Mizzou Basketball Game Notes

• Game Notes

STORYLINES

• Mizzou knocked off No. 11 Auburn on Saturday, 85-73, handing Bruce Pearl's squad just its third loss of the season. Mizzou claimed its fourth win over a Top 25 opponent since Cuonzo Martin took over at the helm, and its first since beating No. 21 Texas A&M, 62-58, on Feb. 13, 2018.
• The victory over Auburn was Mizzou's first over a team ranked No. 11 or higher since taking down No. 5 Florida, 63-60, on Feb. 19, 2013. Mizzou is now 8-5 all-time against teams ranked No. 11. 
• The convincing 12-point margin of victory over Auburn was Mizzou's largest against a ranked opponent since beating No. 23 Ole Miss, 98-79 on Feb. 9, 2013. It was Mizzou's largest margin of victory over a team ranked No. 11 or higher since Mizzou dismantled No. 6 Baylor, 72-57, on Feb. 11, 2012.
• It marked just the fourth time since the beginning of the 2017-18 campaign that Auburn gave up 85 points in a loss and was just Auburn's fourth overall loss in its last 38 games.
• Mizzou is 2-1 in its last three games with the lone loss coming at No. 25 LSU by just four points. In that span, Mizzou's offense has been clicking. The Tigers are shooting 48 percent from the field, 38 percent from beyond the arc and getting to the free throw line 28.7 times per game while scoring 82 points per contest. Mizzou entered this stretch shooting just 40.4 percent and scoring 65.3 points per game.  
• Defensively, the Tigers have stifled opponents from beyond the arc. Arkansas, LSU and Auburn have made a combined seven 3-pointers in the last three games (16.3 percent). Auburn made 1-of-17 from 3-point range on Saturday, its worst performance since going 0-of-15 vs. Kentucky on Jan. 19, 2013. Arkansas' three triples on Feb. 8 were its fewest in league play. Mizzou ranks 12th nationally and third in the SEC in 3-point defense (28.6 percent). 
• Sophomore Xavier Pinson and redshirt junior Dru Smith combined for 56 points to key the win over No. 11 Auburn, as they each tossed in a career-high 28 points. It marked the most points by a Tiger duo in the same game since Jordan Clarkson and Jabari Brown combined for 61 points vs. Kentucky on Feb. 1, 2014. Since 2000, only six Mizzou duos have combined for at least 56 points in a game.
• Mizzou has forced 10+ turnovers in 24 of 25 games this season. 
• Mizzou is shooting 76.7 percent from the free throw line, which is on pace to break the single-season program record of 76.6 percent set in 2011-12. Dru Smith is shooting 90.2 percent from the line, which is threatening Brian Grawer's single-season Mizzou record of 90.5 percent set in 1999-00.

X & DRU

• Xavier Pinson and Dru Smith each scored a career-high 28 points to fuel Saturday's win over No. 11 Auburn. At halftime the duo had outscored Auburn, 33-32. Smith and Pinson ended up accounting for 60.7 percent of Mizzou's made field goals (17-of-28) and 65.9 percent of Mizzou's 85 points. 
• Pinson and Smith became just the ninth Tiger duo this century to combine for at least 56 points in a game. Of those nine duos, only three of them accomplished the feat in regulation, including Pinson and Smith. In the last 15 seasons only Pinson & Smith (56) and current Utah Jazz star Jordan Clarkson & Jabari Brown (61 on Feb. 1, 2014) combined for 56 or more points in a game. 
• In Mizzou's recent 3-game stretch, Smith and Pinson are averaging 40.0 combined points per game. 
• Mizzou improved to 6-2 in 2019-20 when at least one player hits the 20-point mark. Mizzou has had a player score 20+ nine times this season, with Pinson and Smith accounting for six of those nine. 

MORE ON THE X-FACTOR

• Xavier Pinson set new career-highs for points (28) and made field goals (10) in his electric outing vs. No. 11 Auburn. His 28 points were the most by a Tiger sophomore or younger since Kevin Puryear's 30 points vs. Auburn in the SEC Tournament on March 8, 2017. 
• Pinson is just the fourth Tiger since Cuonzo Martin took over at the helm to score 28 points in a game alongside Dru Smith, Jordan Geist and Jordan Barnett.
• He erupted for a career-high 24 points in Mizzou's win over Arkansas (Feb. 8), including 17 in the second half and overtime. He made a career-high 12 free throws, relentlessly getting to the basket to draw fouls. That marked the most free throws by a Tiger since Geist in 2018.
• Since 2014-15, only Pinson, Kassius Robertson, Geist and Kevin Puryear have posted multliple 24+ point scoring games in the same season. Pinson accomplished that in just three games.
• Pinson tallied nine points, a career-high seven assists and six boards at No. 25 LSU. He is just the seventh Tiger since 2010 to hit at least all those marks in a game. 
• After posting a negative assist-to-turnover ratio in 2018-19, Pinson is boasting a +1.2 ratio this season.
• Pinson has led Mizzou in scoring in four of the last six games.
• Since Feb. 8, Pinson is averaging 20.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 5.0 assists while shooting 50 percent from the field and 82.6 percent from the free throw line.  Mizzou is 6-2 in Pinson's career when he scores at least 14 points, and 5-0 this season. 

PHYSICAL DEFENSE

• Under Cuonzo Martin, Mizzou has established an elite, physical defensive mentality. During Martin's coaching career, all 11 of his teams at four different schools held opponents to a scoring average under 70 points per game. The 2019-20 team is on pace to be the eighth Martin-coached team to hold opponents to fewer than 66 points per game for a season, currently allowing 65.2 points per game. That ranks third in the SEC this season.
• Mizzou ranks 11th nationally in field goal makes allowed per game, surrending just 21.0 per contest. That ranks fifth among power conference programs behind Virginia, Baylor, South Caorlina and West Virginia. 
• Mizzou ranks 12th nationally and fifth among power conference teams (Arkansas, West Virginia, Ole Miss and Duke) in 3-point field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to 28.6 percent shooting from deep. That 3-point defense would be the best single-season performance by a Mizzou team in program history since the 3-point line was introduced in 1986-87. The current school record is held by the 2008-09 squad, which limited opponents to 30.2 percent shooting from beyond the arc. 
• Mizzou's last three opponents (Arkansas, No. 25 LSU and No. 11 Auburn) shot a combined 7-of-43 from 3-point range. Auburn went 1-of-17, its worst performance since 2013. Mizzou hasn't given up double-digit 3-pointers in a game since Alabama made 13 on Jan. 18. In the last eight games, opponents are making just 4.5 triples per game and shooting 25.9 percent from 3-point range.
• Mizzou has at least seven steals in 10 of its last 17 games dating back to Dec. 7 at Temple. Mizzou has 10+ steals three times during league play this season. Before this stretch, Mizzou had just three games with 10+ steals in its previous 64 outings. 
• Since Dec. 7, Mizzou has forced 254 turnovers (14.9 per game). All 17 opponents during that span have coughed it up at least 10 times. 
• Mizzou has forced 10+ turnovers in 24 of 25 games. Arkansas committed 14 turnovers despite entering the game fourth nationally in turnover margin.
• Mizzou is 8-0 this season and 22-0 under Cuonzo Martin when holding opponents to fewer than 60 points in a game.