Friday, March 16
Nashville, Tenn.
8:50 PM
University of Missouri
vs
Florida State University
@MizzouHoops Starts NCAA Tournament with Florida State on Friday
3/13/2018 12:46:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Tigers and Seminoles tip off Friday at approximately 8:45 p.m. CT on TBS from Nashville
Mizzou Men's Basketball (20-12) will make its 27th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance, taking the No. 8 seed in the West Region for First Round action in Nashville, Tennessee, at Bridgestone Arena.
The Tigers tip off against No. 9 Florida State (20-11) on Friday, March 16, at approximately 8:45 p.m. CT on TBS. Live coverage can also be found on the Tiger Radio Network.
STORY LINES
- In his first year leading the Tigers, head coach Cuonzo Martin has Mizzou back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2012-13 season. With Mizzou's selection, Martin became the 59th coach in NCAA history to lead three different programs to The Big Dance.
- Mizzou went 9-9 against postseason teams in 2017-18, including a 6-6 mark against the NCAA field.
- For the first time since 1983-84, Mizzou advanced to the NCAA Tournament while both Mizzou Football played in a bowl game and Mizzou Women's Basketball advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
- An All-SEC First-Team selection, graduate senior guard Kassius Robertson began his career at the only school to offer him a D-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).
- Robertson is the nation's highest scoring (16.2) graduate transfer at the high major level (as of March 11). Overall, Robertson ranks fourth in the country (Div. I) in scoring among all graduate transfers.
- Freshman forward Jontay Porter has entered the NCAA Tournament on a tremendous run, averaging 21.0 points per game over his last three games. Porter was named SEC Co-Sixth Man of the Year.
- Mizzou (20-12) is the third-most improved team in the country, record-wise. UC Santa Barbara is 23-9 after a 6-22 mark in 2016-17, while North Carolina A&T is at 20-15 after going 3-29 last season.
MIZZOU BACK IN THE MADNESS
- Mizzou earned its 27th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance with its selection as the No. 8 seed in the West Region, marking the first NCAA trip for the Tigers since the 2012-13 season.
- The Tigers have gone 22-26 in its 26 previous appearances at The Big Dance.
- Head coach Cuonzo Martin's Tigers earned an eighth seed for the third time in program history, holding a 1-2 record from that vantage point.
- Legendary Mizzou head coach Norm Stewart compiled 12 of the Tigers' 22 all-time NCAA Tournament victories during his 32 seasons at the helm. Stewart coached in 28 NCAA games while leading Mizzou; more than the Tigers' other leaders who have made the NCAA postseason, combined.
- Martin is the third first-year Mizzou head coach all-time to lead the Tigers to an NCAA appearance, with Quin Snyder and Frank Haith accomplishing the feat in 2000 and 2012, respectively.
- Mizzou holds a 2-4 record all-time playing on the 8/9 seed line in the NCAA Tournament.
- The Tigers are 1-2 all-time against Florida State, with the lone win coming in Columbia, Missouri, on Dec. 11, 1976. Mizzou defeated the Seminoles by a score of 65-63.
- Additionally, in Mizzou's long history of NCAA Tournament appearances, the Tigers' trip to Nashville will be the first NCAA game ever for the Tigers in the state of Tennessee.
- Mizzou is included in a group of eight Southeastern Conference selections in the NCAA Tournament, which is the most in league history. The previous record was six which was accomplished nine times, most recently in 2008.
MARTIN IN THE POSTSEASON
- Head coach Cuonzo Martin has now led three different programs to NCAA Tournament appearances, becoming the 59th different head coach to do so after his prior trips with Tennessee (NCAA Sweet 16, 2013-14) and California (NCAA First Round, 2015-16).
- Martin has a 3-2 all-time record in The Big Dance, advancing to the Sweet 16 in 2014 with Tennessee from the play-in "First Round" used for that season's edition of the tournament.
- Martin-led programs have been in the postseason in eight of the last nine seasons.
BRAND NEW EXPERIENCE
- Head coach Cuonzo Martin took over a squad lacking any amount of NCAA Tournament experience and led them to The Big Dance. Mizzou's participants in the Tigers' game vs. Florida State will all be playing in their first NCAA Tournament.
- During graduate senior guard Kassius Robertson's three-year stint at Canisius, the Golden Griffins made two postseason appearances in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (2014-15; 2016-17). Robertson averaged 16.0 points per game across four games, with three during his freshman season and one game to close his junior campaign.
- He earned it. Robertson, a fifth-year senior, has played in 132 games prior to making the first NCAA Tournament appearance of his career.
- Junior forward Kevin Puryear played an active role on Mizzou's 2015-16 and 2016-17 squads, only experiencing victory 18 times during his first two seasons. The Tigers more than doubled that total with their 20 wins this season.
MORE STORY LINES
- Mizzou's 6-6 record against the NCAA Tournament field includes wins against Stephen F. Austin (Dec. 19), Tennessee (Jan. 17), Alabama (Jan. 31), Kentucky (Feb. 3), Texas A&M (Feb. 13) and Arkansas (March 3).
- Head coach Cuonzo Martin's squad could become the second-ever Mizzou team with 300 or more three-pointers made in a season. The Tigers stand at 298 entering the NCAA Tournament.
- Mizzou's 9.3 three-pointers per game on the season rank second all-time in program history behind the 1999-2000 season's 9.4 mark.
- Mizzou was initially forecast to finish fifth in the Southeastern Conference in the preseason media poll, a projection that took into account plenty that has since changed for the Tigers.
- Martin led the Tigers to a 7-4 record over Mizzou's final 11 regular season games with eight available scholarship players, securing a tie for fourth-place in the league's standings (10-8) and a No. 5 seed for the SEC Tournament.
- Martin leads Mizzou into the NCAA Tournament's First Round with seven available scholarship players and eight players total.
- Mizzou and Tennessee were the only two teams in the SEC to complete the regular season ranking in the conference's Top 5 for both three-point field goal shooting percentage (2nd, .387) and three-point field goal defense (5th, .326).
- Mizzou ranks second in the SEC in rebounding defense, holding foes to just 32.6 boards per game.
- Mizzou has outrebounded its opponents in 21-of-32 games this season.
- Graduate senior guard Kassius Robertson played 94.2 percent of Mizzou's SEC slate, appearing in 688 of a possible 730 minutes.
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballInside Mizzou Athletics - Getting to Know New Men's Hoops Assistant Steve Wright
Friday, June 13
Mizzou Storytellers - Laurence Bowers
Tuesday, June 10
Tigers Sign Jayden Stone
Thursday, May 22
Tigers Sign Shawn Phillips Jr.
Wednesday, May 14
