game.
Forward Mark Mitchell remains at the top of Missouri’s scoring, averaging 17.1 points and 6.3 rebounds per game, second to center Shawn Phillips Jr., who is averaging 7.2 rebounds. Forward Jacob Crews and guards Jayden Stone, Anthony Robinson II and Sebastian Mack also are averaging double-digit points through the first eight games.
In ACC/SEC Challenge games, Notre Dame has gone 0-2. The annual series has existed since 2023.
Mizzou, on the other hand, has been successful in its challenge games so far. The Tigers won at Pittsburgh, 71-64, in 2023, then took down North Carolina in a 98-93 finish at Mizzou Arena in 2024.
The Fighting Irish and the Tigers have a longstanding history. This will be the programs’ 10th time facing off, with the first an integral game that shaped the entire series. In 1980, the Tigers were fighting to make it to the Sweet 16, and the only thing standing between them and that goal was the Fighting Irish. The Tigers came out on top 87-84 in overtime before going on to lose to LSU in the Sweet 16.
Since then, Mizzou has added six more wins and fallen twice to the Fighting Irish, most recently tallying an 87-58 win in 2011.
The Tigers will take on Notre Dame at 8 p.m. Tuesday in South Bend, Indiana.
Copyright 2025 Columbia Missourian
This story was originally published December 1, 2025 at 7:21 PM with the headline "Mizzou men’s basketball faces stiffest test to date at Notre Dame: What to expect."