Story Lines

• Last time out against Kentucky, the Tigers served the No. 21-ranked Wildcats a 69-60 defeat (Feb. 3) inside a loud and rowdy Mizzou Arena. Graduate senior guard Kassius Robertson and senior forward Jordan Barnett both scored 16 points to lead the Tigers.
• The Tigers (18-10) are the third-most improved team in the country, record-wise. North Carolina A&T is at 17-11 after going 3-29 last season, while UC Santa Barbara is 20-6 after a 6-22 mark in 2016-17.
• Junior forward Kevin Puryear stands 15 points from becoming the 46th member of Mizzou's 1,000-Point Club. Puryear would be the first Tiger to reach the mark since Jabari Brown in 2013-14.
• Robertson is the nation's highest scoring graduate transfer at the high major level (as of Feb. 21), elevating his name into the conversation for postseason conference accolades with his 17.9-points-per-game average in league play. Overall, Robertson ranks fourth in the country (Div. I) in scoring among all graduate transfers.
• Robertson ranks fifth in SEC games in scoring (17.7) after beginning his career at the only school to offer him a Division I scholarship, Canisius, of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC). Canisius has an enrollment of 3,171. while Mizzou's enrollment is nearly 10 times larger (30,870).
• Martin has made a strong case for SEC Coach of the Year recognition with the remarkable Mizzou turnaround in his first season, taking a program that posted an 8-24 record last season and guiding it to an 18-10 overall mark. His 18 wins are the second-most for a first-year Mizzou head coach.
• Six instances of a player hitting at least six three-pointers in a game have occurred in SEC play. Senior forward Jordan Barnett (2) and graduate senior guard Kassius Robertson (1) have combined for three such games.
• Robertson has played 95 percent of the Tigers' SEC slate, appearing in 580 of a possible 610 minutes.
• Freshman forward Jeremiah Tilmon recorded his second double-double with 12 points and a season-high 12 rebounds vs. Ole Miss (Feb. 20).

Kash Money

• Graduate senior guard Kassius Robertson has been one of the biggest surprises in the Southeastern Conference, and a welcomed one for Mizzou. The graduate transfer from Canisius is currently fifth in SEC games in points per game (17.7), second in three-point percentage (.440) and second in three-pointers per game (3.2).
• His shooting proficiency comes all while playing the most minutes in the conference, averaging 38.7 minutes per game through 15 SEC games, thus far. That mark is nearly three minutes more per game, on average, than the next closest SEC player (Kentucky's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, 36.0).
• Robertson ranks fifth in SEC games for free throw percentage, sinking 85.7 percent of his foul shots (60-of-70).
• Robertson led Mizzou in scoring for the 15th time this season with his 16 points in the win over No. 21 Texas A&M (Feb. 13). In his previous three seasons combined at Canisius, Robertson led the Golden Griffins in scoring 20 times.
• Robertson has seven 20-point games out of Mizzou's 15 conference games played, thus far.
• Robertson is one of just two players in the SEC averaging 15.0 points per game while shooting at least 40.0 percent from the field, 40.0 percent from three-point range and 80.0 from the free throw line, according to Basketball-Reference.com.
• Robertson's 86 three-pointers on the season rank third all-time on the program's single-season three-pointers by a senior chart.

Scouting Kentucky

• Kentucky welcomes Mizzou to Rupp Arena with an identical 8-7 mark in Southeastern Conference play. The Wildcats are 19-9 overall, and have won two-straight games (Feb. 17, vs. Alabama, 81-71; Feb. 20, at Arkansas, 82-72).
• Freshman guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leads Kentucky in scoring in conference action with his 14.9 points-per-game average. Fellow freshman Kevin Knox has followed close behind, scoring 14.4 points per game.
• On the boards, freshman forward Jarred Vanderbilt has averaged a team-best 6.7 rebounds per game during league contests.
• Kentucky is 5-2 at home during SEC play, dropping games against Florida (Jan. 20, 66-64) and Tennessee (Feb. 6, 61-59)_.

Next Up

• The Tigers next play at Vanderbilt on Tuesday, Feb. 27. The matchup in Nashville, Tennessee, tips off at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN2. Live coverage can also be found on the Tiger Radio Network.
• The Commodores lead the tight series history, 6-4, although Mizzou has won four of the last seven contests between the two schools.
• In last season's only meeting, Mizzou handled Vanderbilt to the tune of a 20-point victory for the Tigers, 72-52, on Feb. 11, 2017. Then-junior forward Jordan Barnett scored 23 points in the win.