@MizzouHoops Travels to Cincinnati to Face No. 19 Xavier Tuesday

Tuesday, November 12

Cincinnati, Ohio

6:00 PM

Missouri

#21 Xavier

@MizzouHoops Travels to Cincinnati to Face No. 19 Xavier Tuesday

11/11/2019 10:21:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Tip off is set for 6 p.m. CT on CBS Sports Network

Mizzou Faces No. 19 Xavier on the Road Tuesday at the Cintas Center
OPPONENT	LOCATION	DAY	TIME (CT)	WATCH	STATS
Xavier	Cincinnati, Ohio	Tuesday, Nov. 12	6:00 PM	CBSSN	Stats

Mizzou Basketball Game Notes

Game Notes

STORYLINES

Mizzou has secured back-to-back victories to open a season for just the third time since 2013, and the second time with Cuonzo Martin at the helm (2017-18), after Friday's 71-56 homecourt win over Northern Kentucky.
Mizzou held both Incarnate Word (42) and Northern Kentucky (56) under 59 points; the first time it has held consecutive opponents to 59 or fewer points since limiting UCF to 59 points Nov. 30, 2017, and Miami, Ohio, to 51 points on Dec. 5, 2017. Mizzou started the 2017-18 campaign with a pair of stifling defensive efforts against Iowa State (74-59) and Wagner (99-55), too. Mizzou is now 17-0 under Cuonzo Martin when holding its foe to 59 or fewer points, and has won 24 of its last 25 games overall when doing that.
Mizzou has held opponents under 70 points 40 times in 67 games during the Martin era, which amounts to 59.7 percent of games.
The Tigers also held double-digit advantage on the glass in both of their first two games, and has now done so 19 times under Martin, boasting a 13-6 record in those outings. Northern Kentucky only grabbed 28 boards, the 30th time a Martin-led Mizzou team has allowed 28 or fewer rebounds. Mizzou led the SEC in defensive rebound percentage a season ago (.315) and ranked second in rebounding defense (31.0).
Mizzou hits the road for the first time this season when it heads to Cincinnati. The Tigers trail the all-time series against Xavier, 5-3, but Mizzou won the previous meeting with a 15-point victory in Columbia, Mo., last season (Dec. 18). Sophomore Jeremiah Tilmon, Jr., led Mizzou with a career-best 23 points and 10 rebounds. Only Tilmon, Jr., and Wisconsin's Ethan Happ hit those marks against Xavier last season.
Mizzou limited Xavier to just 56 points in that matchup last December, the second-fewest for the Musketeers in non-conference play.
Mizzou is looking for its first win over an AP Top 20 team since beating No. 18 UCLA on Dec. 7, 2013 and the first such victory on the road since edging No. 3 Baylor, 89-88, on Jan. 21, 2012.
In 80 minutes of game action through two games this season, Mizzou has never trailed and has only played with a tie score for 2:19 of game action.
Mizzou is seeking its first 3-0 start since winning 10-straight to open the 2013-14 campaign.

TOUGH DEFENSE AND REBOUNDING

In Mizzou's first two wins, the Tigers have stuck to the strategy that has paid dividends in the Martin era: outperforming opponents defensively and on the glass.
Mizzou outrebounded Incarnate Word, 47-37, and outpaced Northern Kentucky, 39-28, on the glass to improve to 28-16 under Martin when the Tigers outrebound the opposition. Northern Kentucky's 28 boards were its fewest since grabbing 24 on Feb. 15, 2019. The Norse managed 28 boards or less only five times last season.
The Tigers' 47 rebounds in the opener were the most Mizzou has recorded in a single game since grabbing 52 in an 85-51 win over North Florida (Dec. 16, 2017).
Mizzou clamped down to hold Incarnate Word to 42 points, the lowest scoring output from an opponent since the Tigers held Georgia to 39 points on March 6 last season, and the fewest yielded in a season-opener since holding Canisius to 42 in the 1991-92 season opener. The Tigers followed by allowing only 56 points to defending Horizon League champion Northern Kentucky. The Norse were held to 56 or fewer points just once last season (53 at UCF - Nov. 24, 2018) and have mustered 56 of fewer only nine times since 2015.
Mizzou disrupted Incarnates Word's offensive game plan from the opening whistle, forcing 21 turnovers and holding the Cardinals to 15 total field goals — a 2-of-12 clip from beyond the arc. Incarnate Word ended the night shooting 26.8 percent from the field. The 21 turnovers were the most by an opponent since Texas-Arlington committed 21 turnovers on Dec. 4, 2018. Mizzou forced Incarnate Word to a turnover percentage of 23.7 percent. Mizzou forced 12 turnovers in the first half alone. Two days later, Northern Kentucky coughed it up 11 times, giving Mizzou back-to-back games forcing double-digit turnovers for the first time since Dec. 22 and Dec. 29 of last season vs. Illinois and Morehead State.
Mizzou is now 15-2 under Martin when holding opponents to under 20 field goals in a game — a feat the Tigers accomplished on 12 occasions in 2018-19.
Before the opener vs. Incarnate Word, the last time the Tigers held an opponent to only two made 3-pointers was an upset victory over then-No. 21 Kentucky (Feb. 3, 2018). Mizzou opponents averaged just seven threes per game last season. This year, through two games, they're averaging just five triples per contest.
The Tigers hauled in 47 rebounds in the opener — the most rebounds the team has recorded in a single game since grabbing 52 in an 85-51 win over North Florida (Dec. 16, 2017). Mizzou has 86 total boards, the most in the SEC through one week of play.

BACKCOURT DUO SMITH & SMITH SHINING EARLY

Mizzou's 2019-20 backcourt will be anchored by Smith & Smith - juniors Dru Smith and Mark Smith.
Dru Smith is a highly efficient and intelligent player, who sat out last season due to NCAA transfer rules. Dru is one of five Division I players in the last 20 years to shoot at least 45 percent from 3-point range, 55 percent from the field and 85 percent from the free throw line in the same season (Thomas Welsh - UCLA, Sterling Brown - SMU, Nick Masteron - Kennesaw State, Sam Sussenguth - North Dakota State). He's the only one in that group of five playing in 2019-20. Welsh and Brown are still playing in the NBA.
In his final season at Evansville, he was limited to 22 games due to an injury. In those 22 games, he reached double figures 18 times and scored 20+ points four times.
In his 52-game career, Dru has only gone one game without recording an assist, which came all the way back on Dec. 3, 2016, giving him 44 consecutive games with an assist.
In Mizzou's season opener vs. Incarnate Word, he dished five assists, reaching that mark for the 16th time in his career. He's now posted 17 straight multi-assist outings after dishing three more vs. Northern Kentucky.
He's also collected a steal in 13 consecutive games dating back to Dec. 9, 2017. He had six steals in Mizzou's exhibition game against Central Missouri. The Mizzou program record in a single game is eight.
Dru is also a career 85 percent free throw shooter. He's made 50 of his last 56 attempts from the charity stripe (89.3 percent).
Mark Smith shot a blistering 45 percent from 3-point range, the highest percentage in the SEC (min. 100 attempts) a year ago. It was the fourth-highest mark by a sophomore in Mizzou history and the eighth-highest ever in program history. He was one of 28 players nationally to shoot 45 percent from 3-point range and one of just six from power conferences. Before going down with an ankle injury in February, Mark averaged 11.4 points and 5.2 rebounds (second-most on the team) after averaging just 5.8 points and 1.4 rebounds as a freshman at Illinois.
Mark exploded for 19 points vs. Northern Kentucky, draining four triples in a game for the sixth time in his career while shooting 6-of-10 from the field.
Mark has developed a knack for attacking the glass under Coach Martin. He corralled four rebounds from the guard position vs. Incarnate Word and six against Northern Kentucky. He's had four rebounds in a game 18 times in 21 games in a Mizzou uniform. He had no games with 4+ rebounds during his freshman year at Illinois.
Mark has 109 rebounds as a Tiger. Since the beginning of the 2018-19 season, only Javon Pickett (115) and Jeremiah Tilmon, Jr., (195) have grabbed more rebounds on Mizzou's active roster, depsite Mark only appearing in 21 games in that span.

DEPTH A STRENGTH FOR MIZZOU

Coming into the season, Mizzou returned 60.4 percent of its scoring from 2018-19. The depth of the Tigers' bench figured to play a factor in Mizzou's successes — eight of the 13 scholarship players on the roster had at least 31 games of Division I experience under their belts.
The Tigers are averaging 28.5 points per game off the bench through two games, including 39 vs. Incarnate Word. Sophomore guard Xavier Pinson led the reserves with 15 points off the bench against the Cardinals and added eight points and six assists vs. Northern Kentucky.
The Tigers have six players averaging 20+ minutes per game and nine players averaging 12+ minutes through two contests.
The Tigers return seven letterwinners and all seven have made at least one career start, with four of them making at least 12 starts a season ago - Javon Pickett (31), Jeremiah Tilmon, Jr. (30), Mark Smith (17), Xavier Pinson (12), Torrence Watson (4), Reed Nikko (2) and Mitchell Smith (1).
Those seven Tigers accounted for 48.4 points per game in 2018-19 and shot a combined 43.8 percent from the field (498-of-1,137). They're joined now by Dru Smith, who shot 57.8 percent from the floor in his final season at Evansville in 2017-18. He's a career 52.4 percent shooter.
Lone senior Reed Nikko has appeared in 87 of the last 88 games at Mizzou.
The returning group is also joined by a an impressive and explosive group of four-star freshmen in Kobe Brown, Mario McKinney, Jr., and Tray Jackson. Mizzou also introduces redshirt freshman Parker Braun to the floor this year. The 6-foot-10 athletic forward spent last season learning Martin's system and developing during a redshirt campaign.