Mizzou Men's Hoops Continues Season-Opening Homestand Friday Night vs. Northern Kentucky

Friday, November 8

Columbia, Mo.

7 PM

University of Missouri

Northern Kentucky

NCAA Men's Basketball: Mizzou Tigers vs. Incarnate Word Cardinals

Mizzou Men's Hoops Continues Season-Opening Homestand Friday Night vs. Northern Kentucky

11/7/2019 6:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Tigers tip off vs. the defending Horizon League champions Friday night at 7 p.m.

Mizzou Continues Homestand Friday vs. Northern Kentucky
OPPONENT	LOCATION	DAY	TIME (CT)	WATCH	STATS
Northern Kentucky	Columbia, Mo.	Friday, Nov. 8	7:00 PM	SEC +	Stats

Mizzou Basketball Game Notes

Game Notes

STORYLINES

Mizzou Men's Hoops won its sixth straight season opener on Wednesday night vs. Incarnate Word. The Tigers are now 92-22 in season openers with wins in 12 of their last 13 such games, including a 3-0 mark in the Cuonzo Martin era.
Mizzou downed the Cardinals, 82-42, the largest margin of victory in a season opener since 2016 - a 99-44 victory over Alabama A&M. The 42 points allowed were the fewest in a game since Georgia managed just 39 on March 6, 2019, and the fewest allowed in a season opener since beating Canisius, 72-42, on Nov. 25, 1991. When Mizzou has held opponents under 55 points, the Tigers are 10-0 under Coach Martin.
Mizzou forced 21 Incarnate Word turnovers, the most since forcing that many vs. Texas-Arlington on Dec. 4, 2018. Twelve of those 21 Incarnate Word turnovers came in the first half, the most Mizzou has forced in the opening half of a home opener since 2012 (14 - Northwest Missouri State).
The Cardinals managed to make just 15 field goals on Wednesday night. Mizzou improved to 15-2 when holding opponents to 20 made field goals or less in the Martin era.
Of those 15 field goals, only two were 3-pointers. The Cardinals shot 16.7 percent from beyond the arc. A common trend under Martin, Mizzou led the SEC in 3-point field goal percentage defense last season, holding opponents to a 31.5 percent clip from beyond the arc.
Mizzou and Northern Kentucky have never faced off, however, the Tigers are 11-0 against Horizon League opponents. Northern Kentucky is coming off a 26-win season, a Horizon League championship and an NCAA Tournament appearance. The Norse have been to the Big Dance in two of the last three seasons.
A win Friday over the Norse would give Mizzou back-to-back wins to open a season for just the third time since 2013, and the second time in the Martin era (2017-18).

QUICK HITS

In 2017-18, Cuonzo Martin became the 59th head coach in NCAA history to lead three different programs to the NCAA Tournament (Cal, Tennessee and Mizzou). It was the program's 27th all-time NCAA appearance and the first since 2012-13.
In the past six seasons, Coach Martin has produced eight NBA Draft selections. In that span, only four NCAA programs have produced more NBA Draft picks - Kentucky, Duke, UCLA and North Carolina.
In the Martin era, Mizzou is 20-9 in nonconference play, including a 13-1 mark at Mizzou Arena.
With three 4-star freshmen set to make their debuts Wednesday night, Coach Martin has inked eight 4-or-5 star recruits in less than three years on the job at Mizzou.
Martin has won 35 games in two seasons at Mizzou, which already surpasses the previous regime's 27 victories in two campaigns.

TILMON SHINES OPENING NIGHT

Junior forward Jeremiah Tilmon, Jr. lived up to his preseason hype in Wednesday's opener.
Despite only seeing 20 minutes on the court, Tilmon, Jr. led Mizzou with 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting (77.7-percent), adding seven rebounds and five blocks.
Tilmon, Jr. is the first Tiger to have five blocks in the same game since Jontay Porter had five against Ole Miss (Feb. 6, 2018). Only four players in program history have recorded more than five blocks in a game.
The 6-foot-10 Tilmon, Jr. helped Mizzou score 42 points in the paint against Incarnate Word. Mizzou is 5-2 when Tilmon, Jr. is the team's leading scorer in his career.
Tilmon, Jr. shot 54.4-percent from the field last season (126-of-231), which is the highest field goal percentage of any returning player in the SEC.
In just two seasons, Tilmon, Jr. has shot 55.4-percent from the field. He is only the second Tiger to shoot above 54 percent in back-to-back seasons, joining single-season record holder Ricardo Ratliffe (min. 150 attempts), who did so in 2010-11 and 2011-12.
Tilmon, Jr. is one of just two players in the SEC to have been named to the preseason Watch List for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar National Center of the Year Award. Tilmon Jr. was joined by Florida's Kerry Blackshear — the Preseason SEC Player of the Year — who transferred from Virginia Tech, meaning Tilmon Jr. is the only returning big man in the league on the list.
Tilmon, Jr. was also named preseason second-team All-SEC by the league's coaches. He, Blackshear and Mississippi State's Reggie Perry were the only true forwards to make the All-SEC teams.
Tilmon, Jr. was vital to Mizzou's success a season ago. Mizzou was 10-5 when he reached double figures.
Tilmon, Jr. led Mizzou in blocked shots with 25 in 2018-19 — the sixth-most total by a sophomore in program history, tying legends Doug Smith and Jevon Crudup.

FRESHMEN MAKE THEIR DEBUT

All four members of Mizzou's freshman class saw the court in Wednesday night's victory, with Kobe Brown earning the start.
The four freshmen combined for 25 points — 30.5-percent of Mizzou's scoring — in only 51 minutes of action.
Brown scored nine points on 3-of-7 shooting in only 22 minutes. The 6-foot-7 forward also brought in three rebounds. Brown sunk two three-pointers on the night.
Tray Jackson made the most of his 12 minutes on the floor, scoring six points while bringing in five rebounds.
Playing 14 minutes, Mario McKinney Jr. shot 3-for-4 from the field to finish with seven points. The 6-foot-2 McKinney, Jr. laid down a pair of dunks while hauling in three rebounds.
Redshirt freshman Parker Braun saw the floor for the first time as a Tiger after sitting out last season. He scored three points in three minutes, including a nifty hook shot in the lane.

A RECIPE FOR SUCCESS

In Mizzou's 82-42 season-opening win Wednesday night over Incarnate Word, the Tigers stuck to the strategy that has paid dividends in the Martin era: outperforming opponents defensively and on the glass.
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 are 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.
Mizzou is 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.
The last time the Tigers held an opponent to only two made three-pointers was an upset victory over then No. 21 Kentucky (Feb. 3, 2018).
The 42 points from the Cardinals is the lowest scoring output from an opponent since Mizzou held Georgia to 39 points on March 6 last season.
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 out-rebounded Incarnate Word 47-37 to improve to 28-16 under Martin when the Tigers out-rebound the opposition.
Javon Pickett led the Tigers with a career-high eight boards on the night, followed closely by Jeremiah Tilmon, Jr. with seven. All 12 scholarship players who saw the floor on Wednesay night snatched at least one rebound, with five different Tigers grabbing at least four boards.

PINSON, PICKETT AND WATSON START SOPHOMORE CAMPAIGN STRONG

Mizzou's slew of injuries a season ago opened the door for freshmen Xavier Pinson, Javon Pickett and Torrence Watson to play a combined 94 games and start a combined 47 contests. They went on to become the first Tiger trio since Arthur Johnson, Rickey Paulding and Wesley Stokes in 2000 to each score 200+ points in their first season.
Watson hit 53 triples in 2018-19, setting a new single-season Mizzou freshman record, and Pinson shot 40 percent from beyond the arc, the third-highest single-season mark from beyond the arc in program history. Meanwhile, Pickett led the trio in scoring at 7.7 points per game, making 31 starts.
Watson, Pickett and Pinson all had separate 20-point scoring games during their first year in Columbia. It marked the first time in program history that Mizzou had three different freshmen scoring 20+ points in a game in the same season.
The trio combined for 31 of Mizzou's 82 points in the season-opening win over Incarnate Word.
Pinson tossed in 15 points, making a career-high eight free throws in the process. He added five assists, one shy of his career high. The explosive guard picked up right where he left off last season. In the last four games dating back to March 3, 2019 against Ole Miss, Pinson is averaging 13.8 points and 4.3 assists while shooting 56.7 percent from the field. In that span he's made a team-best 20 trips to the free throw line, making 16 of those attempts (75 percent).
Pinson became just the third Tiger in the Martin era to post multiple 15-point, 5-assist games in their career, alongside Jordan Geist and Kassius Robertson.
Pinson and Dru Smith both dished five assists against Incarnate Word. It marked just the third time two different Tigers recorded five assists in the same game since 2014. Terrence Phillips and Jordan Geist did so on March 4, 2017 vs. Auburn, and Jabari Brown and Jordan Clarkson accomplished the feat on March 1, 2014 vs. Mississippi State.
Pickett had a quietly strong night against Incarnate Word in the season opener, posting 10 points and eight rebounds. Pickett is the fourth true guard to reach those numbers in the same game under Martin, who values rebounding from the position (Kassius Roberston, Jordan Geist, Mark Smith). Before Martin's arrival only Namon Wright had 10+ points and 8+ rebounds in the same contest from 2014-17.
Watson drained two triples against Incarnate Word on Wednesday night. He's now hit multiple treys 12 times in his 33-game career. Watson has hit at least one trey in 14 of his last 15 games.