Mizzou Basketball Game Notes

• Game Notes

RALLY FOR RHYAN

• Rally For Rhyan Gameday Central
• 2020 Auction
• Saturday's matchup vs. Arkansas features the fifth annual Rally For Rhyan game. Rally for Rhyan was started in 2016 to help the daughter of former Mizzou assistant coach and now Assistant AD for Major Gifts Brad Loos. Brad's daughter Rhyan was fighting a battle against pediatric cancer. The original goal was to raise $10,000 at the first annual Rally for Rhyan game to help fund clinical trials for pediatric cancer research and thus, aid Rhyan in her fight.
• Fast forward five years later and the Mizzou Family has raised more than $500,000 for the Rally for Rhyan Foundation and pediatric cancer research, with $250,000 alone coming from Rally for Rhyan games. 
• Rhyan Loos won her battle with cancer, and has been in remission for 38 months! Rhyan wants the fight to continue though, for her friends, and all those affected by pediatric cancer, so with her bravery leading the charge, the Rally for Rhyan tradition will go on.. Any donations can be made at www.RallyForRhyan.org or by texting R4R to 90561.
• Mizzou is 4-0 in its previous Rally for Rhyan games, including a 77-67 win over Vanderbilt a season ago, and a thrilling overtime victory over Mississippi State in 2018. In that win over the Bulldogs, Kevin Puryear, who wore Rhyan's name on his back during warmups, hit the game-winning shot. 

STORYLINES

• Mizzou takes on Arkansas for the 50th time in program history. The Razorbacks lead the all-time series 27-22, but the two squads have split the last six meetings.
• Mizzou has won three consecutive home games over Arkansas, including last year's nail-biting 79-78 win over the Razorbacks. Arkansas hasn't won in Columbia since Jan. 12, 2016. Mizzou is 6-2 in the last eight showdowns with Arkansas at Mizzou Arena. 
• Saturday is the fifth annual Rally For Rhyan game, benefiting pediatric cancer research. The Tigers are 4-0 all-time in Rally For Rhyan games.
• Mizzou's strength this season has been its ability to cash in at the free throw line. Mizzou is shooting 77.4 percent from the free throw line, which is on pace to break the single-season team record of 76.6 percent set in 2011-12. The 77.4 percent clip ranks 13th nationally, and third among all power conference teams, behind only Villanova and Kentucky. The current Mizzou squad is on pace to become just the third Mizzou team in program history to shoot above 75 percent in a campaign. The Tigers are on a tear recently, shooting 86.8 percent from the line over their last six games.
• Mizzou is shooting 80.7 percent during league play from the charity stripe. The Tigers made an NCAA-record 54 consecutive free throws from Jan. 18-21. 
• The Tigers have shot above 80 percent from the line as a team in 14 games this season. 
• Redshirt junior guard Dru Smith is a large part of Mizzou's success at the charity stripe. He is shooting 94.9 percent from the line in league play and 91.1 percent for the season, which ranks eighth nationally, and would set a Mizzou single-season program record if the season ended today. 
• Mizzou is +155 against opponents in bench production this season. The Tigers' bench has outscored or matched 17 of their 22 opponents in bench points this season. 
• Dru Smith is four thefts shy of Mizzou's first 50-steal campaign since Phil Pressey recorded 61 steals in 2012-13. Dru is also seven assists shy of the century mark on the season. He'd be just the seventh different Tiger since 1992 with both 50+ steals and 100+ assists in the same campaign.
• Mizzou's defense continues to wreak havoc on opponents, as the Tigers have forced 10+ turnovers in 21 of 22 games this season, including all nine league games. The Tigers rank second in league play in both steals per game (7.0) and turnovers forced per game (14.8). 

NIKKO: THE IRON MAN

• Mizzou's lone senior Reed Nikko appeared in his 114th career game on Tuesday at Texas A&M. He will become just the second Mizzou player since 2010 to appear in 115 games alongside Kevin Puryear. Since 1995, only 24 Tigers have played 115 career games, making Reed the 25th.
• Barring injury, Nikko is on pace to play in at least 124 career games. He has appeared in 107 of Mizzou's last 108 games dating back to his freshman campaign. If he reaches that 124-game threshold, he would be just the 16th Tiger in the last 25 years to do so.
• Mizzou's Jan. 28 victory over Georgia was perhaps the best game of his career, as he ripped off a career-high 13 points, including 11 in the second half that fueled the Tigers' comeback over Georgia. Nikko added five boards and two blocks, including a monster game-winning swat on lottery pick Anthony Edwards' game-tying attempt in the final seconds.
• Nikko has started Mizzou's last 11 contests while Jeremiah Tilmon has nursed a foot injury, scoring 64 of his 78 points this season in that stretch. Nikko is shooting 58.8 percent from the floor.
• Nikko is uniquely a fisheries and wildlife major who plans to be a fisheries biologist after college. His passion is helping nature preserves. He is nearly always out hiking, fishing or bird watching during the offseason. His love for the outdoors was influenced by his late father, who also pushed for Nikko to pursue college basketball at Mizzou.

TILMON, JR., MAKES HIS RETURN

• Junior forward Jeremiah Tilmon, Jr., who had missed nine of the last 10 games with a foot injury, returned to the court for the first time since Jan. 4, when the Tigers fell at Texas A&M on Tuesday.
• He grabbed three offensive rebounds and finished with two points, four boards and an assist in just 11 minutes.
• Tilmon, Jr., is a career 56.2 percent shooter, which ranks fourth all-time at Mizzou. He has 75 career blocks, five shy of cracking Mizzou's all-time Top 10.